Linksys WRT54G is Making a Return with New Hardware

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What's old is new again, just like Hollywood "reboots."

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Kevin Parrish
Kevin Parrish
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.

19 Comments Comment from the forums
  • gladosiri
    I have and still use WRT54G(L) and I was excited to see this coming up...till I saw $299.99 price tag.I guess I'll be sticking with WRT54G for little bit more now.
    Reply
  • -Fran-
    Don't mock what I think it's the best moddable Router of all times!

    I replaced it only because of 1Gbps networking and dual band (Netgear WNDR3700), so I lent mine to a friend who fried his cheap d-link out of nowhere.

    Cheers!
    Reply
  • Darkk
    Wait a few months after the release as the price will come down. I think $249 this year will be a sweet spot and then $199 next year when they revamp the hardware to reduce cost.
    Reply
  • hotroderx
    I was all set to say hurry up and take my money then I noticed the 299 buy in and cant help but laugh. The spec's look nice and the design is classic but that does not justify the price. Darkk I dont ever see there being a very big market for this. Maybe there just trying to go for limited retro classic type deal.. I figured by mid year AC will be far more common and we will see most the 199 routers priced in the 125-150 range. While the 150 routers will be in the 99 dollar range. We will also get some sub 100 dollar AC Solutions.
    Reply
  • 10tacle
    Cool! I've had the WRT54GS since 2006. It's now 2014 and I'm finally ready to upgrade to a more current WiFi technology. But $300...OUCH! Well, I've waited this long, I can wait another year for this thing to drop below $200.
    Reply
  • SteelCity1981
    AC is nice but everything I own is N, so I really don't have any use for AC but if they made this in an N config and sell it for 50 bucks I'd def consider it.
    Reply
  • thundervore
    Ive had a WRT54GL for years, flashed it with DDWRT on day one and it never failed.I only retired it for a Netgear 3500L because I wanted Gigabit ports and Wireless N all through out my home network. I was excited to see it back but not for $300.My 3500L is still going strong with DDWRT and I have no Wireless AC devices that will benefit from the speeds so I can wait until media settop boxes have wireless AC
    Reply
  • pills161
    Definitely like the looks but that price tag ouch! I've been using the WRT54G for many years now and it does exactly what I need it for, however signal strength can get very low when I'm in bed, reading news articles of course. Will have to wait for prices to come down, my current WRT54G was $50 brand new.
    Reply
  • ap3x
    But the real question is does Linksys understand why people loved this router. Was it for the looks or was it because you could put DD-WRT on it. Will they support DD-WRT on this new device and if it is just because of DD-WRT then their are a bazillion other options out there as well.
    Reply
  • phatboe
    for $300 i could build my own linux based router
    Reply