Available From
Why are these offers here?
Smart Buy!
Lowest price from a Trusted Store
Second Lowest Price
Featured Offer
- Overview
-
Reviews
- Compare Prices
User ReviewRead All Reviews »
Right on!
Pros
stability, features, design, performance.
Cons
could be confusing, somewhat expensive.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Most stable and trouble free router I've ever had. Highly recommended.
I've lost count on the routers that I've gone through in the past few months, and frankly I was beginning to lose hope. Ever since I bought a new laptop with Vista Home Premium, I've had nothing but troubles when trying to network my PCs. It seems like every router I tried crashese immediately once I try to access an XP PC from the Vista laptop.
Despite looking almost identical to the WRT110, the WRT54G2 is actually an entirely different router. The more expensive 110 claims to support some turbo modes and even the N standard, while the 54G2 is limited to the older 54mb G. At the end though, it all comes down to how well each does what they are supposed to do. The 110 was a complete nightmare, which I had to reset several times a day, even without the dreadful intereference of Vista. The 54G2 has been going strong for over a month now without a single reset. It is also the first router I've had that did not freeze from the networking of Vista and XP computers together.
The router looks pretty cool with the internal antennas, though the plastic feels cheaper, and the whole device itself is a bit lighter than the WRT110.
Basic installation was not a problem, though I chose to skip the included CD, I didn't want to risk having some unnecessary crap installed on my computer. All I had to do was turn off my cable modem, connect one cable from the modem to the router, and a second one from the router to the laptop. After that i turned on the modem first and then the router. Everything was working and I was online.
Then I accessed the router through the browser interface - type 192.168.1.1 and uscing the default password "admin". Then of course change that password and select a user name.
On top of my Vista laptop, I share my network with an XP desktop, XP laptop, PS3, and an HP iPaq PDA. The PDA only supports the old b standard, the two XP PCs only support the manual security set up, and the PS3 has been driving me insane (I seriously should rewrite my PS3 review, I am beginning to seriously despise this piece of trash.)
Anyway, the advanced set up is rather confusing, and the explanations of the various options are little help. Basically if you don't know what you are doing it will take some serous forums reading to find your way through the advanced set up. That said, there are plenty of options for those who know what to do with them.
I'll be honest, I don't know what to do with most of them. What I managed to do was set up WEP encryption (only kind my PDA supports), turn off the firewall - just one of many things the PS3 does not like, and assign a static IP for the darned PS3 as well as put it in the DMZ in same misplaced hope that it might actually work.
Now everything works like a charm, except for the PS3, which constantly gets disconnect from the PlayStation network, despite never actually dropping the internet connection. I really wish I had kept my XBOX 360.
I really like that the router could be accessed and tweaked wirelessly. It also saves the changes you make very quickly, without having to reboot after every change, like some other routers I tried. On the down side - it doesn't seem to have an option to automatically check for firmware upgrades.
The other thing that makes me happy is the stability of the connection. With most of the other routers my connection would not only frequently drop out completely, but while connected would constantly be switching from 54, to 24, to 2, to 1 Mb. With this router all of my computers consistently connect at 54 Mb and stay there. It also works just fine with my PDA on the b standard. My house is pretty small so I am not exactly sure about the range, I get above 80% signal strength anywhere around the house.
The most important thing to me though is that it doesn't seem like even Vista can make it crash. Now if I can just get rid of the PS3 and the peace in my world will be restored.
Despite looking almost identical to the WRT110, the WRT54G2 is actually an entirely different router. The more expensive 110 claims to support some turbo modes and even the N standard, while the 54G2 is limited to the older 54mb G. At the end though, it all comes down to how well each does what they are supposed to do. The 110 was a complete nightmare, which I had to reset several times a day, even without the dreadful intereference of Vista. The 54G2 has been going strong for over a month now without a single reset. It is also the first router I've had that did not freeze from the networking of Vista and XP computers together.
The router looks pretty cool with the internal antennas, though the plastic feels cheaper, and the whole device itself is a bit lighter than the WRT110.
Basic installation was not a problem, though I chose to skip the included CD, I didn't want to risk having some unnecessary crap installed on my computer. All I had to do was turn off my cable modem, connect one cable from the modem to the router, and a second one from the router to the laptop. After that i turned on the modem first and then the router. Everything was working and I was online.
Then I accessed the router through the browser interface - type 192.168.1.1 and uscing the default password "admin". Then of course change that password and select a user name.
On top of my Vista laptop, I share my network with an XP desktop, XP laptop, PS3, and an HP iPaq PDA. The PDA only supports the old b standard, the two XP PCs only support the manual security set up, and the PS3 has been driving me insane (I seriously should rewrite my PS3 review, I am beginning to seriously despise this piece of trash.)
Anyway, the advanced set up is rather confusing, and the explanations of the various options are little help. Basically if you don't know what you are doing it will take some serous forums reading to find your way through the advanced set up. That said, there are plenty of options for those who know what to do with them.
I'll be honest, I don't know what to do with most of them. What I managed to do was set up WEP encryption (only kind my PDA supports), turn off the firewall - just one of many things the PS3 does not like, and assign a static IP for the darned PS3 as well as put it in the DMZ in same misplaced hope that it might actually work.
Now everything works like a charm, except for the PS3, which constantly gets disconnect from the PlayStation network, despite never actually dropping the internet connection. I really wish I had kept my XBOX 360.
I really like that the router could be accessed and tweaked wirelessly. It also saves the changes you make very quickly, without having to reboot after every change, like some other routers I tried. On the down side - it doesn't seem to have an option to automatically check for firmware upgrades.
The other thing that makes me happy is the stability of the connection. With most of the other routers my connection would not only frequently drop out completely, but while connected would constantly be switching from 54, to 24, to 2, to 1 Mb. With this router all of my computers consistently connect at 54 Mb and stay there. It also works just fine with my PDA on the b standard. My house is pretty small so I am not exactly sure about the range, I get above 80% signal strength anywhere around the house.
The most important thing to me though is that it doesn't seem like even Vista can make it crash. Now if I can just get rid of the PS3 and the peace in my world will be restored.
