Cisco-Linksys WRT54GX4 Wireless-G Broadband Router with SRX400

At around the same price, I thought I will try the new WRT54GX4 (SRX400) instead of the older and proven WRT54GX. The router setup is standard and I had no issues, did not even use the CD. If you are familiar with consumer router configuration parameters, just login to the router's IP address (default=192.168.1.1) and when the login window come up, just type in "admin" in the password (blank ID).After I configured it to my satisfaction, I tried to connect. Out of the box I had problems with my company's VPN software (AT&T), even though passthru is enabled. The second problem is that my wife's laptop (Dell 700m) couldn't get on wirelessly, while my laptop (Powerbook G4) has no problems. I upgraded firmware to 1.00.10, which did not solve the problems.This product is too new to be stable. I would recommend against it at this time. I switched from the WRT54GX, which I had no problems with. I am debating if I should wait for Linksys to introduce the fix or just go back to my old router.

I have had this router now for 3 months. It seemed to work quite well when I first plugged it in 3 months ago. Now it just plain sucks - it disconnects my thinkpad constantly. The bandwidth it supplies is pittyful. Thats it for me no more linksys. I wish I could return it - but the pain of having to hang on the phone with Linksys to do this is not worth the sixty bucks I paid for this useless thing.UPDATE: I have figured out that this router does not work with some computers if you use certain transmission channels. For example my DELL laptop will not connect (and get a IP address) to the router when the router was set to channel 10 - change to channel 2 and it works fine.UPDATE 2:THIS IS A GARBAGE ROUTER. It worked ok for a couple of months. Then name resolution would fail off and on. Transfers would abort. Laptops would loose connection. Then finally the DHCP server stopped working. Switched back to my old netgear. Going to have to junk this - what a waste of time and money. I have over 14 years of tech experience - so this is not a noob opinion. Wish there was a 0 star.UPDATE3 - So I get on the linksys site and try to get a warranty return, fill out the forms type in a detailed description etc. Hit the submit button and I am informed that the company "listened" to customer feed back and decided to do away with email support. Oh nice VERY NICE - why in goodness would you have people fill in all this info - and then the only option is to post to a forum so that other users might help you out. WOW what a support model!My problem description:laptops connected via wireless started to loose connection frequently after a couple of months of working without any trouble.Router has the latest Firmware.Restarted/reset router.I tried changing the channel.I tried supporting wifi 802.11g only.I tried turning encryption off.No help - problem would not go away. I would just have to turn off the laptop wifi and turn it back on and I would be ok for a couple of hours. I suffered through this because I didnt have the time to deal with customer service.Then yesterday the router stopped assigning ip addresses to the laptops. No amount of reboots of the laptops or router would help. devices connected via a cable also would not get an IP address from the router.I switched back to my old netgear router and I have no problems.I am very disappointed with the quality of this router - and would like to return the router and get my money back.

