Linksys WRT54G series

"PowderHound" (PowderHound) 01/04/2017 at 15:10 • Filed to: oppo tech

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Are these shit? It’s what we use in our house for the wireless but we usually have tons of issues streaming video. I’m not sure if the router itself is just old or if it’s not a strong enough signal from where the router had to be set up (yes, had to so we can’t really move it around the house). I’m not sure exactly which model it is right now but it is either the G, GL, or GS.

TheHondaBro > PowderHound 01/04/2017 at 15:13

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Aren’t those ancient?

jimz > PowderHound 01/04/2017 at 15:14

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I had one once, which inexplicably just up and died one day.

PowderHound > TheHondaBro 01/04/2017 at 15:14

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I would guess yes. I know nothing about routers but I think my parents had one of these when Wi-fi first sort of came about. We needed a router and happened to find this in a closet.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > PowderHound 01/04/2017 at 15:14

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I seem to recall these being super-popular for firmware swaps. Outside of that, it seems like every router in the world sooner or later accrues enough demons to start fucking up, and even resets to factory settings don’t seem like they always solve it. Routers are... tricky at the best of times.

E92M3 > PowderHound 01/04/2017 at 15:16

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They are shit. The processor just can’t handle streaming, and multiple connections. I just replaced my WRT120 with a newer netgear. At one point I had plugged it into an old school Christmas tree timer so it would reboot everyday while I was asleep (so I wouldn’t have to manually do it everyday).

TheHondaBro > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 01/04/2017 at 15:17

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I’ve had to fix the routers in my house many times (Because I live in a technologically-ignorant family) and I still don’t know how those things work.

NinetyQ > PowderHound 01/04/2017 at 15:21

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I just replaced a 12 year old (I think) WRT54GS recently, but not because it was a bad router. I think it was starting to fail due to being old and in constant use for over a decade, but it was still very usable before that.

Anyway, if you’re not paying much (or anything) for it, go for that. If you want something more future-proof, get the WRT 1900 AC, which is what I got to replace the WRT54GS.

diplodicus > PowderHound 01/04/2017 at 15:21

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http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320091&ignorebbr=1&cm_re=ROUTER-_-33-320-091-_-Product  

Those are solid. Just have to check for firmware updates once in a while.If you get something else just make sure its 802.11a/b/g/n

Nibbles > PowderHound 01/04/2017 at 15:21

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Like others said they’re ancient and not up for today’s internetting. I replaced mine with the latest WRT1200AC and could not be happier.

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > PowderHound 01/04/2017 at 15:21

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Yes they are crap, apart from people being able to load open-source firmware on them.

Go get something new and mesh-network ready.

NinetyQ > E92M3 01/04/2017 at 15:23

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WRT120 =/= WRT54G series. The 54Gs are good, and I think newer versions are still being produced.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > TheHondaBro 01/04/2017 at 15:23

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Even in my technologically literate family, we have so many devices running that routers just arbitrarily lose their shit. “Why does the router keep dropping me but only when you log on, when there isn’t an IP conflict or limit on clients? And my phone is working fine?” “Why did it just lag me out?”

“I dunno lol”

facw > PowderHound 01/04/2017 at 15:24

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I mean they were nice, especially with DD-WRT, but it’s way too old for modern usage.

Boxer_4 > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 01/04/2017 at 15:27

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DD-WRT was very popular on these. In fact, I helped a friend put DD-WRT onto one just a week ago to run it as a wireless repeater.

I’m still using one on the factory firmware as a main wireless router; I believe this will be its 10th year of service come April 2017.

My X-type is too a real Jaguar > PowderHound 01/04/2017 at 15:28

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Those were the workhorses of their day, but by modern standards they are terrible. It is definitely time to upgrade, that router will not stream HD reliably

TheHondaBro > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 01/04/2017 at 15:29

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My house is wired for ethernet which is awesome because you can have multiple devices on a hardwired connection and not lose bandwidth.

NinetyQ > NinetyQ 01/04/2017 at 15:30

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I’m surprised at all the people saying they’re crap. I mean, maybe the performance degredation I was noticing actually was due to not being able to keep up rather than age related failure, but it worked pretty well for me; even being able to stream video fairly well. That said, I wasn’t trying to stream anything above 1080p, which may be what people are thinking of.

