Having owned the Linksys WRT54G Wireless G router, I've decided to try out the Speedbooster version (WRT54GS) when Fry's Electronics had it on sale for $59.99. This was exactly the same price I paid for the original non-Speedbooster version just barely a year ago. This is not a bad price considering that it still goes for $89.99 at most retail stores. This comes very close to the price at online shops such as NewEgg.com. Having great sucess with the original non-enhanced version, I figured "why not?"

One of the main reasons I did it was the need for a network connection without unsightly wires for my living-room-bound Windows Media Center Edition. Having a nice looking Shuttle miniPC, I wanted to keep asthetics on the same high level as Shuttle's miniPC case.

It took me a while before I purchased a USB version of Linksys's matching Speedbooster Wireless G adaptor. Speed comparison should be interesting.

The Package
Inside, you find a very nice cardboard envelope that is attractive with its shiney gloss and Linksys team color (blue and black). Inside the envelope, you get a mini brochure for their other products, as well as a quick guide, a setup CD, and a registration/warrantee card.

Installation
Initial Setup
The new Speedbooster Linksys is going to be my access point, while my original Linksys router will still act as the gateway. They are about 80 feet apart. A single CAT5 wire is the only high tech connection from the back of my house to the front. I like to call this my home's network backbone. You can call me cheesy.

With that description out of the way, it is easy to see that having two radios in both ends of the house should provide enough coverage no matter where I am at. Unfortunately, if you remember, my area is very bad for WiFi in the 2.4 GHz range. I still have my share of slow-downs and interference. But lets go on...

Setup was a breeze if you have configured a router before. The web interface is unchanged from the WRT54G (non-S). Plug her up, and plug in your PC (hopefully wired first, as you need to configure the wireless portion). The default IP address to the router is 192.168.1.1, and the password is "password" (no username). Of course, I found out that the Linksys actually IGNORES the username because as a habit of mine, I always use "admin" as the user (a throwback to Netgear and D-Link) and I was still able to gain access to the router.

You get to use it against PPPoE (most DSLs), Static IP (T1s and business DSLs), PPTP (VPN), L2TP (VPN), Telstra Cable, and DHCP (for most cable users). These are different methods of connection depending on your kind of service. Of course, if you don't know which to use, you should contact your Internet Service Provider's tech support and ask (or check out their FAQ on their web site).

If you use cable (DHCP), you just disconnect your cable modem from your PC and connect it to the router's WAN connector. The router will automatically grab an IP address from your ISP. You can now access the internet. Yes... it's that easy.

With DSL (I have SBC Yahoo! DSL), you will need to choose PPPoE, and as you know, it needs to be "connected". Use the same username and password you use to log in, but instead, you are using your router to log in, so you do not need to log in every time. Your router now allows you to have instant on access to the internet, and also splits up the connection to your wireless devices and other computers on the wired realm.

After setting up your internet connection, you should set up your network, too. Personally, I use the 192.168.0.x IP range, where as the default was 192.168.1.x. For most users, you should enable DHCP, as this will let the router automatically assign internal IP address to your devices so you don't have to tediously configure each machine to a non-changing static IP. DHCP allows for most beginners to have a true "plug and play" experience with the router. It is enabled by default because of this.

You are now pretty much set in the wired department - you can access the internet, and if your PCs are configured correctly, you can also share files and printers.

TO SET UP AS AN ACCESS POINT
If, like me, you don't want to use the routing features of the router, you can keep the WAN connection type to the default DHCP setting. However, you must turn off the router's DHCP service so that it can act as a dumb device (or just a plain old network switch).

Hook a CAT5 cable from REAL router's (or gateway's) network switch port to the WRT54GS's network switch port as well. It shouldn't matter if it is "uplink" or not - the WRT54GS thankfully has an auto-MDX feature to autodetect crossover and straight connections.

And you are now set to go! You have turned a smart gateway into a dumb access point!

Wireless Setup
Now that you can access the internet and your local network with a hard wire, it is time to set up your wireless portion of the network. If you have a mixture of G and B devices, you will want to keep the Network mode on Mixed (default). Choose B only or G only if you have all B or G devices. This will either improve connection reliability in the case of B devices, or improve throughput with G only devices.

Set up your SSID, as this is the name of your wireless connection. Choosing a non-default SSID may help thwarts novice hackers, but in reality, it does nothing. The least it could do is to lessen the chance of a conflict if someone in your neighborhood decides to buy the same WRT54G (or another Linksys AP or router) and leaves it on default SSID.

The next difficult thing is the channel. You will have to use a program such as Netstumbler to see test which channels provides the best connection and signal strength, since there may be interference in certain channels (and it would be nice to avoid channels that are already in use by your neighbors).

