Shortly after repatriated to the UK I purchased a Linksys WAG354G. This is a Linux based 802.11B/G ADSL router in an attractively small package. There were, however, a few drawbacks: it ran somewhat on the warm size, the UI (and the modem) were a touch slow, stability left a little to be desired and it had no external aerial, so WiFi reception was rubbish. And it was list last one that made me snap after 18 months.
Our flat has the phone sockets in the oddest places – one in the hall, between the stairs and three doors; and one upstairs, outside the bedroom door. This second lends itself to extension, and so the router sits in the bedroom, upstairs. Hence it passes through a brick wall, the root and an internal wall before reaching the living room at the far extent of the ground floor. The Wii sits in the far corner and worked as long as it was angled in just the right way. However, Polly’s PowerBook would often drop off and give hell when it came to reconnecting. Given the PowerBook is one big faraday cage this isn’t too surprising, but my MBP was also teetering on the edge. And so I decided action was needed.
The action in question ended up being the WAG200G. I wasn’t completely convinced on another Linksys, but the reviews were good and at below £40 not too much could go wrong. Nor did it.
It’s really a bug-fixed WAG354G. It runs cool, the UI is fast and doesn’t use NTLM anymore (hence it works with Safari), the throughput seems faster and our WiFi throughput has jumped from 11Mbps to 54. In short, smashing.
So, problem solved. The only decide is that I now have not only a spare ADSL modem gathering dust, but the WAG354G as well. The trials of life…
