Cisco-Linksys WRT54GL Wireless-G Broadband Router (Compatible with Linux)

Solid and Reliable

This wireless router besides supporting Linux firmware is a tested and true wireless router with 802.11 b and g support. It supports WPA WPA2 and the older WEP encryption schemes. In addition it has a built-in firewall MAC address filtering and supports access policies (such as "don't allow FTP connections to this computer on Sundays").



When I installed this wireless router setup was very straightforward (I did not use the Setup Wizard because it didn't work for me). I changed the IP address range (because the DSL modem uses the 192.168.1 address space) set the administrator password chose a name for the Wireless network enabled WPA2 encryption and picked a passphrase.



After that I connected my laptop to the router right away and received an excellent signal and throughput of 100 KB/sec (for comparison my DSL connection maintains a throughput of 300 KB/sec when I connect straight to the DSL modem).



I've been using the router for several months now and have not had any dropped connections (my older Netgear router dropped connections fairly frequently and did not support the newer WPA encryption scheme) and have consistent throughput. The router has been running constantly for these past few months.



For the real tech-heads this router has customized Linux firmware available from third parties. I haven't tried this firmware since the base Linksys firmware more than meets my needs.



Finally good security practices are to: Change the administrator password disable Universal Plug and Play disable Remote administrative access use a unique name for the access point and if the network is only for a small number of personal devices (i.e. a laptop you own) enable MAC address filtering. A MAC address uniquely identifies a network card so this only allows certain computers to access the network.

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