And finally, for basic wireless setup, you will need to decide if SSID broadcast should be on or off. With it on, your SSID will be broadcasted for everyone to see, where if you turn it off, you will need to provide an SSID to have access to your wireless connection. Instinct may want to turn off SSID (and it's a good security measure in theory), but I found that it is much more difficult to connect and even recognize your own wireless LAN with it off. Leave it on for the time being and play around with settings AFTER you get your wireless LAN working.

Wireless Security Setup
It really depends on your clients (wireless devices), but WEP, WPA, etc... different methods of protection (WPA being the best). So far, all of my devices have WPA security available, so I have switched from my low-brow 64-bit WEP to an WPA AES encyrption. I now sleep better at night. The reason why is because both WEP encryption levels have already been proven be weak and can be hacked with ease. So far, no one has broken into WPA encryption as of this writing.

A tip if you must use WEP - DO NOT USE Shared Key. I have not really understood why, but I've read in many places includng network expert papers that it is actually easier to find out your WEP key this way. It was quite the contrary to what I believed originally, and what I suggested in my older Linksys router write-up (the old WRT54G review).

But keep in mind, even if you cannot use WPA - ANY kind of security measures is better than none. It may take some know-how to get into your encrypted wireless network, but not EVERYONE is in the know. If you keep your wireless network unencrypted, then even your grandmother can get in without ANY trouble. The lesson here is to make it hard and frustrating as possible for the would-be crook.

Advanced Wireless Settings
There is not much you can do with the default firmware. The only tip I can give you is to enable Frame Burst in Wireless's Advance Setup. Otherwise, there is a transmit power adjustment that you can adjust with a hacked firmware (see below).

Also, if you have nothing but G devices, disable CTS Protetion mode. According to Linksys's help page, "when set to Auto, a protection mechanism will ensure that your Wireless-B devices will connect to the Wireless-G Router when many Wireless-G devices are present. However, performance of your Wireless-G devices may be decreased."

Security
Aside from wireless security, there are also settings for the built-in SPI firewall. Basic settings are Block Anonymous Internet requests, Filter Multicast, Filter Internet NAT redirection, and Filter IDENT (Port 113). The default settings are fine for most users (block IDENT and Anonymous Internet Requests). And, for those who are worried about VPN security, those settings are in the VPN section, which allows you to disable IPSec Passthrough, PPTP Passthrough and L2TP Passthrough.

Access Restriction
With the WRT54GS, you can control internet access by time and day, and with specific internal IP addresses (which you can set to your children's PC). Here, you can also block up to 4 URLs and 6 keywords. You can even restrict types of connections (such as http, ftp, telnet, etc).

Applications and Gaming
I feel this should be a part of the firewall, but Linksys feels otherwise, giving it another category in the router setup pages. Applications & Gaming allows you to specify certain applications or games to be used with the router. The router will forward ports that are requested and received by the applications or games from the internal IP to the external (ISP) IP, which should look seamless to your games or picky applications. So far, it certainly helps with games such as Half-Life, Counter-Strike, and applications such as MSN Messenger, AIM, and Yahoo! Instant Messenger file transfers. Port triggering allows forwarding of ports just like above, but with the application that does the requesting.

Most of the time, you will not need to go thru this hell unless an application or game you are trying to play is not functioning properly (because it cannot access the server, or you cannot connect to someone to transfer files or communicate, such as VNC and remote access). If that is the case, if you visit the software publisher's web site, they should always post up what ports they are using, and instructions on how to open the certain ports up (or forward them in some cases).

And then there is DMZ, which is demilitarized zone. This means that you can set one of your computers as an open system to the outside world. If someone tries to access your external IP, it gets redirected to that computer you DMZed. You may want to do this if you have a server, but you're better off forwarding the proper ports as to not let ALL of the ports open for others to access or exploit.

QoS (Quality of Service) is a great way to prioritize packets so that your games will not have trouble playing on the internet during a heavy download on another computer. This also helps with the new emerging VoIP services, where phone services use your internet connection to communicate instead of standard phone lines (such as Vonage).

Administration
This is where you can set up your router's login password, and the kind of access you want to your router (internally). What I mean is, do you want to access it with the plain and insecure HTTP protocol, or the secured HTTPS? You can also enable or disable wireless devices to be able to access the setup pages.

You can also set it up to remotely access the router, but it is not recommended. If you do decide to enable it, change the default port to connect to, as well as use HTTPS as the secured protocol. UPnP in this section allows non-PC devices (such as wireless media player set top boxes) to automatically configure itself for use on the network. This can be exploited to gain access to your network, or can even cause problems and hardship when trying to connect your devices, so turn it off unless you absolutely need it (again, for those devices that can't live without it).

You can also upgrade your firmware here, as well as backup the settings. After all, do you want to go thru all of this setup again, once you got everything down pat? Probably not. This is standard fare on most routers nowadays.

