nad_masters's Full Review: Linksys WRT54GS Wireless Router
After recommending Linksys to everyone during my days at Best Buy, I've decided to take the plunge when Fry's Electronics had it on sale for $59.99. This is not a bad price considering that it still goes for $79.99 at most retail stores (and recently saw it on sale at Radio Shack for $69.99). This comes very close to the price at online shops such as NewEgg.com. Being a subsidiary of Cisco, how could I go wrong?
A brief history of my experience with wireless access points and routers may be in order here. My first router (that I owned - I’ve used others before it) was the NetGear RP614 wired router. Recently, it was giving me problems, so I switched it to this Linksys WRT54G. However, even before the switch, I wanted to go wireless. The 802.11g standard was not finalized yet at the time, and products that were based on the draft standard were expensive! Prices of the 802.11b equipment were about the same price as the G devices today, so I took the plunge and bought my very first wireless equipment: a D-Link DI-614+ (22 mbps it promised) and a D-Link DWL-650+ (also 22 mpbs). However, the D-Link was only used as an access point, as my Netgear router was still working. Besides, this works out great because now I can move my wireless router to the middle of the house for better signal dispersion. However, I have yet to write a review about my experience with the D-Link pair, so I should remind myself to do so, as I am on a wireless networking crusade lately.
I guess my brief history of my networking experience has blossomed into a story book, but I promise that this is even shorter. The D-Link equipment works great together, but the PC Card kept locking up my Compaq Presario notebook when on battery power. It even locked up my friend's Sony VIAO notebook (but on both battery and AC power)! And finally, it won't work at all with my brother's relatively new Toshiba tablet PC. Of course, I will elaborate on this when I have time to write a sorely missed D-Link router/PC Card epinions (which I can't believe I never wrote!).
The Purchase
With my Compaq Presario's death, and my brother's Toshiba not working with the D-Link wireless router, I decided to go ahead and use this excuse to upgrade to an 802.11g wireless router. But at this point, the Netgear wired router was clunking out (every once in a while - every day, every week, or every month - I cannot access the internet, and at the same token, I couldn't access or ping the router). Of course, I now found a fix for it (back up your configuration settings, and open the file up to change "forcerenew" to "enabled"), but it's too late. :) I already bought my Linksys WRT54G.
Installation Initial Setup
Since I am replacing my Netgear wired router, the Linksys is now going to be my primary router that does the actual routing work that my Netgear used to do. My D-Link wireless router had such a hard time throwing signals to my front room (about 70 feet away) since all of my DSL hard wire is at the back of the house, so I wasn't sure how the Linksys would do. Of course, I contemplated about using the D-Link as my router and just use the Linksys as my wireless access point, but decided to test my original plan first.
So out goes my Netgear and in my new Linksys! Setup was a breeze if you have configured a router before. 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.
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), but so far, all of my equipment only uses WEP. And even if you wanted to use 128 bit encryption (the best so far for WEP), Linksys warns that this is not a standard encryption, and that other vendors may have trouble connecting to it. I found this information to be correct, as I could not access the network with either D-Link's PC card, USB Wireless adaptor, or the Toshiba's built-in wireless networking. I had less of a hard time with 64-bit encryption. Either way, both methods can be hacked with ease, and I should upgrade to an adaptor that can handle WPA.
A tip, if you must use WEP - at least use Shared Key, since it does not broadcasts your encryption key. You will need to provide the key on your client side to connect to the network.
Performance
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).
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 WRT54G, 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.
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
This is the part I really wanted to talk about. I have this router running, and have no signs of any connection drops for since I bought it, and in this respect, I love the hell out of it. However, the strange thing is once I got the Linksys up and running, my brother's Toshiba laptop - which never was able to connect to the D-Link wireless B router I have, finally connects to it with ease! The problem, however, is that it just simply will not connect to my new Linksys WRT54G router! It is just a simply odd twist of events.
After buying a D-Link external USB wireless G adaptor, I still have the same problem. I thought it was the WRT54G, and before I returned it, I checked out the internet to see if anyone else had problems similar to mine. It was hard to find, but there was one person... a couple of setting tweaks helped him, but not me (changing Fragmentation and RTS to 2304 - still no go for me).
It was then I found out that this unit was based off Linux and very hackable. This ties in with usability, so please read on as this is what I REALLY wanted to write about.
Hacking for Usability
With a hacked firmware update, there are many more settings that are revealed that Linksys hidden. 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. However, almost all of them fix one problem that Linksys refuses to fix: transmission power. By default, Linksys's WRT54G 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).
But STILL my brother's Toshiba won't connect to the router! So another tip for today: try Biongo! Biongo is a free software that sniffs out available wireless LAN signals. It was meant for Biongo customers to access the Biongo network, but they also extended it so you can sniff out public and private WLANs as well. For some odd reason, Biongo actually connected to the WRT54G without any problems, but cannot connect to my D-Link's 802.11b router. So now, if I want to connect to one or the other, I either have to use Biongo (for my G connection), or exit Biongo and use Window's own Zero Configuration Wireless Network utility (for my B connection).
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.
But I am still shining a good light on the Linksys WRT54G wireless G router because of it's hackability, it's use of Linux (and with certain hacked firmware, you can access the command line), and the fact you can change the transmission power higher than other routers (the D-Link allows me to change the power from the factory firmware, but not as high as the Linksys's hacked firmware). Of course, Linksys should update their next firmware with the abilities of the hacked firmware (just not as high of a power rating as the hackers gave us the option to use).
In all, once we're connected, we stay connected. The firewall can block Java and ActiveX as well (with hacked firmware), so we know that it can support that kind of security. Too bad that Linksys will not allow access to it on their official firmware. But another plus is that Linksys is pro GPL, which is an open source license. The hacked firmwares are LEGAL, and was encouraged by Linksys. Linksys provides the source code for their firmware on the same page as the compiled official firmware bin image.
So there you have it - a router with a cult following. :) With the WRT54G being so flexible, it's hard to fault it, even though out of the box, it can be hell to configuration (at least for me and my area).
If you must take anything away from this, at least take this: 1) It's highly hackable and flexible 2) You can turn up the transmission power for the signal to go further.
And I'm spent. :)
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 59.99 Driver Availability: Windows, Linux, and Mac
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