LINKSYS WRT54GS

thinking more now of the LINKSYS WRT54GS router for future wireless, can I
get some opinions on this one from the people that have it.

a. how easy to get up and running, any configuring or does it run pretty
much out of the box
b. i don't have wireless anything now, can you disable the wireless part of
it
c. what do you have to do to keep people from stealing your connection with
the wireless

thanks

geo wrote:
thinking more now of the LINKSYS WRT54GS router for future wireless,
can I get some opinions on this one from the people that have it.

a. how easy to get up and running, any configuring or does it run
pretty much out of the box
b. i don't have wireless anything now, can you disable the wireless
part of it
c. what do you have to do to keep people from stealing your
connection with the wireless

thanks

Mine: Right out of the box. If I have my laptop wireless all I have to do it
connect a wire. Can't get any easier.

geo wrote:
thinking more now of the LINKSYS WRT54GS router for future wireless, can I
get some opinions on this one from the people that have it.

a. how easy to get up and running, any configuring or does it run pretty
much out of the box
b. i don't have wireless anything now, can you disable the wireless part of
it
c. what do you have to do to keep people from stealing your connection with
the wireless

thanks



Some comments:

1. The speedbooster ("GS") is proprietary, which means if you want to
get the benefits of the added speed (108 instead of standard G 54), you
need to match the router with a Linksys "GS" speedbooster adapter for
your pc. So, just know that you will be limited to linksys products
should you want to add pc's to your network. If instead you went with a
slower, 802.11g router you should be able to mix and match any
adapter/router since the 802.11g is a finalized standard. Maybe it's no
big deal, but linksys products are generally more expensive.

2. Linksys GS adapters use a proprietary broadband chipset that will not
work well with linux since there is no native linux driver offered. You
will need to do a little more work to get it working. Also, maybe not
an issue if you just use Windows or Mac.

3. Most all routers/adapters are simple enough to setup and you should
be able to easily disable the radio/wireless feature using a browser.

4. To keep people from stealing your connection you need to enable
encryption (WPA preferably). You can also do other things such as
disable SSID broadcasting and MAC filtering. All these things are
documented and should be easy to enable in most routers.

5. Finally, keep in mind that a finalized 802.11n protocol is being
finalized and new products that are faster and support larger distances
will be coming out shortly.

So, if you don't plan on using wireless right away, get the most
inexpensive router (wireless or wired) and wait for the "N" products
when you are ready for wireless.

"geo" wrote...
thinking more now of the LINKSYS WRT54GS router for future wireless, can I
get some opinions on this one from the people that have it.

a. how easy to get up and running, any configuring or does it run pretty
much out of the box
b. i don't have wireless anything now, can you disable the wireless part of
it
c. what do you have to do to keep people from stealing your connection with
the wireless

I have one; works great!

Linksys has a configuration CD to set iy up "automatically," but you may want to
set it up manually just to get familiar with it. For the most part, the
defaults work fine, so only change what you think you need to change.

Yes, the wireless side can be disabled.

There are several ways to keep people from stealing your bandwidth:

The best is to enable WPA security. WEP is the old standard; WPA is the
newer one.

Enable the feature that allows only certain MAC addresses (a hexadecimal
number on every network card), and list your wireless LAN cards.

Disable the "SSID broadcast" feature to make it a bit harder for others to
find it.

WPA should take care of virtually all unwanted intruders; the other 2 will help
if you have to disable WPA for troubleshooting.