20 August 2009

Linksys Wireless-G Broadband Router, WRT54G2

So far I'm fairly impressed by how much difference changing a router can make. For the past eight months I'd been living with an inconsistent wireless home network, mostly evident with my Nintendo Wii.

My Nintendo would connect via wireless one day, and then with the identical settings throw up an error message the following day. I'd change my router to channel 11, and the Nintendo connected... and then it wouldn't next time I tried. Channel 1? Eureka -- but, no. I finally gave up and decided to try a new router.

Why did it take me so long to make the decision? I'd always thought that different routers differed in strength, speed, and area of coverage, and that's about it. Based on this erroneous assumption I wasn't optimistic a new router would change anything. After all, my Nintendo connected fine... sometimes. PS3, no problems.

Anywhoo, I started reading up on routers and my error quickly became evident. Most routers work at a 2.4 GHz which apparently is a frequency prone to interference from microwaves, cordless phones and the like. Living in an apartment building I can easily imagine my locale being full of potentially interfering devices.

So... I considered purchasing a "N" (or pre-"N") router with simultaneous dual band ability (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz). Dual band, because much fewer devices use 5 GHz so there's less chance of interference. Simultaneous, because the mere thought of having to manually switch between 2.4 and 5 GHz depending on what device I'm currently using annoys me to no end.

After all this, as you may have guessed from the post title, I decided to buy a Linksys Wireless-G Broadband Router (WRT54G2), broadcasting at a frequency of 2.4 GHz.

Eh?

Unfortunately, all the simultaneous dual band N routers reviewed in my price range were lacking in some manner -- mostly poor efficiency/speed data transfer while in simultaneous mode. Still, this wouldn't have held me back from buying one, but I began to wonder whether any of my electronics were even compatible with this latest and greatest 5 GHz wireless "N" router technology, let alone being capable of taking advantage of it.

Anywhoo, my primary uses of a wireless router is to connect my Nintendo Wii and PS3, which I learned, after further reading, both operate at 2.4 GHz using "G" protocols/technology. Interesting.

The WRT54G2 is an older router, but the reviews I read were mostly positive; I decided to go with a proven performer rather than a router with all the latest bells and whistles. So far I haven't regretted my decision. Not only has my Nintendo Wii been connecting without fail, but another issue, one I had thought was unrelated to the router, has also been fixed. Thunderbird software on my desktop frequently failed to check/download POP3 e-mail, giving out "unable to connect" error messages for some or all of my e-mail accounts. No more.

The only negative of the WRT54G2 I've experienced is with its MAC filtering. My previous router allowed me to label each MAC address I added eg. "PS3" or "Nintendo" . With the Linksys... no. There's no way I'm going to be able to remember which MAC address is associated with each device. Still, all in all a minor quibble.

3 comments:

Stargazer (original profile) said...

Interesting post. I bought the same model to use at home--except it's the "GS" model--also based on good reviews. I haven't had any problems over the past couple of years although there was just a little hiccup last week when my wireless settings got reset inexplicably.

I guess your old one was that one I brought over to you in DC? Frankly, it was the cheapest one that I could find at Costco. At the time I didn't think there was much difference, either. Sorry!

Unknown said...

I could use your help since I'm literally on the verge of tears with this!

My WRT54G2 v1.0.01 and my wii V. 4.2U cant seem to reach an understanding through my XP PC. I have read this whole board and everything I could find on the net and actually tried every answer people have given to fix the problem and nothing.

I just got my Wii a couple of days ago and have been struggling with this since then. They are wired through a Nintendo lan connector and although the menu says that it tested the connection and was OK when I got to 24 connect to accept the terms it comes back with an error 220602.

Right now, after it OK'ed i told it to look for updates, it did and asked me if I wanted to used the shopping channel and 24connect , I said yes, it asked to accept the terms to connect and BAM! again the same error.

What am I doing wrong?!??!?!?
I even tried wireless and the same thing. I tried also with the Nintendo usb connector and nothing.

PLEASE, PRETTY PLEASE HELP

Oka, this is my router info:
firmware Version: 1.0.01 build 003,Mar. 26, 2008
Current Time: Mon,Jul 26 2010 07:48:01
MAC Address: 00:23:69:4D:2C:8D
Router Name: WRT54G2
Host Name:
Domain Name: lan

Internet
Configuration Type
Login Type: Automatic Configuration - DHCP
IP Address: 10.0.0.2
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: 10.0.0.1
DNS 1: 10.0.0.1
DNS 2: 196.3.81.5
DNS 3: 200.88.127.22
MTU: 1500
Local Network

MAC Address: 00:23:69:4D:2C:8C
IP Address: 192.168.1.1
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
DHCP Server: Enable
Start IP Address: 192.168.1.2
End IP Address: 192.168.1.4

Wireless
MAC Address: 00:23:69:4D:2C:8E
Mode: Mixed 11/54Mbps
SSID:

DHCP Server: Enable
Channel: 11
Encryption Function: Enable

WHAT DO i NEED TO CHANGE, ADD, ETC????

what are EXACTLY your setting so I can see what I need to change?

Thanks for any help!

r32argent said...

I`ve only used wireless to connect my Wii to my router, so unfortunately I can`t help you very much if there's a problem with the Wii LAN adapter itself.

I can suggest a couple things that you may have already thought of or tried.

Do you have any encryption enabled on your router? If so, if you disable it on both your router and Wii can you connect? Do you use MAC filtering? If so, you need to make sure you input the correct Wii MAC into your router settings.

Do you have a firewall running that may be interfering with the Wii connection?

Fixing Wii error code 220602 appears to involve resetting/changing your DNS. Have you already tried this?

Hope something here helps. Good luck!