Wireless-G is the next wave in wireless networking technology. Wireless-G WAP's, and Network Interface Cards (NIC's) are capable of transmitting and receiving data at speeds of up to 54Mbps, almost five times faster than the widely deployed Wireless-B (802.11b) products found in homes, businesses, and public wireless hotspots around the country, and indeed around the world. Wireless-G devices can utilize either the 2.4 GHz or 5.0 GHz band, and some can utilize both bands. Those Wireless-G devices that share the 2.4GHz radio band, can also work with existing 11Mbps Wireless-B equipment, while those which utilize the 5.0Ghz band will interoperate only with Wireless-A (802.11a, 54Mbps) equipment. Dual-band Wireless-G equipment are capable of interoperating with all three protocols; i.e. 802.11a (54Mbps), 802.11b (11 Mbps), and 802.11g (54Mbps).
As Personal Area Networks (PAN) proliferate throughout American homes and small businesses fueled by the explosion of DSL, cable modem, and other high speed Internet access mediums, the need for seamless sharing of that access is acute. In order to share an internet connection however, the date stream from the DSL or Cable modem needs to be routed to the computers on the PAN. In my case, I used my primary workstation as a router by inserting a second Network Interface Card (NIC). This allowed the PC to talk to
both my PAN and the DSL modem routing the DSL signal to my PAN via a wireless connection to my
WAP54G. But this solution was problematic since anytime I took my workstation off-line, high-speed Internet access was curtailed until I brought it back on-line.
My solution: the
Linksys (Cisco) Wireless-G WRT54G. The
WRT54G is actually three network interfaces in one convenient blue and black box; it is a Router, a 4-Port full duplex 10/100 Ethernet switch, and a 54Mbps Wireless-G Access Point; all functions I need. Why you might ask? I need the router function to interface with my DSL modem and act as a stand-alone interface for routing high speed Internet to my PAN. I need the 4-port switch to connect my primary workstation and afford it Internet access. And finally, I need the wireless segment of my network to connect to the wired portion of my network, and to afford the wireless clients on the network high speed Internet access. This last bit of wizardry is accomplished by setting up my existing
WAP54G as a wireless repeater of the
WRT54G, a function that allows the former to repeat the signal of the latter, thereby affording my entire network not only high speed Internet access, but access the wired portion of the network where my files sever live.
The Box (Some descriptive material from Linksys product literature)
--All-in-one Internet-sharing Router, 4-port Switch, and Wireless-G (802.11g) Access Point.
--Shares a single Internet connection and other resources with Ethernet wired and Wireless-G clients.
--Wireless data rates up to 54Mbps -- 5 times as fast as Wireless-B (802.11b), but also interoperable with Wireless-B devices (at 11Mbps).
--Basic Security: 128-bit Wireless Encryption Protocol (WEP); must use if the wireless repeating is utilized.
--Advanced security: 128-bit Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA), wireless MAC address filtering, powerful Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) firewall.
--Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) built-in, supporting the 192.168.x.x subnet.
--User configurable network settings; i.e. allows you to configure the WRT54G to your internal particular network setup.
--Supports Virtual Private Network (VPN) pass-through.
--Can be configured to filter internal users' access to the Internet.
The wireless portion of the
WRT54G operates at a frequency of 2.4 GHz, and supports the following wireless protocols: 802.11b and 802.11g. The
Wireless-G WRT54G can transmit and receive networking traffic in a range of 1 – 54Mbps.
Installation Cisco provides lackluster installation procedures for the
WRT54G, assuming (wrongly) that everyone's needs will be the same. For the more advanced installation procedures I needed (these included how to flash the firmware, setup WEP, and configure the WAP54G as a repeater for the
WRT54G), I had to make a visit to the Linksys Knowledge Base. Once there I was able to find what I needed.
Upon unpacking the box, the first thing you'll notice about the
WRT54G is the handsome distinctive rich blue with black accents, colors inherent to all Linksys products. Another distinguishing feature is dual antennae and a plethora of LED (Light Emitting Diode) readouts on the front panel, which relay vital information to the user, such as connection with the DSL modem, and each of the four 10/100 ports.
There is no software to install, although the
WRT54G did ship with Norton Internet Security, I did not load it. I first plugged the
WRT54G into my DSL modem. In order to configure the
WRT54G however, you will have to plug the unit into a computer (in my case I used my primary workstation) via a NIC configured with a 192.168.1.x IP address. Once this was accomplished and the unit was powered on, I type the IP address of the router (192.168.1.1) into Internet Explorer, which in turn gained me access to the units configuration screen; note a password will have to be typed in.
