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WRT54G Trouble... would Airport Extreme be better?

Chrispy

Chrispy

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Hey all. My WRT54G router has suddenly started dropping the connection to my cable modem every 15-20 mins. Nothing has changed in my setup at all. I have a MBP and my roommate has a custom built tower. Both machines use the wireless connection and it is protected by WPA. Any ideas on what can help this.

Also, if the router is a lost cause, would the new Airport Extreme router be any better? It seems like every time I have a router fail it goes the same way... keeps dropping connections. Thanks in advance for the advice!
 
Airport Extreme is a waste of money

What firmware are you running on the WRT54G? If you're running the default firmware, flash your router and install DD-WRT.
 
I've had a few routers -- Linksys Wireless-B, a WRT54G, a Netgear, and a Belkin (the worst). Same problems you mentioned. I tried alternative firmwares for the WRT54G, which didn't really help matters. Just a couple weeks ago I bought an Airport Extreme and I couldn't be happier. It's dropped out once or twice (literally once or twice), but I'd say it's been about 99.9% up. I haven't had to physically reset it. I can't give a more long-term review than that, but I'm really happy.

Wireless-N and AirDisk are pretty pimp too, and I like the interface a lot.
 
Have you tried changing your 802.11 channel #?

I recently had interference issues, and changing channels helped a lot. You can use iStumbler to figure out what your neighbors are using and avoid theirs.

(Ulitmately I did replace the WRT54G with an AirportExtreme-n/Airport Express WDS setup).

B
 
zioxide said:
Airport Extreme is a waste of money
Click to expand...

Eh, I haven't regretted it. I've spent around $120 or $140 on wireless routers, B and G. All were total poop.

I just spent $180 on another, Wireless-N, which actually works virtually flawlessly, has a print server and functions as a NAS, is physically beautiful, seems to have a bit more horsepower (it was irritating that my attempts to configure the Belkin and WRT54G through the web interface would sometimes time out 😛), and so on. I believe that over the past three years, I've spent at least 30 hours fuming and cursing at my unreliable wireless setup. If I save those 30 hours fuming and cursing over the next three years, I'll consider it paid for.

Linksys, Netgear, and Belkin make pretty ****** products... I'll be damned if I put another dime in any of their pockets. Let alone put a dime in their pockets and then use someone else's firmware because they can't be bothered to make anything decent (like I said in my other post, though, the alternative firmwares didn't do a damn bit of good on my WRT54G).
 
My WRT54G v5 was giving me dropped connections earlier this week and I finally got sick of it, so I installed DD-WRT Micro. Connection hasn't dropped once since then (even under full load). And it was only $49.
 
Draytek routers are excellent and don't have these kind of crashing problems. My one at home has crashed/stopped working *once* (which was while upgrading the firmware) since we got it in February 2003.

They are expensive though, and are only available for Wireless G at the moment.
 
If the problem is not interference, it could be a capacitor going bad, in which case it's either time for surgery or a replacement.
 
harrumph. My airport xtreme base (newest one) arrived last week. It took longer to move the furniture to accommodate the wiring than it did to set it up! working perfectly. plugged my HP printer into it and its doing fine.
 
zioxide said:
My WRT54G v5 was giving me dropped connections earlier this week and I finally got sick of it, so I installed DD-WRT Micro. Connection hasn't dropped once since then (even under full load). And it was only $49.
Click to expand...

$49 for a last-gen wireless router, constructed by a company so incompetent that its firmware has to be replaced by third-party hobbyists (which voids the warranty), with half the RAM and flash memory of prior generations, and none of the features of the AEBS... that's not really something I'd go around bragging about. Especially if I'd apparently only been running it a couple days at that point 😛
 
Chrispy said:
🙁 Looks like it may be time for an AE base station...
Click to expand...

I sold my old WRT54G on eBay after its cap popped. I described it as broken and non-functional in the listing but it was still worth money to someone. The buyer left me positive feedback, saying it didn't work, just as advertised.
 
Chrispy said:
Hey all. My WRT54G router has suddenly started dropping the connection to my cable modem every 15-20 mins. Nothing has changed in my setup at all. I have a MBP and my roommate has a custom built tower. Both machines use the wireless connection and it is protected by WPA. Any ideas on what can help this.

Also, if the router is a lost cause, would the new Airport Extreme router be any better? It seems like every time I have a router fail it goes the same way... keeps dropping connections. Thanks in advance for the advice!
Click to expand...

I have the same router and had that problem for a while. I'm not totally sure what fixed it, but I haven't had a dropped conection in a month. What I did was reset it to factory defaults, then set the wireless channel to Channel 6. After that I changed the Security Mode to "Capture(wlansec.wpapersharekey)WPA Personal" with the WPA Algorithms set to "TKIP" and a group key renewal set to 3600 seconds.
Hope it works as well for you as it did me.🙂
 
kalisphoenix said:
$49 for a last-gen wireless router, constructed by a company so incompetent that its firmware has to be replaced by third-party hobbyists (which voids the warranty), with half the RAM and flash memory of prior generations, and none of the features of the AEBS... that's not really something I'd go around bragging about. Especially if I'd apparently only been running it a couple days at that point 😛
Click to expand...

The ability to run DD-WRT is a feature.

Does your AEBS do QoS? Come back to me when it does...
 
kalisphoenix said:
$49 for a last-gen wireless router, constructed by a company so incompetent that its firmware has to be replaced by third-party hobbyists (which voids the warranty), with half the RAM and flash memory of prior generations, and none of the features of the AEBS... that's not really something I'd go around bragging about. Especially if I'd apparently only been running it a couple days at that point 😛
Click to expand...

Well you can go and spend a ridiculous amount of money on a router just because it has the apple logo on it, while I'm surfing the same internet using my $49 router. 🙂
 
kalisphoenix said:
believe that over the past three years, I've spent at least 30 hours fuming and cursing at my unreliable wireless setup. If I save those 30 hours fuming and cursing over the next three years, I'll consider it paid for.
Click to expand...

That's the exact reason why I purchased an Airport Extreme and Airport Express to replace my WRT54G.

Sick of firmware updates/fiddling/fixing etc to have a stable wireless... I must admit the new tomato firmware for the WRT54G is awesome, but still the Apple stuff is just so nice and easy to setup - and works flawlessly!
 
Gotta say that I just returned my AEX because the airdisk functionality was poor (rsyncs would report protocol errors, large files would fail, all the usual stuff you see from people trying to really use the airdisk for more than light file work).

Anyway, the wireless/router part of the AEX was a pure joy to configure and get running - it was my first Apple router and I would definitely recommend it to someone not needing "hardcore" airdisk functionality (at least until they rev the firmware a few times more). I'll be recommending the AEX for my parents who have no idea about WPA/WEP/SSID/DHCP/etc.

I plugged my old WRT54GS back in, running the stock LinkSys firmware with WPA2 enabled, and off I went. I do hope that Apple fixes the airdisk...

Mike
 
I have the Express and the Extreme hooked together running perfect. I don't see why many people have issues with the routers from Apple.
 
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