Linksys-Cisco WRT54GL Wireless-G Broadband Router (Compatible with Linux) | 
| Brand: Linksys
List Price: $94.60
Buy New: $49.99
You Save: $44.61 (47%)
New (42) Used (3) Refurbished (1) from $49.99
Rating:  321 reviews
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 4
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 7.3 x 1.9
nv:Device Type: Wireless Router
Form Factor: Desktop
Wireless Network Standards: IEEE 802.11g
Wireless Data Transfer Rates: 54 Mbps
Wireless Indoor Range: 100 Meters
Wireless Outdoor Range: 300 Meters
Security Protocols: WPA
Security Protocols: 128-bit WEP
Security Protocols: 64-bit WEP
Security Protocols: WPA-PSK
Networking Standards: IEEE 802.3 Ethernet 10Base-T
Networking Standards: IEEE 802.3u Ethernet 100Base-TX
Routing / Firewall Protoccols: TCP/IP
Routing / Firewall Protoccols: DHCP
Warranty: 3 years warranty
MPN: WRT54GL
Model: WRT54GL
UPC: 745883567959
EAN: 0745883567959
ASIN: B000BTL0OA
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Features:
| • | Firewall - SPI | | • | VPN Support - Yes | | • | VPN Passthrough - Yes |
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Product Description
The Linksys WRT54GL Wireless-G Broadband Router combines the functionalities of three devices into a single device, a wireless access point, a four-port full-duplex 10/100 Mbps switch and a router. The wireless access point lets you connect Wireless-G or Wireless-B devices to the network while the switch connects your wired-Ethernet devices together. The router function ties it all together by letting your whole network share a high-speed cable or DSL Internet connection. The push button setup feature makes it easy to configure your wireless devices. The router serves as a DHCP server, includes an SPI firewall to protect against Internet intruders and also supports VPN pass-through. The WRT54GL even features TKIP and AES to protect your data and privacy with up to 128-bit encryption. With the Linksys Wireless-G Broadband Router at the center of your home or office network, you can share a high-speed Internet connection, files, printers and multi-player games with flexibility, speed, security and simplicity. Status Indicators - Port status, link activity Compliant Standards - FCC IEEE 802.3, IEEE 802.3U, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g Data Link Protocol - Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g Interfaces - 1x network - Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX - RJ-45 ( WAN / DMZ ), 4 x network - Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX - RJ-45, 1 x network - Radio-Ethernet Dimensions - Height 4.8 cm x Depth 20 cm x Width 18.6 cm Weight - 0.5 kg
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| Customer Reviews: Read 316 more reviews...
 This is really the *original* WRT54G December 1, 2005
gadgeek (Winnemucca, NV)
216 out of 233 found this review helpful
This new "L" model has the same Flash and RAM capacities as the older WRT54G models that ran Linux, and thus will support freely and commercially available third-party Linux-based firmware upgrades (voiding the warranty, of course).
Some background and history can be found here:
LinkSys courts Linux hackers with WRT54G"L"
http://linuxdevices.com/news/NS4729641740.html
LinkSys also offers a WRT54GS "speedboaster" model that uses channel bonding with I believe both A and G signals, to realize faster throughput in some use cases. Some older WRT54GS models were available with 8MB of Flash and 32MB of RAM, while current models have 4/16, and thus will also support fancy firmware upgrades, such as those from http://www.dd-wrt.com/, http://www.sveasoft.com/, http://sputnik.com, and so on. These firmwares offer things like optimization for VoWiFi (voice-over-wifi), integration with Radius authentication, bridging, etc, etc, etc.
Techie knitty-gritty on all the various permutations, serial number sequences, and so forth can be found at James Depew's unofficial LinkSysInfo.org site.
Meet the new box, same as the old box December 2, 2005
C. Hansen
134 out of 137 found this review helpful
I've bought close to a dozen of the earlier versions of these routers (WRT54G v2-v4) over the past few years as well as recommended them to my friends, and the ability to update and upgrade the flash memory with modified open source software is the reason why these routers deserve a wonderful reputation.
The modified software versions, such as HyperWRT and OpenWRT, Sveasoft, etc. have over the years provided capabilities that Linksys themselves didn't put in the box on their own, such as having routers that link up over the wireless connection, or routers that can work well in P2P applications with hundreds of active connections. Some of these features made it back into Linksys's official codebase over the years, helping to make this a Truly Great Product.
