54Mbps Router From 2005 Still Makes Millions For Linksys

Megalith

Megalith

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Did you have one of these? Do you still have one of these? You’re not alone—Linksys still makes big bucks from the 11-year-old WRT54GL, which manages to stick around based on its reliability and support of open source firmware.

…people still buy the WRT54GL in large enough numbers that Linksys continues to earn millions of dollars per year selling an 11-year-old product without ever changing its specs or design. "To be honest, it somewhat baffles my mind," Linksys Global Product Manager Vince La Duca told Ars. But production won't stop any time soon as long as Linksys' suppliers, including chipmaker Broadcom, keep selling the parts needed to build the WRT54GL. "We'll keep building it because people keep buying it," La Duca said.
 
If it ain't broke don't fix it. That said I just replaced mine last year after 8 or so years as Comcast upped my speeds and the router can only manage 37-45mbs through a wired internet connection so I couldn't take advantage of the 75mbs connection. Since a lot of people still have shitty broadband, especially in the US and developing countries, there's not much incentive to buy more than you need.
 
ahhh memories.

I've been using an Archer C7 for the past few years, only rebooted it maybe twice? I'd love to get the next gen linksys ac1900 that's basically a modern version of their WRT54G... but I really don't need it as my main rig is wired gigabit... no point in spending 200 dollars when the only wireless device is my phone and laptop.
 
Sorry but G is to damned slow. Not to mention prone to interference. Replaced all my hardware with N on 5GHz a number of years ago (now AC) because I got sick and tired of the connection dropping out because of 20+ other stations in the area. Not to mention cordless phones and wireless speakers.
 
Megalith said:
Did you have one of these? Do you still have one of these? You’re not alone—Linksys still makes big bucks from the 11-year-old WRT54GL, which manages to stick around based on its reliability and support of open source firmware.

…people still buy the WRT54GL in large enough numbers that Linksys continues to earn millions of dollars per year selling an 11-year-old product without ever changing its specs or design. "To be honest, it somewhat baffles my mind," Linksys Global Product Manager Vince La Duca told Ars. But production won't stop any time soon as long as Linksys' suppliers, including chipmaker Broadcom, keep selling the parts needed to build the WRT54GL. "We'll keep building it because people keep buying it," La Duca said.
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I love it.

"We're selling this cheap router that supports open sourced firmware. We can't figure out why people are buying it instead of our >$200 routers with locked down firmware!" Incompetent executives can never figure out the simple things.

bos said:
If it ain't broke don't fix it. That said I just replaced mine last year after 8 or so years as Comcast upped my speeds and the router can only manage 37-45mbs through a wired internet connection so I couldn't take advantage of the 75mbs connection. Since a lot of people still have shitty broadband, especially in the US and developing countries, there's not much incentive to buy more than you need.
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My broadband is 29 down, 6 up (advertised as 25/5). However, I still need modern gigabit and AC wireless for my intranet needs.
 
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Daniel_Chang said:
I love it.

"We're selling this cheap router that supports open sourced firmware. We can't figure out why people are buying it instead of our >$200 routers with locked down firmware!" Incompetent executives can never figure out the simple things.



My broadbmad is 29 down, 6 up (advertised as 25/5). However, I still need modern gigabit and AC wireless for my intranet needs.
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Yeah, but less than 5% of consumers are probably doing any internal intranet file transferring. Most just use their network to attach their devices to the internet.
 
Had multiple 54GLs setup, longest one ran for 10+ years as an AP for a workshop printer.

Turned that experience into purchasing a Linksys WRT1900AC which Linksys abandoned in about a year and has now already replaced twice (1900ACv2 and 1900ACS) :( Linksys appears to have gotten the DDWRT and OpenWRT teams up and running with proper support for the wireless drivers now, should be good for long term support.
 
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Got a 54G sitting in the closet with DD-WRT on it. Used it for a good 10 years (was given to me for free). Heavy loads (netflix/youtube/torrent) was starting to cause lock ups, worked great as a simple AP though. I ended up replacing it with an Archer C7.
 
Great router but ya with wan speeds getting faster and faster that old girl can't keep up.

Was a legend in her time!
 
