These firmware variants allow it to replace far more expensive devices. It's also quite small and requires little power. I personally use an WRT54GL hardware t

These firmware variants allow it to replace far more expensive devices. It's also quite small and requires little power. I personally use an WRT54GL hardware to offer public internet access to folks at a coffeeshop. Here is what this $69 USD (when i bought it) device helped with. Public Wireless - The range covers the entire store and the outdoor seating area. Here we mention terms of service and "beg" them to buy something with captive portal software. I'm not really sure how many clients it can handle, but it certainly meets the need. Public Terminals - It serves up PXE boot images to 3 netbooted terminals. They run the Linux Terminal Server Project software. It also makes it easy to set up firewalls, QOS, and anything else you might do with any other Linux box. I think it's a great deal for $69 USD. This same device has been running for > 4 years!