I think, if you plug it in and it works for you and you’re on a budget, go for it. You can always replace it later if you decide it’s not up to your standards. But like I said, it was still holding up to my household’s 2016 internet needs for the most part (one wired computer, 2 wireless laptops, 2 wireless smartphones, a Wii, and a Roku 3).

Junkrat aka Rick Sanchez: Fury Road Edition > PowderHound 01/04/2017 at 15:31

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I switched to ASUS routers a few years back for my SOHO installs. I have had very good luck with them and they seem to be up to the task. They range in price from $70 to $300 and are a robust all in one solution. If you want to go semi next level Ubiquiti’s stuff is really impressive for the price. With that setup you would have to purchase router, switch, and access point separately. I run a pfsense appliance at home because of the robust anti-virus/anti-malware that I can run at the firewall level and not have to solely rely on programs running on the computers themselves. No matter your choice you will see a dramatic increase in performance over your current setup.

PowderHound > Junkrat aka Rick Sanchez: Fury Road Edition 01/04/2017 at 15:35

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I’m not really looking to spend much more than $100. From other peoples comments it seems like the ASUS RT-N66U or the WRT 1200 AC are along what I’m looking for

Boxer_4 > NinetyQ 01/04/2017 at 15:38

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My WRT54GS is still going strong after almost 10 years in service. I have an EA3500 (which I used while I was away for college) waiting as an eventual replacement, but I haven’t had the need to switch it out yet.

My friend and I who do computer repair work on the side keep getting these for free; I think we have 4 or so spares currently...

Wacko > PowderHound 01/04/2017 at 15:38

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they were everywhere back in the day, now all mine installed with openWRT are starting to die now too.

I still have about 3 running as home vpn clients for VoIP installations.

Junkrat aka Rick Sanchez: Fury Road Edition > PowderHound 01/04/2017 at 15:38

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ASUS has released a newer model that’s only $70. It should be more than enough.

https://www.amazon.com/RT-ACRH13-Dual-Band-AC1300-4-port-Gigabit/dp/B01LXL1AR8/

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > TheHondaBro 01/04/2017 at 15:42

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Yep. It would make sense to do a while down the road but not really practical right now - too many things needing to be uprooted to do in-wall fishing.

Shamoononon drives like a farmer > PowderHound 01/04/2017 at 15:57

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.... I still have one from my college years.

Aaron M - MasoFiST > PowderHound 01/04/2017 at 15:58

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The newest of the three of those model numbers is *12 years old*.

adamftw > facw 01/04/2017 at 16:02

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Yea, these were the shit back in the day. Now they’re shitty unfortunately. Old age doesn’t work well with electronics.

PowderHound > Shamoononon drives like a farmer 01/04/2017 at 16:12

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I’ve never been very up-to-date in the tech world… oh well

Chinny Raccoon > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 01/04/2017 at 16:15

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For all people hate on them, Apple routers are rock solid and last well. My Airport extreme is coming up to 10 years old, still running great and gets FW updates occasionally.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > PowderHound 01/04/2017 at 16:17

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Look into and install DDWRT on it, it will run much better and be incredibly reliable...it’s an open-source replacement firmware....have had it on the old WRT54G at mom’s place for years with almost no issues at all!

Doesn’t cost a cent, and though there is a chance to brick it with the reclassify, as long as you follow the instructions, it will be fine - I’ve reflashed routers with DDWRT a dozen times now with no issues!

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Chinny Raccoon 01/04/2017 at 16:22

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There are plenty of Appley things I will bag on. Apart from some weird behavior on which items they will allow to do what on the network, the routers aren’t one of them.

NinetyQ > PowderHound 01/04/2017 at 17:03

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Save your money and use the WRT54G until it doesn’t work for you anymore. Not a lot of point in throwing down money on something new if the free old one will suit your needs.

PowderHound > NinetyQ 01/04/2017 at 17:22

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We can’t stream movies/videos without having it freeze to load itself every minute or so. Pausing it to try and let it catch up and preload seems to do nothing

merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc > PowderHound 01/04/2017 at 18:27

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Can you run a network cable to the device? Might be a good idea, or maybe your speeds for the modem are too low. We had to bump up our service to the next level to allow us to stream movies and such.

kanadanmajava1 > PowderHound 01/04/2017 at 18:54

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I think we have one of these at our car club. The wired connection freezes nearly always when someone connects through wireless with something that has an iOS.

oldmxer > PowderHound 01/06/2017 at 08:35

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ok , but old tech, newer ones have better performance. look on consumer reports, also area boosters kill most dead spots and are affordable