Cisco-Linksys Refurbished WRT54G2-RM Wireless-G Router Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I ordered the WRT54G2 'refurbished' (not from this vendor) because I wanted a replacement for my 801.11b Linksys and the refurbished could be had for a significantly lower price and the product was Linksys certified and came with a 90-day warranty. To my surprise - I expected some glitches - I had close to zero problem installing and operating it. Here is my experience.
- I followed the advice to first run the installation off the provided CD.
- Even though all of my computers are wireless, I followed the advice and connected one of my computer to the router via Ethernet to perform the initial installation.
- After disconnecting the old 801.11b router I used the exact same name for the new network. This allowed for all devices to connect immediately, as soon as the setup completed.
- I made sure that the DHCP server was on.
- The end of setup. All devices, including the wireless printer and the VOIP box connected without a problem.
To my surprise, LELA is not on the CD. It took me longer to find, download and install LELA (Linksys EasyLink Advisor) than to complete the initial setup. I strongly recommend that you do install LELA because, besides the nice graphic of your home network it allows you to restore broken connections without having to turn off the router.
As far as performance is concerned, I believe that I notice a slight but not significant improvement over my old 801.11b router. We have about one dozen connected devices: desktops, laptops, a PS3, a PSP, VOIP, printer and, with all on, everything worked just fine. With the router in the basement, I had '3-bars' on a computer 15-20 feet from the router. Surprisingly, I had 3 bars on the first and on the second floor as well and I had the same 3 bars outside, about 90 feet from the router, by the pool. The old router gave me 4 bars in the basement but only 3 bars in the rest of the house and only 1 or 2 bars with intermittent disconnections outside the house.
With LELA running, I was able to quickly fix the the few disconnections that occurred over a several-days period without having to power off the router. This was better than my old 801.11b that had me power off the cable modem and the router whenever the connection to the Internet stopped working. Disconnections do occur after computers are set to 'sleep' but recovery is usually quick when the computer wakes up. I never had issues with non-computer devices such as printer, PS3 or the VOIP box.
Overall, I am very happy with my new router so far. It's probably as good as any 801.11g device can get.
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DNS issues update:
With DHCP, strangely, after a few months of operation, the router began to 'forget' about passing DNS queries to the outside server. It KNOWS about the 3 DNS servers the ISP has but, out of the blue I get 'resolving host' errors and LELA claims that I'm no longer connected to the Internet. This while VoIP, connected to the same router works without a problem and so do the PS3 and my kids computers.
The initial 'solution' was to power off the router and then power it back on.
I have no idea why this was happening yet but, this is my quick solution: on the 'Network and Sharing Center' click on your connection 'View status' then 'Properties', highlight 'Internet Protocol Version 4...', 'Properties', 'Advanced', from the DNS tab click on 'Add...' and enter all the DNS servers that your router has listed under 'Status'.
This eliminated all problems.

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