I never got the need for the DDWRT. Guess I never saw the right bullet point presentation.


Some people, at the time, made it sound like "normal" routers were completely unusable and your computers would get hacked 24/7 without DDWRT.
 
I'm still pissed about buying a 54g planning to put DDWRT on it and then finding out that they had decreased the ROM size without telling anyone so DDWRT wouldn't fit on it. Shortly after that they released the GL with the old larger ROM because of the outcry.

I think the only custom firmware it could fit was a stripped down version of tomato which wasn't any better than the stock firmware. That was right after Cisco bought them out and I got the impression that their main goal was to cheapen Linksys enough to keep them from competing in the small office portion of the SOHO market.

I've been running the home network on a couple Asus N66Us for the last few years and have been just as happy with them as any of the old bullet proof Linksys routers.
 
My first one died when my cat puked on/in it. My 2nd one is still running as the main router at my parent's place (wired mode only), feeding a gigabit switch and a basic Asus N router (as AP) at the other end of the house. They worked well on DD-WRT/Tomato, stock firmware couldn't keep up to the connection usage.
 
westrock2000 said:
I never got the need for the DDWRT. Guess I never saw the right bullet point presentation.


Some people, at the time, made it sound like "normal" routers were completely unusable and your computers would get hacked 24/7 without DDWRT.
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Tinfoil hat wearing mutherhumpers.
 
westrock2000 said:
I never got the need for the DDWRT. Guess I never saw the right bullet point presentation.
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It was never about security with DDWRT, it was about customization and being able to do far more with the router than the normal "out of the box" experience could ever allow for. Data statistics, running a much better and more customized firewall, better control over the connections, bandwidth throttling, etc etc, the DDWRT (and other firmware too) list of things they add/offer is just huge.

I always wanted to get into that side of the router game but never really did, even though nowadays I see at least 2 of these particular routers almost weekly in my visits to some thrift stores here in Las Vegas. Even found one of those super-massive ones from Linksys last week with a gigabit router in it, full dual band 11n support, and multiple antennas on the top side - only $8. Got it home, verified everything worked as expected, then listed it on craigslist for $50 and literally it was gone within 2 hours of the listing going up.

Works for me. ;)
 
I actually just trashed one of these. Wasn't even worth selling on ebay. Hadn't used it in years.
 
these things aren't all that useful anymore outside of using the hardwired, and even then you have better options that are still cheap.

Good router though, I still have mine in the garage.
 
Just replaced mine last year when I got fibre and my isp gave me a very nice router and WiFi extender in my house that was actually unlocked and gave me lots of control over the device. I now use my 54g as an ap for connecting to things I'm programming so I don't need a Ethernet cord to do it lol. I still don't use N for anything, it loses speed far to easy when you move away from it. G is all I need and if I need more I wire it in
 
I wouldn't buy a router without tomatousb, shibby, or merlin firmware, so yeah I can believe it.
 
I still use them with DD-WRT. After replacing routers every 1-2 years because they would need frequent reboots or flat out die, this router was a relief. It's rock solid and DD-WRT meets my needs.

I have one right now that operates in a detached garage as a bridge for an IP camera. The garage isn't air conditioned and reaches temperatures exceeding 100F. I've never had to fiddle with it or reboot it.
 
I was running one reconfigured as an access point. It ran for over 7 years on the outside of the building with temps from -20 to 90* and 100% humidity. Damn things are hard to kill.
 
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Had a few of these...great routers. Amazed they're still making new ones.

The sad thing is it wasn't until about 2 years ago when I actually upgraded to an N wireless router, mainly because I didn't have internet fast enough to exceed 54 Mbps. The 25 Mbps I had for a long time from Comcast never pushed the router for upgrading.

Things have changed now that I have ~120 Mbps ;)
 
The firmware on most newer routers does make you pine for the past. I don't know where they outsource the work to, but holy crap has it gotten awful.
 
My parents have one of these still running at their place, they last forever. The wireless is disabled and it's attached to a newer wireless N access point, but it's still going.

These days you have to get commercial-grade equipment to get anything decent.
 
Best router ever. DD-WRT is still useful for me to see realtime wireless usage and whether or not I'm hitting my monthly data cap.

