Linksys Wireless Router WRT54GL

Check the pros and cons of Linksys wireless router WRT54GL - Titan of Work.

If you are a Wi-Fi amateur, you may find yourself in Router Jungle. There are a lot of routers out there, some with instructions that don't provide a step-by-step guide, some with cheap hardware solutions and it's not hard to be overcharged for your average router.

To avoid those problems I've recomMend Linksys family and WRT54GL Linksys router for your first home and small business wireless router. For me it's Titan of Work - it's just a little device, but it's very powerful.

First of all, this Linksys wireless router can use both wired and wireless links, so you can share internet as you wish. WRT54GL have four Ethernet slots and can handle up to 255 wireless devices in your area. In other words - you can build your custom network with your PC, notebook, workstation on LAN, and a Wi-Fi game console hook up.

Your Wi-Fi signal has also better quality, because of two antennas that are in box with WRT54GL Linksys router. That means you don't have to worry that those thick walls in your apartMent will cause more distractions. This Linksys wireless router will handle most of it. Of course, it also has its own limitations, but most other routers have only one Wi-Fi antenna and their signal isn't as good as this one.

The setup is one of the most user-friendly out there. Complete step-by-step installation manual will help you configure all options you need to set up. This router has also a backup program, in case you will have to hard reset router and configure it again. Just resend that configure file to router and it will work again.

This Linksys router, is running on Linux firmware and working on 802.11 b and g standard. It supports WPA, WPA2 and the older WEP encryption types. In addition, it has a built-in MAC adDress Filtering, Quality of Service tool, Universal Plug-and-Play for your programs and games ports, firewall, and supports access policies (such as "don't allow Deny's Computer to connect via FTP on Mondays").

Speaking of Quality of Service tool, this Linksys wireless router have really good built-in program. Most of modern house have more than one device that use your Linksys router to connect to internet. Your PC, notebook, game console, mobile phone, sometimes even a TV. You know what will happen if you connect all of those devices into non-QoS router? Disaster! All your devices want to use most of your internet transfer and it will end by flooding your Linksys router.

Linksys wireless router WRT54GL has Quality of Service option. You can Plug-in all your devices and specify which device needs more of your internet transfer and which needs less. It's very convenient and helps a lot for long-term using Linksys router.

In conclusion, this router has one of the best comparison quality/price. You can plug it into your ADSL modem and create a custom network in just few steps. It's one of easiest to configure, and one of the most stable out there. Maybe it is the best solution for home and small business.

Pros:
- Stable, long-term working,
- Supports QoS,
- Easy setup
- Plenty of customization options
- Top quality signal via two antennas

Cons:
- Out of date body design

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Cisco-Linksys WRT54GL Wireless-G Broadband Router (Compatible With Linux)

The Linksys Wireless-G Broadband Router is actually three devices in one box. First, there's the Wireless Access Point, which allows you to connect both screaming Fast devices such as Wireless-G (802.11g at 54Mbps) and Wireless-B (802.11b at 11Mbps) to your network.

Next, is a built-in 4-port full-duplex 10/100 Switch to join your wired-Ethernet devices together. You can connect four PCs directly, or attach more hubs and switches to make as large a network as you want. Lastly, the Router function links it all together and allows your whole network to share a high-speed cable or DSL Internet connection.

After your Computers are linked to the Router and the Internet, they can interconnect with each other too, sharing resources and files. All your Computers can print on a shared printer linked anywhere in the house. And your computers can share all kinds of files -- audio, digital pictures, and docuMents. Save all your digital music on one computer, and listen to it anywhere in the house. Consolidate all of your family's digital photographs in one place, to simplify finding the ones you need, and enabling backup to CD-R. Use spare free space on one computer when the other's hard drives starts to fill up.

I got this wireless router from Amazon.com. When I installed it, the setup was very direct. (The Setup Wizard didn't work for me). I altered the IP adDress series because the DSL modem uses the 192.168.1 adDress, set up an administrator password, then chose a name for the Wireless network, enabled WPA2 encryption and selected a pass-phrase.

Once I attached my laptop to the router, I established an outstanding signal and throughput of 100 KB/sec for evaluation, my DSL connection retains an output of 300 KB/sec when I link straight to the DSL modem.

I've been using the router for some months now, and have not had any plunged connections unlike my older router where it dropped connections objectively often and did not support the newer WPA encryption scheme and have steady output. The router has been running continuously for these past few months.

For the genuine tech-heads, this router has modified Linux firmware accessible from third parties. I haven't tried this firmware, since the base Linksys firmware meets my necessities.

To finish, good security practices are to: Modify the administrator password, deactivate Universal Plug and Play, restrict Remote administrative access, use a distinctive name for the access point, and if the network is only for a minor number of personal devices.

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