Once inside the configuration utility, I made note of the unit's MAC address (needed to set up wireless repeating), changed some of the defaults; e.g. I have a static IP address, the default for the
WRT54G is dynamic or PPOE, changed the Service Set Identifier SSID etc. I also changed the router's IP address to match that of my internal network IP Addressing scheme, and I changed to access password.
Note: changes to the configuration have to be saved one screen at a time. If you move to another screen without saving any changes made will be lost. Once this was accomplished I was able to surf the net on my workstation.
Now it was time to configure the
WAP54G to repeat the signal from the
WRT54G. I reset the
WAP54G to factory settings, and then connected it to one of the open 10/100 ports of the
WRT54G and using Internet Explorer, gained access to the units configuration page. I then flashed the firmware twice in order to bring it up to 2.07. Once this was accomplished, I configured the WAP54G for wireless repeating, which entails transcribing the MAC address of the
WRT54G into the
WAP54G. I also changed the IP address to match that of my internal network since resetting to factory defaults changes the IP address to 192.168.1.245. Once all of the configuration changes were made I attempted to ping
WAP54G from my workstation with the unit still connected to the
WRT54G: mission accomplished. I then disconnected the
WAP54G took it back to its original location and tried the ping again: no good. I reset the
WAP54G again and configured it for repeating, and then tried the ping again: no good, nor could I ping the
WRT54G from the wired portion of my network. This told me that the two units were not communicating with one another.
I was at a loss, and after two hours of trouble-shooting, including some very frustrating minutes with tech support in India (they were no help), I was about to give up and ship the
WRT54G back to
Buy.com, when I hit on another idea: I could use the
WAP54G was another wireless card on the network and hopefully accomplish the same thing I had hoped to accomplish by repeating the signal from the
WRT54G. In order to accomplish this I need to take a site survey from the
WAP54G. This survey yielded a MAC address from the
WRT54G that was one digit off from the number printed on the bottom of the unit, and that reported by the firmware of the
WRT54G. I plugged this new MAC address into the repeater field, and (deep sigh) it worked; I could now ping the
WAP54G (wirelessly), through the
WRT54G and gain access to the wired portion of my network, and I could ping the
WRT54G through the wired portion of my network, and gain access to the Internet from all of my servers.
First Impressions Now that everything is configured, I am impressed! The
WAP54G now repeats the signal from the
WRT54G. And now, because I am using two WAP's in my house instead of one, my signal strength is much higher in all areas of the house. Access to the Internet and downloading are also much faster through a 100Mbps pipe, instead of the 10Mbps pipe I hade before.
As I alluded to above under real-world conditions, the
WRT54G's wireless performance exceeds my expectations. So far I have been able to connect to the WAP from anywhere in the house; upstairs or down, most often at a full 54Mbps. My laptop has consistently connected at a rate 54Mbps, and it is in the downstairs master bedroom. This comes in handy when I am perched in front of the television in the downstairs living room, but I am still able to surf the web and download files to and from my server and workstation on the second floor! And the signal strength drops off only marginally on the backyard patio; I can still connect at a full 54Mbps, although at times throughput drops to 48 and 36Mbps.
The spouses Windows XP workstation, which is also downstairs just off the living room, connects to the
WRT54G with a signal strength that fluctuates between ? and full, and a connection rate that floats between 54 – 48Mbps.
The
WRT54G is capable of automatically downgrading its data transfer rate as the signal from the connected wireless clients becomes weaker, thus maintaining connection. When at the extreme range of the clients the
WRT54G can downgrade as far as 1Mbps, which is barley within acceptable limits for surfing the web and working with documents.
Conclusion: The
Linksys (Cisco) Wireless-G WRT54G is a phenomenal product. Since I ironed out my earlier problems, I have yet to touch it; it just works and works well, but of course time will tell; I have read some reviews of the unit that were less then favorable. Of course, my particular situation is rare, but if you are looking for the unique functionality and flexibility the
WRT54G has to offer, I say take the plunge. The
WRT54G represents the successful melding of several worlds; it can meet your need for current 802.11b standards, but still has the flexibility to expand beyond to 54Mbps; it can act as a 10/100 full-duplex switch, and it can route a high speed Internet connection so that all the computers on your internal network can share it. And it does so at an affordable price. Can you say no-brainer? I knew you could.
Other related wireless product reviews: *Linksys Wireless Products Linksys WDT-11 Instant Wireless PCI Card Linksys WPC-11 Instant Wireless PC Card Linksys Wireless-G WMP54G PCI Card Linksys Wireless-G WUSB54G USB Wireless Adapter Linksys Wireless-G WPC54G Wireless PC Card Linksys Wireless-G WAP54G Wireless Access Point *DLink Wireless Products DLink AP 900 Wireless Access Point DLink 650+ Wireless PC Card DLink 520 Wireless PCI Card *Cisco Wireless Products Cisco PC4800B Wireless PC Card 
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