Which Linksys router?
 

I have 20Meg Virgin cable broadband and wish to beam it out wirelessly so a laptop can hook up to the connection.

Which wireless Linksys router should I go for as there seems to be a few variations of the same thing.

I'm thinking of the WRT54GS as they have it in my local PC world, however I notice Linksys also do a WRT54GL model? Anyone know what the difference is between these two?

To add to the confusion, PC World also do a WRT54GR model which is a few pounds more expensive and yet the spec seems to be not quite a good as the two mentioned above (e.g. 100M range as opposed to the others 300m).

Any advice appreciated (perhaps a different make altogether).

PS I'm buying from PC World as I can pick it up today/tomorrow, i know i could save a few pounds by buying from somewhere like ebuyer :)

Re: Which Linksys router?
 

WRT54GL it's exactly the same as the v4 version of the WRT54G routers, thus it's using Linux and can use the 3rd party firmwares and has far more memory and firmware space.

WRT54GS has speedbooster on it but only of use if you have Linksys speedbooster wireless cards

Personally i have a WRT54GS (Version 1 i think) it works fine, never had any issues and i run the DD-WRT firmware on it as i use it to host a NAS drive which i can then VPN to.

If you run third party firmware you can increase the signal power and therefore increase the range

Re: Which Linksys router?
 

I'll just go for the GS in that case. Cheers, Fella.

Re: Which Linksys router?
 

The newer GSes don't have enough memory to run DD-WRT, the GL is probably the better in that respect. Third party firmwares allow you to put speedbooster on a GL anyway.

Re: Which Linksys router?
 

Hmm....so I shouldn't get a GS as it can't run DD-WRT?

The DD-WRT boosts the range as far as i'm aware so I would want to be able to run this. Does that rule the GS out then?

Re: Which Linksys router?
 

Definitely the WRT54GL - its the same hardware as a WRT54GS V4 AFAIK.

Re: Which Linksys router?
 

WRT54GL purchased and in my possesion. :)

Now...should i bother with the install CD, or will it just auto-detect the settings? It's not going to ask for my Virgin/NTL password etc is it :erm:.....

Re: Which Linksys router?
 

You should be able to plug it in and find it works - make sure you power off modem and PC(s) while you set up ethernet.

Router settings can all be configured once connected up by browsing (internet explorere, Firefox, etc) using http://192.168.1.1 default password and login = admin which is worht changing. Configure wireless setups using the wired connection and then you'll be off and running.

Re: Which Linksys router?
 

the newer versions of the GS v7 upwards i dont think will run it, v5 and v6 can run dd-wrt firmware

Re: Which Linksys router?
 

According to Wiki V7 should be able to

Re: Which Linksys router?
 

i know when the v7 was initially released there was no firmware available for dd-wrt, the later models are only able to utilise the micro build of the firmware due to the crippled memory on them

seems that the newer ones can be flashed esier than the v6 aswell, gits lol