802.11g wireless access point router with switch

[guzziguy]

Hi All,

I finally upgraded my laptop and it has 802.11g support, so it's time to upgrade my ancient Linksys BEFW11S4 router. I'm blindingly happy with it. It hasn't given me a single problem in the years that I've owned it. So I'm inclined to go with the latest Linksys version of this router, the Linksys WRT54G2, which goes for $44.89 at Amazon. I know that Linksys is not the favorite with many people here. Can the many network- and wireless-wise people here either validate my choice or suggest alternatives (or both)?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Regard,

-ken

[cetoole]

I havnt had any problems with my WRT54G-TM, but I am also running the DD-WRT firmware on it. Also have too slow an internet connection to notice any limitations there, and dont use the network for any other purposes, such as LAN gaming.

[EdipisReks]

it'll be fine as long as you put it in a place where it's easy to get to, you know, for the weekly power cycling

[strid3r]

I was lucky enough to get an early version of the ever-popular WRT54G. I flashed it with DD-WRT and it's been up and running for 6 months straight now. If you are interested in using third-party firmware such as DD-WRT or Tomato, I believe the WRT54GL is the model to go with (the WRT54G2 has less memory, so it can only use the "Micro" version of DD-WRT). If you do not intend to do any firmware flashing, some of the D-Link models might be worth looking at (DIR-625 comes to mind).

[EdipisReks]

DD-WRT is definitely pretty good, and isn't all that fiddly if you just want basic stuff, but the last time i flashed a linksys router, the process was kind of a pain in the ass.

[grawk]

Stephen is selling an apple airport extreme that's a pretty darn good router cheap, that supports 802.11N and wifi disk and printer sharing. That's what I'd recommend.

[deepak]

Linksys quality control is all over the place. If you get one in a bad batch expect it to not last very long...

[HeadphoneAddict]

Stephen is selling an apple airport extreme that's a pretty darn good router cheap, that supports 802.11N and wifi disk and printer sharing. That's what I'd recommend.

x2 - very happy with mine. All our macbooks, iMac, Apple TV and airport express are faster due to the 802.11n, yet my 54g devices still play nice with it too (verizon XV6800, iPhone, Nikon S6 camera, 2 Windoze PC's, older airport express). It was not too hard to configure port mapping to get into my slingbox and dottunes music server.

I keep a 1TB drive hooked up to it as a server for all the computers. The only problem is that it can have either a hard drive or a printer connected but not both. We got an HP wireless printer so we could have an HD connected instead (free after rebate when I bought the Macbook Pro).

Well, the other problem is that it router can't be configured over the internet remotely like a lot of other routers, so when we added VOIP I had to configure the router myself for the comcast guys to add the VOIP box and cable modem to the IP reservations and MAC address filtering (and the same thing when we added monitoring for the alarm company to ride on the VOIP service).

[Voltron]

x2 - very happy with mine. All our macbooks, iMac, Apple TV and airport express are faster due to the 802.11n, yet my 54g devices still play nice with it too (verizon XV6800, iPhone, Nikon S6 camera, 2 Windoze PC's, older airport express). It was not too hard to configure port mapping to get into my slingbox and dottunes music server.

My understanding was that if you have an older 802.11b/g AE or laptop using an 802.11n network then the Airport defaults down to the lower setting for ALL devices on the network and therefore defeats the faster potential of the new devices. Is that correct grawk?

[grawk]

Mixed mode N is slower than N only, but still faster than G. So not pointless. The newest airport can do separate N and a/b/g networks.

[Voltron]

Thanks. How old is the newest one?

[grawk]

Not very at all. Less than 2 months.

[Voltron]

Yeah, that ain't me.

[mirumu]

Mixed mode N is slower than N only, but still faster than G. So not pointless. The newest airport can do separate N and a/b/g networks.

That's exactly how it works with my D-link DGL-4500. It's dual band like the new airport and the 5Ghz range I configured N-only is always full speed, and the mixed B/G/N 2.4Ghz is slower but still generally faster than G when used with N devices.

[guzziguy]

Stephen is selling an apple airport extreme that's a pretty darn good router cheap, that supports 802.11N and wifi disk and printer sharing. That's what I'd recommend.

I had forgotten about this. I'm sending a check to Stephen tomorrow. I don't have any N devices yet, but it will happen eventually. Shoot, I barely have G devices.

[HeadphoneAddict]

My understanding was that if you have an older 802.11b/g AE or laptop using an 802.11n network then the Airport defaults down to the lower setting for ALL devices on the network and therefore defeats the faster potential of the new devices. Is that correct grawk?

Mixed mode N is slower than N only, but still faster than G. So not pointless. The newest airport can do separate N and a/b/g networks.

Yes, my devices on N are transmitting 2 - 2.5x faster than the 54g ones, all at the same time on the same mixed g/n network.

[mirumu]

That's exactly how it works with my D-link DGL-4500. It's dual band like the new airport and the 5Ghz range I configured N-only is always full speed, and the mixed B/G/N 2.4Ghz is slower but still generally faster than G when used with N devices.

I must have had some real brain fade when I wrote that. I have a D-link DIR-855, not a DGL-4500. Took a bottle of Thomas Hardy's Ale at 11.7% abv to make me notice.