Linksys WRT54G --EVERYONE READ

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LoStMaTt

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Feb 26, 2003
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Since there have been many posts recently "What wireless solution should I choose?, cry cry cry" and I keep answering with the same answer, here is a post that should answer some questions.

Why should I purchase a Linksys WRT54G Wireless Router?
- This router runs the 802.11g standard (54MPbs)
- This router has good performance and documentation right out of the box.
- The range is not phenominal but it ranks very high amongst others in my book.

I keep hearing about this "3rd Party Firmware" for the WRT54G/WRT54GS, what is it?
- There are a few options you have with the WRT,
WiFi-Box, Sveasoft's Firmware, and HyperWRT

With Sveasoft there are a few different versions to choose from. Read the documentation carefully and choose which one you would like to go with. I personally recommend the later versions of Alchemy.

Options I have seen in the Alchemy revision firmwares
- Wireless Bridging (The bridged WRT can connect clients via wireless AND via CAT5)
- XMIT adjustment options (Bumping up juice to antennas for extended range)
- The whole WDS feature just blows me away, read documentation because that is a whole 'nother scenario to dig into.

I'll add to this when I can think of something I may of forgotten.
 
Good info. I swear by this router and the WAP54G for my home/home office clients. It should be noted that the stock firmware supports bridging as well, but the alternate firmwares have a little more flexability in this regard.

Edit: Don't forget EWRT and www.linksysinfo.org.

 
I also swear by the WRT54G. I even put in a pair of WAP54G's with 9 dBi Yagi Antenna's to get our warehouse on the company network. I've actually found that my WRT54G and my NetGear WG511T give me EXCELLENT range. In fact, I almost get too much coverage with it. You dont get to take advantage of the 108mbps stuff without a netgear AP, but still, the combination works flawlessly. :)
 
http://www.hyperwrt.org/Home-Page.shtml <- heres an another firmware site..
smile.gif
 
Don't forget DD-WRT Firmware. Gives you an incredible SHAT load of options.
 
jagzzzzzz said:
Would you also recommend the speedbooster model?
Click to expand...

I would recommend the speedbooster model only if you are not interested in using 3rd Party Firmwares
 
What excactly does the third party firmware solve?
Will I need 3rd party firmware if I have callvantage?
 
3rd Party firmware often solves some problems that the official linksys ones do not. They also open a LOT of features the the offical's ones do not. Download and install one of them and you'll see. If you head over to the WoW forums DO NOT buy the WRT54GS for it. I own it, and as you can see there is a thread with over 600 post with problems with it. 3rd party solutions solved some of our problems for a bit, but the latest WoW upgrade fudged us over again.
 
jagzzzzzz said:
So this is specifically an issue with just the world of warcraft?
Click to expand...

Hmm, I've never heard of this specifically, but if I had to take a guess, I'd say the Linksys threads just get so large cuz they are the most popular routers out there. There's nothing that you can do really that's harder on a router than BitTorrent, and maybe VOIP. I do both those things on my WRT54G with no prob, and the GS is the same except it has a faster processor and more memory. So I'd be interested to find out what people think the problem with them is.
 
will this router be better than an old 802.11b dlink router i used to have? only problem i had with that router is that i always had a bad signal through walls. line of site was great but as soon as i stepped foor around a corner/wall the signal strength would drop greatly. im going to be buying a laptop once the go 6800ultra becomes more widely available and i want to have wireless freedom for it. the router will be in the living room whereas my room is down the hallway about 30 feet away and has about 4 walls to go through. id love to be able to game with my laptop anywhere in my house and im looking for a router that will allow me to do so.
plz help with this.
 
what wireless PCI adapter works well with WRT54G? im looking at the netgear WG311T right now. any opinions?
 
DirtyApe said:
will this router be better than an old 802.11b dlink router i used to have? only problem i had with that router is that i always had a bad signal through walls. line of site was great but as soon as i stepped foor around a corner/wall the signal strength would drop greatly. im going to be buying a laptop once the go 6800ultra becomes more widely available and i want to have wireless freedom for it. the router will be in the living room whereas my room is down the hallway about 30 feet away and has about 4 walls to go through. id love to be able to game with my laptop anywhere in my house and im looking for a router that will allow me to do so.
plz help with this.
Click to expand...

I am not familar with DLink but try a third party firmware for it. On some, such as Hyper-WRT and DD-WRT for Linksys they give you a wide array of wireless options for the Router. One of which was suprising to me, which was the LinkSys router defaults to 50% Transmit power, presumably to me to lower energy consumption, which makes sense. I cranked it up to 100% transmit power, and its working much better, as my upstairs computer is now recieving a GOOD Single instead of the MEDIUM one it had before with the standard Linksys Firmware. That and it doesn't lose connectivity with the router anymore. Go 3rd *Safe* Party Solutions.
 
Why would a third party make a better firmware than the originators of the equipment?
 
I'd still be using my Linksys WRT54g if D-Link didn't come out with their awesome DGL-4300 gaming router. Now my 54g sits in the closet collecting dust.
 
jagzzzzzz said:
Why would a third party make a better firmware than the originators of the equipment?
Click to expand...

Because in some cases, I.E. right now for example with the WoW issue, every 3rd party open source Firmware is chugging out upgrades on a weekly bases, whereas LinkSys has told many folk that they expect the fix firmware to come out in 2 months, which changed to 5 months, which is now unknown. And like I've BEEN saying, 3rd Party Firmware opens up a lot of features that the orginal firmware mask. And like if you read my example about the transmit power -- thats how 3rd party solutions are sometimes better.
 
IceWind said:
I'd still be using my Linksys WRT54g if D-Link didn't come out with their awesome DGL-4300 gaming router. Now my 54g sits in the closet collecting dust.
Click to expand...

Can I have your WRT? Please?!?
 
bump because no one mentioned the dd-wrt firmware (at least i didn't see it). which is better that or the hyperwrt (for a free solution)?
 
I love my WRT54G. Mines a V3.

Since my parents got a new computer and it didn't have wireless (Mac mini from Best Buy) they moved it over to the wall and plug it in via CAT5 cable now; but I have a WAP54G that I've been doing some work on, and these are both neat boxes.

I've only used HyperWRT so far, but DD-WRT is next.
 
Qwertyman said:
bump because no one mentioned the dd-wrt firmware (at least i didn't see it). which is better that or the hyperwrt (for a free solution)?
Click to expand...

Their both free, but anywho. DD-WRT isn't "better" as in what it does. Its just Better in the amount of freatures it offers you I have noticed.
 
abudhu said:
Their both free, but anywho. DD-WRT isn't "better" as in what it does. Its just Better in the amount of freatures it offers you I have noticed.
Click to expand...
well i'm on it now, boosted the xmit power, but does anyone have tips on creating an SSH key, and installing
Kismet
on it? Just for an extra security feature.
 
I just recently got my WRT54G, and used dd-wrt on it too.

ww.dd-wrt.com if anyone was wondering, it's based on Sveasoft's Alchemy sources.

Great range for my house, QOS features as well as a boatload of other crap with the firmware. Best $40 I have spent on comp stuff in recent memory.
 
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