Last week, I bought a Linksys WRT54GL wireless router to replace my crappy SMC7004AWBR. The first thing I did after I got it was replacing the firmware with DD-WRT.v23.SP1. It installed without a clinch. But the connection, especially the wireless connection, would break down after about 15 minutes and I had to reset the router. I tried micro, mini and standard versions of DD-WRT. They all had the same problem. After two days of trying, I decided to switch to HyperWRT since it’s based on the Linksys factory firmware. It turned out to be a lot more stable than DD-WRT. I haven’t reset it for a week. My BitTorrent download used to kill my DSL connection everyday. I always thought it’s the modem’s problem. But it has happened only once in a week with this WRT54GL.
This is currently what I have enabled on this 70$ Linux machine: * transmit power set to 70mW * port triggering for BitTorrent * static DHCP for one of my computers * QoS
I strongly recommend this router to everybody. Especially with the open source firmware. The only additional feature that SMC router offers is the built-in parallel print server. But I’m converting my 6 years old Asus laptop to do that with Ubuntu and Samba.
Last words, never buy any SMC product.
