Home > Consumer Reviews > Refurb WRT54G2WIRELESS G Broadband Rtr New Id No Rtns

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.

This router is worthless. Its signal quality is very low, and even with full bars, it suddenly drops download speed from 20 mbps to less than 1 on a frequent basis. Since there was no return policy, I had to get a new one, which does work. In conclusion, I was ripped off.

I purchased this because I usually don't have issues with refurbished products. But the one sold to me through this company was a piece of garbage. No AC cord OR disc included, so I had to find an extra cord and download the setup from the Linksys site.

While running the setup, the router is not recognized and gives error 322. After talking at length to Linksys support and my ISP... it was determined that the router was bunk.

Thanks guys for stealing my money and sending me a POS router with no returns.

Linksys and Amazon must be teaming up to pawn off this worthless Version 1 router, hence the NO RETURN POLICY. It disconnects constantly every day. No matter what firmware is loaded. And I have owned many routers over the past several years. Avoid it at all costs.

I was looking for a cheap second router to bridge up to my existing router and didn't need N capability, and this fit the bill. It comes with all the same software, etc. as the new model, so it shouldn't be a big deal to set up for anyone and will work as even a great primary router.

Better yet, I used this to hook up my xbox 360 via wireless bridge to my other wireless router. Rather than pay Microsoft $100 for their wireless adapter, I paid $33 (even cheaper now) for this, which included shipping. All the connectivity for a third of the price. Works like a champ. What a deal.