[TriLUG] Linksys long in the tooth?

[Owen]

I currently have 2 Linksys WRT54GL's, one running the Linksys firmware
and the other running OpenWRT and set up as a wireless bridge to the
other little blue box. Both run very well and I've never had any issues,
even though I routinely hammer the one running the Linksys firmware
pretty hard with both wired and wireless traffic, and have torrent and
VOIP traffic going over it.

I had a Netgear device for quite a while (can't remember the model), but
it seemed to "wear out" ... wireless network getting weaker all the
time, more and more restarts required. Switched to the Linksys and the
sun came out again.

Owen

On Sat, Jan 12, 2008 at 09:36:08AM -0500, James Brigman wrote:
> I'm starting to suspect that the Linksys products' only, fading
> advantage is running OpenWRT....I tried a Belkin 4 port/wireless node,
> setting it up for a family member, and was stunned at how refined the
> setup was and how quickly I was able not only to get it set up, but to
> secure it above it's out-of-the-box config. Range on only the single
> tiny little rubber duck antenna was better than the Linksys WRT54...
> 
> I've never been a big fan of Belkin - always saw their stuff as "second
> tier". But I needed something quickly, and it had to be cheap: it went
> in to replace a failed WRT54 which simply died and went dark. Basic
> troubleshooting showed the power supply still good but the unit itself
> had failed. 
> 
> What's surprising is that the Belkin is a $35 product from Wal-Mart.
> It's been running super for about a month - highly recommended if you
> have to give a relative a home switch/wireless node and need to make
> sure you aren't going back over and over to help with it. Very nice web
> interface, refined and easy to use.
> 
> I've used NetGear products (FVS318, hubs, switches) and other than the I
> (in)famous 5V power supply failures on one of their old 16 port
> switches, their stuff seems pretty solid. I really like the old standby
> blue steel cases. 
> 
> No interest in flame, I really don't care that much. But please DO tell
> of both good and bad experiences like Tom has mentioned. 
> 
> JKB
>