RETRO REVIEW: Linksys WRT54GS

[flibberdipper]

 

INTRO
I picked this router up a little bit ago after I found it sitting in the basement at my grandmas, seeing as how my last router died. While I wasn’t necessarily keen on using a router that’s essentially 14 years old, I didn’t really have much of an option.

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
When I first grabbed this thing, I was kinda amazed at just how light it is. My last router was a little lighter, and it was actually built worse than this. I was also kinda liking the fact that it had two antennas, instead of the crappy solution that they decided to use in my last router then involved a small PCB about 1 inch by 1 inch in size. And the last thing that gripped me were the looks…

 

LOOKS
For being 14 years old, it certainly doesn’t look the part I’m not entirely sure why, but for whatever reason I like the look of these. It’s kind of… Industrial. It’s sort of like some of of their switches (the GS108 comes to mind), where to some people it’s the ugliest thing on the face of the planet, and to others it looks better than anything else. The best part is that since my router in particular seems to have been kept in a box of some kind for most of it’s life, it’s still in amazingly nice shape, which I do appreciate.

 

Another thing I do like about this is that the LEDs on the front aren’t so bright that you want to gouge your eyes out at night (looking at you, last router). They do give off a little bit of light, but once it makes it out of the area I keep it, the amount of light emitted into my room is miniscule. Hell, the power LED on my APC UPS is WAY brighter than all of the LEDs on this.

 

SOFTWARE
Given the age of the router, the software seems to be fairly solid (in the latest revision it’s FAR better than the first revision that came out on my last router some years after this was in EOL status). I’m not going to go into a lot of detail about it, but it does look nice, things are easy to get to, and there are even descriptions as to what things do, which is REALLY nice to see on a consumer router, because some consumers may not know what something does, and then they change it and it just messes everything up.

 

Now, one thing I am kinda sad not to see (but then again don’t really care about at the same time) is the option to have both a primary network and a guest network. Now, me personally I just use this as a guest and personal network, since it’s an extension of the main router and I can set limits on this one (where my dad won’t let me put limits on ours when we have guests over). One thing I do like to see is that you can set it so that the network is either b, g, or b/g. There is also a WPS-like feature, but I can’t get it to work for the life of me.

 

And finally, one more awesome thing I like about the software is the ability to go between router mode and switch mode. Router mode does exactly what you would think: It does everything (DNS, IP addresses and so on), whereas switch does what you would think as well (hands over everything to the primary router). One thing I do not like about switch mode (which is what I have to use) is that you have to use one of the LAN ports for the connection to the internet instead of using the WAN port like on my previous router. The main reason this blows is that you only have 3 available LAN ports to use for devices, and the WAN port is just sitting there like a useless bump on a log.

 

HARDWARE
Now, I don’t know enough to go in-depth about all of the hardware on this, so I’ll just stick to the basics. This router is capable of 802.11 b/g with a maximum throughput of 54Mbps. There is one 10/100 Base-T WAN port and four 10/100 Base-T LAN ports. There are two antennas which AREN’T detachable like on some of the older revisions of this router, and on the front we have my second-favorite layout of ports (second only to an older model of this router, the WRT54G version 1.0 with its ability to tell you more in depth about the connections). There is the WPS-button thing, power indicator, DMZ indicator LED (not sure what DMZ is, actually), the Wireless activity LED, and then the 4 LAN activity LEDs, followed by the Internet connectivity LED.

 

SPEED
Let’s start off with something basic: Boot speed. This thing is freaking AMAZING. My old router (a WNR2000v3) took at least a minute to be up and ready to rock. This router takes a staggering (get this) 15-18 SECONDS to boot up and be ready. Keep in mind that this thing is 14 YEARS old, compared to just a couple years old for my old router. Now the one thing that this thing can’t really compete in would be the shutdown test, since there is no hardware off button like on pretty much every modern router. You simply just unplug the power and you’re done.

 

As for Internet speed, I didn’t notice any decrease in performance with this (even over wifi), as I am limited to about 40/10. However, it seems like this router has stronger (and better) wifi coverage compared to both my old router, and our crappy main router (a WNR1000). This is probably due to the pair of antennas. As for local transfers, even though this and my previous router are both 10/100 Base-T, this one actually transfers files a tiny bit faster (11MB/s on the nose compared to 11.5). Now of course, for WiFi this one will fall WAY behind due to the fact that this one has roughly 1/3rd the total WiFi transfer speed capability.

 

RELIABILITY
Ah, the big one. But, it wins this with EASE. I’ve been using this for a month, and it has been FAR more stable than my last router. Like, WAY more stable. My other router would get mad if I unplugged my laptop (which is what gives my routers access to the internet). This one lets me do it and it just takes a few seconds to realize what’s going on and then it’s ready to rock again.

 

CONCLUSION
Honestly, while I don’t like the fact that it doesn’t have Wireless AC or Gigabit ethernet (that one is huge for me), and while a USB port for an external HDD wouldn’t be bad either, I honestly don’t care about any of those things. This router is a tank, it’s reliable, and I honestly don’t have any reason to replace it right now. Or a want to. I mean, it looks great, it performs amazing for its age, and it’s just kinda neat to have something this old do this well.

 

IS IT WORTH IT?
Ah, the touchy thing. This is where things get iffy.

 

If you find one for 20 bucks that’s in okay shape, sure, go ahead and grab it. It could be nice to have for an extra ethernet switch for things like older machines or consoles, you might want to put it on your desk if you like the looks of it as much as what I do, or your main router might have puked and you need a temporary one on the cheap. But realistically, anything more than 30 bucks is a little bit much for one of these guys, unless you are a collector of old routers or something like that. I mean, they’re only 10/100, they are WAY behind on wireless technologies, and they lack a LOT of features that modern routers have been coming with for the past few years (some as far back as 2010). One feature that I super miss is the ability to change the signal strength of the WiFi.

 

So for this, it’s really up to you more than anything else. IMO, routers are a tricky thing to gauge if they’re worth it or not for some people, and this is definitely one of those cases, especially with a lot of places having absolute shit for internet connectivity (a city near me is a great example of this with the typical best plan being 50Mbps), where this router really wouldn’t hinder anything.

[GTRetro87]

Just bought one off ebay with original antennas, setup disc and original power supply. Figured to have some fun when adding DD-WRT. These things never die, and with 28/5-6 Mbps Download/Upload speeds, this should be fine as a fun toy to play around with lol. Love retro gear

[Burusutazu]

This is what Windstream would rent/sell to you back in the day. I remember my grandmother buying one.