User forums around the web have been abuzz with complaints about the non-Linux version of one of Linksys' most popular products. Tim Higgins tested it and the WRT54GL Linux-based version and found at least one reason why the V5 has so many unhappy buyers.

Posting for a reader:

I agree that it would be a good idea. It's on the to-do list, but no promises on when!

hey tim,

i'd like to set my wrtg45g up as a range extender for an existing wireless network. from what i've been able to tell, the linksys os does not allow this. do you know offhand which of the linux replacement oses would allow this?

thanks,

wylie

I am on of those unfortunate buyers of the WRT54G V5. Right out of the box it was DoA. The admin page was corrupt and unusable. Do they not have QoA?

The story ends with me refunding the router and walking away.

when did this V5 come out?
i hade a WRT54G(after dlink let me down) about 1 year ago....and it was hell....could it have been that?

Mine was always locking up when i would stream PVR data to my notebook(cant call this heavy thing a laptop in here )

I just got an SMC(as my old smc was good) and was all set....you should try the SMC2804WBRP-G for review....it seems good...as long as u get the latest firmware and do some tweaking to the firewall settings...

One of the things you learn in this business is that Quality Assurance doesn't assure quality most of the time. Many companies who produce large quantities of a product could spend quite a lot of time testing every single product.

To reduce costs (and price to you the user), they only sample a number of a batch, and based on statistics, either ship all of them, or send more to testing based on those numbers. The justification for this is the cost of replacing DOA items is far smaller than to test every single item.

Not to defend Linksys on this, but the reduced cost is partly passed on to you in a lower product price. Its only natural that the more you make and sell, the more defectives you'll end up with.

Either way, I'm going with a Netgear 240 soon.

Tim, great article I wish we had more of these to update the chart.

You have only tested a few Netgear Products. I would like to see some of the small bussiness class routers like the FVS338 and FVS538 and maybe the FVS328. Mainly because of all the failure rates with the low in residental routers. Yet my old poor SMC7008ABR just keeps plugging away. Its 5yr old till I finnally upgrade to a FVS338, this last week.

It would also nice to see how AP pair against Wireless routers. Knowing most of the AP come with better antennas.

Around November, 2005

Posting from a reader

I would recommend DD-WRT. I have been using it on one of my WRTs for a while and it is excellent. I would recommend it for any function that these routers can do. Currently mine is setup as a wifi to lan bridge for my Xbox and Xbox 360.

For what you are seeking to do you would have to set the router to be in WDS (wireless distribution system) mode. It will receive the signal and relay it. Because it has to switch back and forth between sending and receiving your actual speed or throughput will be cut in half, but usually that isn't a problem for most internet connection speeds. They have documention for how to set this up on the DD-WRT website.

pesky

I would recommend DD-WRT. I have been using it on one of my WRTs for a while and it is excellent. I would recommend it for any function that these routers can do. Currently mine is setup as a wifi to lan bridge for my Xbox and Xbox 360.

For what you are seeking to do you would have to set the router to be in WDS (wireless distribution system) mode. It will receive the signal and relay it. Because it has to switch back and forth between sending and receiving your actual speed or throughput will be cut in half, but usually that isn't a problem for most internet connection speeds. They have documention for how to set this up on the DD-WRT website.

pesky

that sounds great, thanks for the info.

wylie

My WRT54G v5 router was locking up consistently, sometimes every day. When the device was turned off for a few minutes, it would run fine again for a few hours. Torrents or heavy use (4+ computers) would bring the wifi portion of the router to unusually low levels, with an inevitable lockup soon to follow. I believed the device was overheating. I found a guide for modifying an overheating NetGear router:
http://forum1.netgear.com/support/ [...] hp?p=19600
The instructions are easily adapted.

After outfitting my v5 with an 80mm case fan and drilling a few extra ventilation holes in the casing, the router no longer locks up. The only oddity is the extra noise of a case fan running.

Thanks for putting a discussion on this article.

I bought a WRT54G V5 a few months back. I have a V2 or V3 before that and it was great. Out of the box the router constantly locked up and the admin page was corrupting constantly. I had to reboot the router several times just to get it to the firmware update page. That seemed to fix the corruption, but I still have to cycle the power once a week if I use the wireless capabilites. I recently turned it off and went wired.

If you do need wireless with the WRT54G, I highly recommend disabling wireless security and using the MAC filter instead. P2P DIED with security enabled. I tend to think the processor wasn't fast enough to encrypt/decrypt packets over so many connections (or some hardware bottleneck associated with security). At any rate, MAC filtering doesn't have the overhead of encryption and still keeps the neighbors from hijacking on your internet service.

If anyone has recommendations for the router, please let me know. I have a few JTAG adapters laying around, but no serial ports :? I gotta bring my Lantronix home for a few days I guess.

I love cisco products, and always have. This product was a grave dissapointment. I expect glitches, but this is garbage.

One more thing: great article. Top notch. A+++++