What is the actual real-life speed of wireless networks ?

I've also got an old 310N, which along with DD-WRT is pretty damn solid. Truth be known, it gets about 50mbps with a couple wireless clients (but of course, it cannot handle much more than two without slowing down a little) But as long as you don't have intereference issues, all this new AC with 8 antenna stuff... The ancient website Speedguide dot net really sums up what real speeds you get, which is about double N speeds and maybe 4x faster than G speed (and of course some crappy AC, which you might as well just keep the G)

Pay $200 more for a router ten years later to get double speed? Ridonkulous.
 
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Just a reflection of the sorry state of broadband in the country imho, if the connection's the bottleneck then why do you need a fancier router?
 
NickelFinger said:
Best router ever. DD-WRT is still useful for me to see realtime wireless usage and whether or not I'm hitting my monthly data cap.

What is the actual real-life speed of wireless networks ?

I've also got an old 310N, which along with DD-WRT is pretty damn solid. Truth be known, it gets about 50mbps with a couple wireless clients (but of course, it cannot handle much more than two without slowing down a little) But as long as you don't have intereference issues, all this new AC with 8 antenna stuff... The ancient website Speedguide dot net really sums up what real speeds you get, which is about double N speeds and maybe 4x faster than G speed (and of course some crappy AC, which you might as well just keep the G)

Pay $200 more for a router ten years later to get double speed? Ridonkulous.
Click to expand...

Biggest improvements I saw going to a new AC class router with 4 antennas are the range and ability to handle numerous device. I get a strong signal across my entire house and lawn, and nothing chokes when I am running Torrents + streaming media + playing games + whatever my kid is doings on the Internet. The old WRT54GL simply can't handle that.
 
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I've had a couple of these over the years. Never seemed to last more than about 18 months before they would start dropping wireless and have to be rebooted every few days.

Even with Tomato on them, they aren't much better.

We still have one where I work (with Tomato). When there were a lot of people connecting, the thing would go down completely every few days and I would have to power cycle it to get it working again. A few times it even completely reset to default settings and I had to completely set it up from scratch.

Now that I am the only one that still connects to it, it usually lasts a few months before it wigs out.

Things are a piece of junk.

Gimme corporate oriented router / wireless reliability or my business goes elsewhere.
 
I'd still be using one now if it weren't for the upgrade from 38Mbps FTTC to 65. That was more than the unit was capable of - even now I've yet to find as stable and functional a router setup as Tomato on my old WRT54GL. Even the WRT1900AC that replaced it has a crash per year count of about 5 or 6, the old WRT54GL managed about 1 if that.
 
I have one and put Tomato firmware on it but it is packed away in a box somewhere now and am using the ISP provided modem/router combo unit. When I find it I may go back to it because ISP routers don't allow MAC spoofing. I bought mine way back around 2006 and was still working fine the last time I used it, about 2 years ago.
 
brogers said:
I still use them with DD-WRT. After replacing routers every 1-2 years because they would need frequent reboots or flat out die, this router was a relief. It's rock solid and DD-WRT meets my needs.

I have one right now that operates in a detached garage as a bridge for an IP camera. The garage isn't air conditioned and reaches temperatures exceeding 100F. I've never had to fiddle with it or reboot it.
Click to expand...

I use one loaded with DD-WRT as my garage WAP/switch as well.
 
Heh i used one till last year when it started to randomly drop connections
 
Yeah, you can still buy these brand new for ~$40-50 on Amazon. Crazy how long these have lasted despite being only Wireless-G.
 
I had to run a few of these at my cheap as hell job for building wide wifi. DD-WRT ran pretty well, and adding a daily reboot to the crontab helped reliability. After 5 or so years though, over half of them started failing with popped capacitors and other physical problems. I'm a lot happier with our replacement Ubiquity APs.
 
When I moved out of my parent's home and got a place with my best friend we used a 54G that lasted for a long time. I ended up getting a D-Link DIR-655 that was mainly because the 54G would lock up with so many devices connected to it (10+). That 54G is still sitting in a box at my house and I'm sure it would work if I pulled it out. Everything eventually got upgraded to a haswell pfsense system + cisco AP, but the D-Link 655 is still in use at my parents house.
 
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