Comments on: Airport Express Goes N, Still Not a Linksys

By: Toby

Toby — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:49:11 +0000

I downgraded from a newer WRT54G (v8) to a snazzy WRT54GS (v2.1), complete with antenna booster kit, courtesy of a Craigslist deal. I went backward specifically to have enough room to flash it with Tomato, which I prefer to DD-WRT (I’m a sucker for the animated SVG bandwidth graphs – they keep me from exceeding my Comcast cap). I’ve got a few judicious QoS rules, but I haven’t had any problems with it at all, and that’s with 24/7 excitement from the low-power xubuntu server in my closet, which is acting as a Tor relay, along with lots of torrents. DNS lookups, SSH, and http are all prioritized by QoS, so I don’t notice much drag using other machines on my network to surf, download, etc.

By: James

James — Sun, 18 May 2008 23:51:42 +0000

Got a cheap TrendNet ARB454 or words to that effect. Been using it for two and half years now and it’s pretty reliable. Never had any problems with it and only reset it twice in its lifetime. Got it on sale for about $30.

Gonna be getting a new Macintosh to add to my old 12” PB and thought that I’d upgrade to a draft-N router to gain the benefits of the built in wireless N in the new Macs. I use my wireless for all my online computing as the broadband cable is in an odd place on my second floor. Seeing I was going with Apple, my first thought was to look at an AirPort Extreme. Thing that made me wonder is if it’s worth and extra $80 on top of that of some other “name-brand” Draft-N router such as Linksys/Belkin/D-Link. Any thoughts?

By: Neil

Neil — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:23:16 +0000

I have used an Airport Express for about 4.5 years now and have never had any problems. Prior to that I used a Linksys router and even the Linksys helpline couldnt help me. As soon as I unboxed my Airport Express it worked within minutes and the ability to stream music through it was a revelation (at the time). I have since added extra Airport Expresses in each room and have attached speakers to each one and have labelled them (by room name) so I can play music in each room at the same time (or just in one particular room if I want). Since then I have also added the Time Capsule as my base station and all of these additions have taken me less than a few minutes to sort out. I personally would never revert to another make of router by choice.

By: block

block — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 08:35:07 +0000

Had 2 wrt54g’s using openwrt / dd-wrt and both are bricked. Recently got given a AEn and I like it. Solid signal, adjustable power output, 5GHz, Pre-N, PIN wireless access for guests. I personally don’t mind the Airport utility as I really don’t change settings that often! No more changing page and forgetting to save changes!

By: Colin Lowenberg

Colin Lowenberg — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 15:09:04 +0000

Paul!
You are writing about WLAN!
I think you covered all the important parts of WLAN. This will stream more than iTunes songs, it will stream full HD video to anywhere in the vicinity. However, Apple’s product lacks Gigabit ethernet attached to the 270Mbps Wifi, so the wireless is faster than the wired! This means that you can transfer between clients faster than to the gateway.

By: Aaron Marks

Aaron Marks — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 09:07:41 +0000

I use an Airport Extreme-N. I used to use a Linksys WRT54GL with DD-WRT, but I just couldn’t tolerate the lack of 802.11n any longer. I have since then also tried the Linksys WRT350N with the RC6.2 DD-WRT firmware, but it still bugs me that it lacks the dual radios in comparison the the AE-N which also does 5GHz. I also had some problems with the WRT350N crashing quite a bit. I only use the AE-N as an AP though in my house, my router/firewall of choice is a custom-built Astaro Security Gateway with RAID hard drives.

By: Stephen Fleming

Stephen Fleming — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 19:24:07 +0000

Grumble. Has anyone noticed how foolish it is of Apple to have two VERY different products with almost identical names? I had just written a reply about some of the cooler features of the Airport EXTREME which you, inexplicably, completely ignored in your post… until I realized that you were talking about the Airport EXPRESS.

Grumble.

Anyhow, I use a Belkin Pre-N, which gives fantastic reception, but I have to go up four flights of stairs to reboot it about once a week. Lusting after an Airport Extreme now that it supports disk sharing (basically, I want Time Capsule with a Drobo, and now I can have it!).

By: Earle Pittman

Earle Pittman — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 17:25:00 +0000

Airport Express really looks good for the USB printer connector but I’ve been using Linksys for several trouble free years with a WinXP machine and two Macs. I’m sure setting up the Macs would be a snap but I dread setting up the Windows machine to use another router. Anyone have experience configuring a Windows machine with the new Airport Express?

By: kris

kris — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:31:54 +0000

I have recently (3 weeks) switched the home wifi router. I’ve had an inexpensive Belkin router (the one with 2 antennas) before and I didn’t need to restart it not even once, and I use advanced configuration (WPA, Port forwarding, constant torrent traffic from 3 machines…).

But I needed a network drive, so I decided (after quite some article/posts… readings on the net) to go with Airport Extreme and a Western Digital My Book (500GB) external USB drive.

The experience is GREAT so far. No restarts needed, no dropouts of the network drive, 100% satisfaction.

But everyone I have asked at work that has the WRT54G router had bad experiences with it and it’s normal for them to restart it once a week.

