IT Professionals

Which Router To Replace My Linksys WRT54G?

Posted by on Dec 28, 2006 | 10 Comments

I’ve pretty much had enough. The WRT54G has proven to be a fun router to play with, but I’ve bricked a few of them over the past couple years, and the one I have now is less than optimal. It drops wireless connections fairly regularly. I can try upgrading the Talisman firmware to the latest (I am running 1.0.5 and there have been two releases since), but I’m not convinced it’s a software issue really.

So, the question is: Which wireless router is best for me? I’ll do some research of my own, of course, but I know some of you smart people will let me know what your experiences are.

Here’s a bit off the old Stuff-I-Need list as it relates to the router:

  • I use Vonage for phone service. For the past year I have had the Vonage terminal adapter sitting on the Internet, and the wireless router plugs into the TA’s LAN port.
  • I’d like to be able to define QoS for a variety of apps, network destinations and service types.
  • Security, security, security. It must have a good firewall and the ability to DMZ properly.
  • Geekiness, geekiness, geekiness. Plus points for ability to configure and tweak a lot.

Any ideas out there? I’m off to do some research. This will be my Christmas present to myself, if and when I decide to do the replacement. I have a week off from work to catch up on life and things at home, so this is on my list (not at the top, priority-wise, but it’s on there).

Starting point: This Buffalo router looks pretty good.

UPDATE: I tried upgrading to the latest Talisman/SveaSoft firmware, but problems persisted and in fact even got worse. DHCP completely failed and . I removed the router from the network, hooked up to the Vonage TA directly, connected to Linksys.com, and downloaded the latest factory firmware. Once I managed to get that installed, everything seems to be back up and running and looks stable at first glance. But the Linksys firmware, although greatly improved since I last looked at the Linksys factory stuff, doesn’t have the same great options. But I’ll let this run for a while and see if it’s more stable. Fingers crossed. I still want to replace this thing. Thanks for the emails and comments so far. Any more ideas to consider?

  • http://matthartley.com Matt Hartley

    Hey Greg,

    Without a doubt – the DGL-430 from D-Link. After bricking router after router (including your Linksys model) I found this http://games.dlink.com/products/?pid=370 offered everything I could ever want: control, security, and mad throughput / network load balancing. ;)

    Matt

  • David

    For the $, the WRT54GL is the best thing going. I install a couple of routers a month for clients and friends (not just Linksys), and the GL’s just run, even with factory firmware.

    Personally, I run a GL at home with DD-WRT doing QoS, with a PAP2T on the LAN terminating my babyTEL number. Nary a problem, and QoS works like a charm – noticable difference than without it (and I have 8Mbps down and 1Mbps up).

    I know you were looking for alternative routers to the WRT family, but I’ve just not seen the need. I have clients who do Cisco with end-point VPN’s between locations (1811′s) and they are good and solid, but who wants to get that deep for home use?

    Personally, if I had the time to tinker, I’d be looking into something like Astaro. But I’m happy with my GL.

  • Jim McCarty

    I know it seems rather expensive, but the Cisco ASA (Adaptive Security Appliance) 5505 is an industrial strength firewll that actually plays very nicely in a SOHO environment.

  • http://www.savagegeeks.com Sid Gilbert

    I would avoid the Buffalo router. I purchased a Buffalo Airstation Wireless Draft N model that was malfuntioning right out of the box. I have to admit that Buffalo replaced it without too much hassle, but the replacement only gets about half the speed of the other wireless routers in my network. (About 4 others spread across a 4 acre building.) I have had the best luck with the model you are ready to abandon, so take this with a grain of salt if you will.

  • Tim Dickson

    Use the WRT ( I use the WRT54GL )
    and jump on with Tomato.
    It’s a great firmware with everything you’d want in a SOHO.
    http://www.polarcloud.com/tomato

    check it out!

  • Minivitale

    Microsoft seems to “get” productivity in a way other companies don’t. Sure the dock looks cool, but are my programs in a static location that I can click without having to look or think? no. The taskbar lets me know where my most used programs are (currently open or not) and open or switch to them with a simple windows-(number) shortcut that makes switching between programs easier than alt-tab, where you may have to hunt through many open programs to find what you want. Something not on my taskbar? hit windows key and start typing. When you don’t have to think about how to access the information on your computer, the OS is doing what it should. Is 7 perfect? No. Will 8 (or “Windows ___”) be? Still a no. Is it the best product out there? Yes, by far.

    • http://chris.pirillo.com/ Chris Pirillo

      “Best” is relative.

  • Anonymous

    I would think that you would like Mac OS X Snow Leopard since they have such great programs for video editing.

    • http://chris.pirillo.com/ Chris Pirillo

      Sure, you could like that, too?

  • http://chris.pirillo.com/ Chris Pirillo

    It’s always been that way.