Linksys WRT54G 802.11g Wireless Router $40 at Rakuten.com Shopping

I had tons of problems with mine freezing every couple of days. It seemed to freeze because it had trouble assigning new IP addresses. The problem only occurred while running the wireless though. After a couple of months of this, I finally thought of changing the frequency it broadcasts the wireless signal on. Now, it works flawlessly. I don't know if anyone else was having this problem, but I thought I would post about it just in case.

Version 1-4 were tried and true. These are v.5+ and they are crap. They should come with a 24h timer, so you can have it reboot itself every night at 3am.

I have 4 of these (yeah, I am a sucker), all are version 5, I knew going into it that I couldn't flash the firmware to DD_WRT or the like, and that was fine with me, I was just looking to spread some wireless love around my workplace... but 3 of these shitboxes lock up several times a week. The 24h timer solution has worked like a charm, although it added $8 to each unit. I have them set to turn all the routers off from 6pm-6am, so it adds some ghetto network protection to the mix as well.

Connected laptops to my network kept dropping the signal every 5 or so minutes. Removing and reinserting the PCIMA Linksys wireless card resumed the connection for an additional 5 minutes.

Changing the SSID of the router fixed this problem.

Apparently it was interfering with someone else's router with the same SSID but different keys. It just goes to show you should not use factoring settings and make sure you enable encryption!

Mr. Cheapass is correct. WRT54G is complete crap. There are tons of other routers out there that are better and cheaper. Basically after Linksys was bought out they overhauled the hardware of the WRT54G, but kept the same appearance. Versions 1-4 were the real deal. Everything after was buggy and less powerful. If you want the real tried and true version you must get the Linksys WRT54GL. This is pretty much the same router as the original WRT54G. I wish Ben could change his product description and not call this one the "tried and true" WRT54G.

WRT54GC Cheaper at staples. $25

Item 599114 Model WRT54GC Linksys Compact Wireless-G Broadband Router

http://www.staples.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StaplesProductDisplay?PID=1225267&jspStoreDir=Staples&catalogId=10051&productId=127143&cmArea=SEARCH&prodCatType=1&langId=-1&SID=sduidp0t&AID=10427430&storeId=10001&ddkey=StaplesBeFree

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#2 and #4 are correct. I've got both a v2 and a v4 and they work great with HyperWRT. There is a version of dd-wrt that runs on v5 and v6 routers. See http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Versio5An6Router_Information for info.

I bought my fiancee a v5 since she needed something and it was cheap. I run a VoIP service, so we're constantly chatting over that. Other than that, she uses it for web browsing, email, etc. The usual things. It's been rock solid. Almost two years and going strong.

Of course, it didn't work with our service at ALL until I made sure it had a recent firmware in it.

Most of my problems were with the wireless drivers on the laptop. Finally removed and reinstalled them one time and it's been kicking @$$ ever since.

I had similar problems with the wireless, although I was using the sveasoft firmware with version 2.0 of the router. Eventually got tired of resetting the router and started using the Linksys firmware. Has been running well for over a year, only reboot once I believe.

What is a good wireless router that does bridging?

The Belkins do bridging out of the box (although they have their own issues like limited ip schemes - no 128.x) , the WRT54GL is a super solid performer with tons of third party firmware options available - you can even adjust output gain. Lately I've been playing with some Buffalo stuff - very impressed! Nice hardware, cheap price, great interface, lots of options, plays well with others, etc...

As long as you upgrade the firmware on this thing, it will run perfectly fine for most home operations. As for the price, that leaves a little to be desired.

Does anyone know how I can play Starcraft on two computers connected to one router? Starcraft uses port 6112 I think and you can't change it like you can in Warcraft 3 or even Warcraft 2: Battlenet Edition. It causes major lag for more than one computer on my network to be in the same starcraft game on battlenet.

I purchased this router and had a ton of problems with my wireless. My son then bought a netgear and we have had 0 problems with it.

Stinky.

Had the old one, v3.0 that used to have a problem of not auto renewing IP from cable modem. Throw it away to fleabay.

What are you guys talking about?
I have had 0 problems with this router.
I am now running it with DD-WRT and it's even better now.
That's something I would recommend you all do.

I have heard a lot of problems with this routers firmware. Get the LINKSYS WRT54GL with the linux based open source firmware. Newegg has it for 56.99 after rebate. I have had zero problems with this router.

If this is anything like the older Linksys BEFW11S4 wireless router, STAY AWAY!! Just the fact that Linksys never came up with a definative fix for the numerous problems of the BEFW11S4 is reason enough not to take a chance with one of their wireless products.

http://www.virtualtravelog.net/entries/2003/11/linksys_befw11s4_wirelessb_broadband_router_problems_low_reliability_and_poor_fault_tolerance.html

I had a bunch of problems with DD-WRT. It keep disconnecting me. Ended up going back to the original firmware.