Just thought I should mention this, since the posts above are all positive on the above mentioned router.

By: SomeBloke

SomeBloke — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 04:39:34 +0000

Well, check out WTR54GS, and yup that’s NOT a typo. TR is a travel router and you CAN put DD-WRT on it as well that makes it a potent little devil that blows the SOCKS OFF Affphle-Schtroodel (for the Hicks in Mid West including LA –Apple)

By: Darren Woodley

Darren Woodley — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 03:46:28 +0000

WRT54G w/ DD-WRT, been using it for 3 years and it’s still going strong…

By: Kevin

Kevin — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 02:48:33 +0000

I’ve been using an Airport Extreme for about a year and so far I really like it. I don’t think I’ve had to reset it at all and it fits nicely on my desk with no ugly antennas sticking up. Is it a little overpriced, probably so. But so far I’ve been a happy purchaser. I share the HP printer with my wife’s dell laptop via the APE.

By: Nathaniel Buck

Nathaniel Buck — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 22:41:27 +0000

I have been using a Linksys WRT54G for a few years and have never had a problem.

What kind of hacking have you done to this device? What are the benefits?

By: Kevin Peterson

Kevin Peterson — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 03:34:26 +0000

I use a SonicWall TZ-180 at home (not that I can afford it, it’s a work perk…)

It’s a very nice box for people who aren’t afraid of very advanced and very granular configuration.

As for the aesthetics of Linksys boxes (which I like, BTW)… That’s what they make drop-ceilings for…

By: Scott NellÃ©

Scott NellÃ© — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:54:31 +0000

I’ve been using WRT54G routers at my apartment and my parent’s house for years with very few issues. My sister and I were getting IP conflicts on our laptops for a while, but I updated to the latest firmware and it eliminated the problem. These things are rock solid. I don’t think I’ve ever had to restart one (except when I updated the firmware, of course.)

By: Bogdan Gaza

Bogdan Gaza — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:40:29 +0000

Do you recommend a 802.11n wireless router ? I read that the linksys routers that support this new draft are no good at all. I`m looking for a good wireless router to which i could plug in an external hard drive (like the airport expreme, or the Linksys WRT350N). If i cannot find this kind of router, i`ll buy a D-Link DIR-655 Xtreme N(witch is really good at the 801.11n draft) and put myself together a 200E computer with a 250gb internal hard-disk.

By: Carlton Bale

Carlton Bale — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 13:51:02 +0000

While the Linksys WRT54G is a great router, I think it's worthwhile to note that the DD-WRT firmware supports or about 175 different router models. There is a complete list on their site. That said, going with the most common model from the largest manufacturer has great merit when it comes to compatibility with third-party firmwares. . .

By: Jeremy Ricketts

Jeremy Ricketts — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 04:25:29 +0000

I really tried to love the Airport Express. I put up with it for far too long and then finally switched back to the WRT54g. What a sad sad day walking out of Best Buy with that router. But what can I say… its form is ugly but its function is impeccable.

I found out last week that a friend of mine had the exact same story. He tried the Airport for a while and then finally made the switch back to the WRT54g.

By: Akshay

Akshay — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 04:21:09 +0000

I still use my trust old WRT54G v2.0 DD-WRT :)
Rock Solid stable, although coverage are has fallen behind other new routers.

By: Shawn Blanc » Still Not a Linksys

Shawn Blanc » Still Not a Linksys — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 03:53:26 +0000

[...] Airport Express Goes N, Still Not a Linksys – [...]

By: Blake Brannon

Blake Brannon — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 02:14:53 +0000

You totally left out the fact that you by hacking the WRT54G with one of the open source firmwares, you just made your $100 router a $400 with the ability to create VLANs, advanced security policies, bandwidth throttling.

This would come in great so you can create a “guest” wifi VLAN on your network for friends/family to connect to and keep it isolated from your internal network.

By: Brandon

Brandon — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 01:59:49 +0000

I’m using an ISP-supplied 2Wire wireless DSL router, which is the next best thing to a Linksys router, as far as I’m concerned.

By: Dilip P

Dilip P — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 01:22:25 +0000

I have been using a NETGEAR WGR614v7 for over a year and a half without any problems. Its connected to 2 laptops and a desktop with a wireless PCI.

It has a really good range throughout the house extending 3 floors.

BTW, coming to linksys, the wireless PCI card is linksys and its the only thing that has been giving problems. It has crashed xp twice !!

By: Justin Cady

Justin Cady — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 00:43:39 +0000

I have purchased two Linksys WRT54Gs myself, and bought a third for a friend. I have never had any problems and as far as I am concerned there is no brand in routing besides Linksys.

The only thing that could get me to change my mind is the Time Capsule, but that is because of its network drive capabilities. Meanwhile the WRT54G has been serving me for nearly four years and I have no complaints.

By: Paul Stamatiou

Paul Stamatiou — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 23:51:43 +0000

@luke that’s really all there is to it. you have your internet WAN line from your cable modem or whatever you have, hook that up to a managed switch, then connected a few ethernet lines from that switch to the WAN ports on several APs, configured as mentioned above. At least that’s the gist of it. I have yet to find a real reason to build out such a network myself.