Feature Differences

The feature set of the G2 is essentially unchanged from that of the G and from most other current Linksys wireless routers, for that matter. The WAN and four switched LAN ports are still Auto MDI/X 10/100 and there are still link / activity lights for all wired ports plus wireless. Figure 3 shows the Basic Setup page and the slideshow hits the highlights.

Figure 3: Basic Setup screen

Here's a summary of key routing features:

• Support for DHCP, Static IP, PPPoE, PPTP, L2TP and Telstra Cable Internet connection types
• Built-in dynamic DNS client for DynDNS.com and TZO.com
• Router mode switches off NAT routing for use in multi-router networks
• Scheduled Internet Access feature for outbound port-based service blocking
• Web filtering for four URLs and six keywords per policy
• Forwarding for 10 port ranges and 10 triggered port ranges
• Four level priority-based upstream QoS for two MAC addresses, eight application ports and two MAC addresses (two levels only)
• Optional HTTPs management access
• Incoming and Outgoing Traffic logging

Wireless settings are essentially unchanged with Basic Wireless Settings limited to Mode (Disabled, B only, G only and Mixed [default]), SSID, Channel and SSID Broadcast Enable. The Basic Wireless Settings actually default to Wi-Fi Protected Setup (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Basic Wireless settings defaulted to WPS

I had previously tried to test WPS on the WRT600N and other Linksys draft 802.11n products. But I found that the client utilities that came with the wireless adapters had no WPS "button". But this time when I saw that the Linksys Wireless Network Monitor V3.2 that came with the WPC54G V3.1 had the WPS button I figured I was all set. Wrong I was!

After a number of futile attempts to get a WPS pushbutton session to complete, I reported my problem to my Linksys contact, who found that the WPC54G V3.1 card does not support WPS. I was also told that the only Linksys adapters that currently support WPS are the WGA600N Dual-Band Wireless-N Gaming Adapter and the WUSB600N Dual-Band Wireless-N USB Network Adapter.

It's surprising to me that a market leader like Linksys/Cisco could be so slow in implementing a security technology that was announced in 2006! Anyway, when you need to manually set up wireless security you have a complete selection of methods including WEP, WPA Personal and Enterprise and WPA2 Personal and Enterprise.

NOTE: Actually, the client utility actually had a Secure Easy Setup button, which is Linksys' earlier automatic wireless setup methodology that I thought had been folded (along with the other proprietary wireless auto setup technologies) into WPS. Once again, that's what I get for thinking!

The Advanced Wireless settings look unchanged to me (Figure 5).

Figure 5: Advanced wireless configuration

Note that there is still no transmit power control and no ability to keep wireless and wired clients from talking to each other. The AP Isolation control does prevent wireless client to client communication.

Tags: Linksys, WiFi, Wireless Reviews,

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