Status
Router
This shows the overview of what and how your router is doing. It displays your firmware Version, current time, the MAC address you are giving to your ISP, the router's name, and the host and domain name (if you use it). It also shows your internet connection in a nutshell, listing type of connection (PPPoE, Static IP, DHCP, etc.), your login status (connected, disconnect), the external IP address, external subnet mask, your ISP's default gateway, and your domain name servers (DNS).

The information here can help you or your network administrator troubleshoot problems that you may run into.

Local Network
And here, this is what your internal IP address (internal network and PCs) sees. It lists your internal MAC address, local IP address, local subnet mask, your DHCP server status (enabled or disabled), and your start/end IP address range. Again, these info will help with troubleshooting.

Wireless
Just like the other two, this shows a basic overall view of what your wireless network is set up as. You get your wireless MAC address (the MAC address that wireless devices sees), your wireless mode (Mixed, G only, B only, or disabled), your SSID (wireless LAN name), if DHCP is enabled for the wireless LAN, and the channel the wireless LAN is on. It also tells you if encryption is on or off.

Actual Use
Using SiSoft Sandra, a matching Linksys USB Wireless G with Speedboost adaptor, and my trusty Gateway 4530GZ Centrino laptop, I was able to do some formal speed tests. Unfortunately, my tests are not as comprehensive as, say, PC Magazine. However, it is a real world test, and should prove if Speedbooster is really worth it.

My laptop was about 20 feet away, going through 2 brick walls. Signal was averaging about 4-5 bars (out of 5) using Microsoft's Windows XP built-in wireless managment software. This was true with both the Linksys Speedbooster adaptor, and the built-in Intel Wireless Pro 2200G adaptor.

Testing speeds using a wired PC, SiSoft Sandra 2005 sends data to a client as fast as it can and reports back a speed rating. And here we go:

Wired LAN (100 Mbit)
9 MB/sec

Intel Wireless Pro 2200G
3076 kb/sec (about 3 MB/sec)

Linksys Speedbooster
3484 kb/sec (about 3.5 MB/sec)

D-Link 108 Mbit (channel bonding)
6 MB/sec

So if wireless speed is what you are looking for, D-Link (and also Netgear) channel bonding technology may be what you are looking for. However, may cause problems with neighboring wireless-G users. In fact, I had trouble with a stable connection when I spent a short time with the 108 Mbit equipment at my home (again, bad area for 2.4 GHz radios, it seems).

In fact, not everything is still rosey with my current set up either - I get slow-downs and sometimes disconnections (and I get switched from one AP to another!). I never experienced this problem with any of my customers or friends when I'm in their area (not in my neighborhood).

Hacking for Usability
Just like with the standard WRT54G, the WRT54GS have lots of hacked firmware available from the WRT54G/GS community. You read right - these routers have a following! With hacked firmwares, there are many more settings that are revealed that Linksys hidden. Plus you can also make it do things that a Linux PC can. First and foremost are more settings for the firewall, making it the best consumer-based hardware firewall. Of course, being popular, too, makes it susceptible to hacking. There was one vulnerability found, and was patched up quickly by Linksys. Read this: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-5226918.html .

Of course, I cannot tell you what exactly is revealed, since there are many hacked firmwares out there offering different available settings and features. However, almost all of them fix one problem that Linksys refuses to fix: transmission power. By default, Linksys's WRT54G and GS only puts out 19mW of power. This signal is too weak, as evident by using Netstumbler (a WiFi sniffing software utility). If you must purchase the Linksys WRT54G, though, it is a must that you find a way to turn up the power!

It is suggested that 42mW is sufficient, while others turn it up to 56mW. The maximum is 86mW, but more power doesn't mean better signals. The signal strength is very high at the maximum, but causes the signal to bleed into other channels. Also, it can distort the intended signal as well, causing drop outs and slower access speeds. Most agree that 42mW is optimal, and my tests confirm that to be true. However, in my area, I have lots of neighborhood access points, so I had to increase it further to 56mW. Also, increasing the power does certainly increase the heat output of the router. It is nothing to fear, though, as it is not hot enough to cause fires, or cause internal damages due to heat. However, at power ratings above 56mW, the router may overheat and cease to function (not to mention probably powerful enough to zap an ant).

Still, my connection-staying power is still not there. However, it did extend the range to the back of my garage (which is about 110 feet away from the router, going through 3 walls and a door).

Conclusion
I'll admit that I'm stumped and perplexed by what is going on in my area, as my experience with wireless networks here are giving me strange results. To give credit, I have set up Netgear, D-Link, Microsoft, Linksys, and countless other brands of wireless routers for others, and have yet to experience erratic behavior as when I try to build my own personal wireless nirvana.

Also, the speed of the Speedbooster version isn't much faster than the standard G, and certainly no where near the channel-bonding technology used in D-Link and Netgear routers. But then again, if you see a standard G and a Speedbooster G at the same price, and you don't want to disturb your neighbor's wireless setup, a Speedbooster is worth it.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 59.99
Driver Availability: Windows, Linux, and Mac

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