I studied the following Linksys products: WRT300N Wireless-N Broadband Router paired with the WUSB300N Wireless-N USB Network Adapter; and the WRT54GX4 Wireless-G Broadband Router with SRX400 paired with the Wireless-G USB Network Adapter with SRX400 (WUSB54GX4). Review of available customer/owner remarks on Amazon as well as elsewhere revealed a fairly consistent story: unless you have a no-kidding firm requirement for 11n, don't bother with the WRT300N, or bother with replacing an SRX400 11g router thinking you are upgrading. There has been a fair amount of disappointment concerning signal strength comparing the SRX400 11g router to the WRT300N 11n router. The SRX400 wins at least for now. According to multiple independent sources, the signal strength of the 11n router is much less than the SRX400 11g. I have to agree. Furthermore, the SRX400 11g is a very stable, mature product that is well understood and there exists a deep experience base which could be a useful resource. Although the SRX400 signaling mode is a proprietary protocol, the Linksys 11g SRX400 also supports open standards such as plain vanilla 11g and 11b as well. Because SRX400 is a proprietary protocol, I also purchased the Linksys WUSB54GX4 SRX400 wireless client to avoid possibly spending a lot of integration and test time, i.e., hassle, on getting the link up. I also wanted to take advantage of the Linksys SRX400 signaling protocol because it offers excellent range and uses an adaptive transmit/receive algorithm to attain optimal signal strength. For straight-forward applications such SOHO and consumer requirements, the 11g SRX400 model is recommended. My previous WAP was a Microsoft 11g unit (no longer sold) the MN-700. The driving concerns in replacing it were: (1) poor signal strength, (2) no support for WPA2, and (3) no firmware updates (important for security and stability). The Linksys 11g SRX400 answers those needs. Using the MN-700, the rated speed between a given PC and the MN-700 WAP was about 15 to 20 Mbps with signal strength typically 40 to 50 percent but there were excursions to 20 per cent or less, to include some recent experience with dropped connections. With the Linksys 11g SRX400, it's 240 Mbps with signal strength hard over to 100 per cent at all times. Given the market presence of the Linksys 11g SRX400, it would be pretty easy to add a range extender or upgraded antennas to get to a better signal. However I do not need to do that in my situation, carrying the wireless signal through a number of internal walls without problems. I have to say that the Linksys 11g SRX400 is rock solid. It achieved very high throughput while running WPA2 AES encryption. Also it allowed a full length WPA2 PSK which some WAPs don't allow. In my opinion it is good to care about using WPA2, AES, and a full length PSK when your personal information is being broadcast over a radio. Of course my external internet connection isn't 240 Mbps (I wish) but the Linksys 11g SRX400 answered every concern I had. Furthermore, it was very easy to set up. I'm very thorough (and OK I will admit to persnickety) in reviewing and optimizing set up parameters in such devices, especially in terms of stability, performance, security, and reliability. I was pleasantly surprised that all set up and configuration was accomplished very quickly. If I had been in a hurry and not taken the time to really study it, I could have had the Linksys SRX400 router up and running A-OK in at most 5 to 10 minutes including interruptions. Of course, I pretty much know what I'm doing in detail, but even a novice with some technical knowledge could easily follow the manual and walk through the process without frustration and end up with good results. I'm likely broadcasting an 11g signal all the way to the end of the block or maybe even further. A couple notes on features: the SRX400 11g logging options I rate excellent. There's a lot of visibility if you want it. It would be nice if the WAP/firewall would email those logs to somewhere for review. I would like to see capabilities to finely tune and closely monitor its internal firewall, for example, to be able to define policy rules by service and to make exceptions for specific external static IPs. However it does support setting up a DMZ or even opening ports if that is needed for games and so forth but in my case I would not recommend it as that creates security and integrity issues. I security-scanned the WAP/firewall from an external location and it passed those tests with flying colors (although periodic rescans are recommended to ensure something hasn't changed). I have not tested whether an enterprise-type VPN connection will work through it; for example, using an IPSec VPN, although its firewall set up allows for IPSec pass-through as well as other VPN modes so I anticipate it would work. Another metric is that I noticed it is quite fast in terms of throughput using its router mode from a directly-connected (wired connection) system to the internet. While I can offer no specific test results, I estimate it is at least 25 per cent faster than the MN-700. Set up of its internet interface was very straightforward. You can readily set up the SRX400 11g WAP/router/firewall in a DHCP or static IP configuration. I updated its firmware from the Linksys web site without any problems (this is important to ensure bug fixes are incorporated). Finally, the SRX400 11g WAP/router/firewall is making my most demanding customer happy, the one who is on my 1 minute response list, i.e., my wife. She just wants to use her system to accomplish things she is trying to do (what a thought) vice understanding how it all works from an engineering perspective. All in all, the SRX400 11g router together with the WUSB54GX4 SRX400 wireless client is a very solid combination which has had no complaints from a demanding customer who tolerates very little computer-type foolishness. Bottom line: the Linksys 11g SRX400 router and the WUSB54GX4 SRX400 wireless client met my expectations and those are not low. They are performing excellently in a set and forget mode.