title: WRT-54GL: The 1966 Dodge Dart of Wireless Routers link: https://onemoretech.wordpress.com/2010/12/31/wrt-54gl-the-1966-dodge-dart-of-wireless-routers/ author: lembobro description: post_id: 89 created: 2010/12/31 13:21:29 created_gmt: 2010/12/31 13:21:29 comment_status: open post_name: wrt-54gl-the-1966-dodge-dart-of-wireless-routers status: publish post_type: post

WRT-54GL: The 1966 Dodge Dart of Wireless Routers

When I was growing up the legend of the 1966 Dodge Dart was still going strong. A friend in law school owned one with the slant 6 engine, and that car measured up to every story ever told about the model.

For those of us who lived through the explosive growth in home networking in the last decade, the Linksys WRT-54GL router has also become a thing of legend. Five years after first being introduced in 2005, it’s still selling strong based on a reputation for reliability, performance and expandability (through open source firmware).

Of course, time moves on — as do network requirements. In my house it’s mostly the increased load from media streaming devices. I’ve recently begun looking around for a new router to replace the venerable 54GL. Most of the new models have twice the memory and nearly twice the CPU speed of the 54GL, which would help tremendously. Then there’s the potential added benefit of wireless N, although many report that the reliability of an N signal isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Guess that calls for more research.

Copyright 2004-2019 Phil Lembo