Linksys has chosen to eviscerate the memory of the latest version (v5) of the WRT54G to make it cheaper. This latest version doesn't have Linux inside and as others have reported isn't nearly as stable as earlier versions, nor is it in any condition to have the open source community help Linksys fix the problems. If you want The Little Blue Box That Could, you now have to buy the WRT54GL.
 it may be a great router but the documentation is terrible October 29, 2007
Robert D. Glover Jr. (Linden, NJ USA)
26 out of 50 found this review helpful
I bought this router because the amazon write up said "compatible with Linux". Since I had just bought a Dell Inspiron 1420 laptop that had Unbuntu 7.04 Linux on it instead of Windows, I figured this router would be just the thing.
When the router arrived in the mail however it did not have one single piece of documentation anywhere that had the word Linux in it. A search through the user manual (which comes on the CD as a pdf file buried in a directory that a normal user might not notice) did not yield a single hit on the word "Linux". The installation CD only works on Windows ("setup.exe") and the only instructions that come with it are a piece of tape put over the back of the router that says, "do not use before running the installation CD").
Running the installation CD on a windows computer is frustrating because it asks you to type in the password. The only place where it tells you what the password is, is on a small piece of paper easily overlooked called, "Frequently Asked Questions". That small, easily overlooked piece of paper is also the only place that tells you the address to type into the browser to administer the router.
The CD used to configure the router defaults to a connection protocol that few users would use. When you change the protocol to DHCP (which most users would use) it also asks for the host name and the domain name, telling you to contact your ISP to learn their settings if unsure. But for the majority of users the host name and the domain name are not necessary, resulting in a needless call to the ISP technical support line.
Trying to setup security using the browser to access the router is frustrating because there are no suggestions or examples provided that would aid a normal user. It has a drop down select list with 5 different security protocols. The user is on her own to guess which protocol to choose and what parameters to type in to configure that protocol.
In summary, while this may be a great router physically, the documentation is so confusing and sparse that a normal user will probably end up calling "Geek Squad" or imposing on a more technical friend or relative to actually get the thing working.
go for WRT54GL, do not settle for less March 7, 2006
matt.mingkee (Brooklyn, NY United States)
25 out of 33 found this review helpful
this router is ACTUALLY old version WRT54G
not only can use 3rd firmware, the hardware is a lot better and more stable
the wireless router connects to our wireless network was WRT54G V5, it's slow and unstable, and end up it died after 2-3 months of use
and I borrowed out my WRT54G (V3.1), this one is faster, stable as steel
if you want a really working WRT54G, go for WRT54GL, pay several more dollars to buy speed and reliability than sorry
Solid and Reliable May 12, 2007
C. Petit (Northeastern US)
23 out of 24 found this review helpful
This wireless router, besides supporting Linux firmware, is a tested and true wireless router with 802.11 b and g support. It supports WPA, WPA2 and the older WEP encryption schemes. In addition, it has a built-in firewall, MAC address filtering, and supports access policies (such as "don't allow FTP connections to this computer on Sundays").
When I installed this wireless router, setup was very straightforward (I did not use the Setup Wizard because it didn't work for me). I changed the IP address range (because the DSL modem uses the 192.168.1 address space), set the administrator password, chose a name for the Wireless network, enabled WPA2 encryption and picked a passphrase.
After that, I connected my laptop to the router right away, and received an excellent signal and throughput of 100 KB/sec (for comparison, my DSL connection maintains a throughput of 300 KB/sec when I connect straight to the DSL modem).
I've been using the router for several months now, and have not had any dropped connections (my older Netgear router dropped connections fairly frequently and did not support the newer WPA encryption scheme) and have consistent throughput. The router has been running constantly for these past few months.
For the real tech-heads, this router has customized Linux firmware available from third parties. I haven't tried this firmware, since the base Linksys firmware more than meets my needs.
Finally, good security practices are to: Change the administrator password, disable Universal Plug and Play, disable Remote administrative access, use a unique name for the access point, and if the network is only for a small number of personal devices (i.e. a laptop you own), enable MAC address filtering. A MAC address uniquely identifies a network card, so this only allows certain computers to access the network.
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