4 ms·

The magic wasn't just the hack-ability, it was the $69 price. In a world dominated by $1000 desktop pcs, having a $69 linux minion as your home router was appea

The magic wasn't just the hack-ability, it was the $69 price. In a world dominated by $1000 desktop pcs, having a $69 linux minion as your home router was appealing. There's just no place for it today at $300! The market is full of $25 TP-Links and Ubiquiti's that can do the same. Even full-on netbooks are cheaper.

simoncion 13y ago
This is true. As a broke-ass college student, I would never have picked up my little WRT54 if it wasn't cheap. Leave it to Cisco to completely misunderstand the low end of the market... As an aside, where are you finding Ubiquiti APs for under $50? Craigslist?
- mcgwiz 13y ago
  Belkin bought Linksys, so they're the ones to blame, not Cisco. I'm wondering if there's still marketability in stackable form. Do they even have switches of compatible footprint? Although I always dreamed of the day I'd stack my router on a switch from the same line to create a beautiful networking statue on my desk, I always deferred to price and other features when making purchasing decisions.
  - abcd_f 13y ago
    You guys are comparing apples to oranges. I would rather have a $300 fully open source, hackable device than a $50 locked down box, which is what recent WRT models were. Belkin's price is off, but they inherently get "it", they aren't afraid of letting their devices go and this is awesome.
    - simoncion 13y ago
      I agree that most anything is better than an underpowered $50 locked down box. However, I suspect that the thing that Belkin gets is that they can charge a substantial premium for a Linux-compatible router/AP. Belkin seems to be charging a 2 to 3x premium when compared to comparable dual-band 802.11ac routers. If this work results in wider 802.11ac support in OpenWRT et al., then this will be awesome. If not, then Belkin is selling a decent bit of kit, but you'd probably be better off hanging up a Ubiquiti AP and using a tiny PC for routing.
    - nodata 13y ago
      A lot of TP-Link routers work with the OpenWRT firmware.
    - mcgwiz 13y ago
      I wasn't making any comparisons. But since you brought it up, I'd rather have a $50- open source router than a $300 one. Just me. Ironically, Belkin has a decent line of routers that are already flashable. I bought a dual band one new through their eBay store a couple years ago for $35. Threw Tomato (firmware of choice since it was released) on it and have been happy ever since: very fast, never locks up and supports dnsmasq.
  - simoncion 13y ago
    Oh, I was unaware of the second changing of hands. Thanks for correcting me! Do you know if Belkin caused old router firmwares to vanish from linksys.com, or did that happen during Cisco's watch? Also, did you ever stack the WRT54s? I got the impression from random forum posts that that would overheat the stack when under serious load.
chaud 13y ago
A decent AC router is still around ~$150-200, so prices will fall as AC becomes more popular. That being said, there is no way to justify spending an extra ~$100-150 on this over various other models for most people.
ghshephard 13y ago
I've owned nine WRT-54Gs since 2003 (a couple were WRT-54GLs) - If I had some assurance that this $300 Wireless router actually went through some ALT/HALT procedures, and was designed to last for five years (Maybe include a five year warrantee), I would buy it in a heartbeat. I'm not expecting Cisco Aironet quality (though, the ones we installed in 2007/2008 have been serving several hundred people day without a hiccup) - but is it too much to ask for a solid state appliance that gives me 5 good years of service?

simoncion 13y ago

This is true. As a broke-ass college student, I would never have picked up my little WRT54 if it wasn't cheap. Leave it to Cisco to completely misunderstand the low end of the market... As an aside, where are you finding Ubiquiti APs for under $50? Craigslist?

mcgwiz 13y ago
Belkin bought Linksys, so they're the ones to blame, not Cisco. I'm wondering if there's still marketability in stackable form. Do they even have switches of compatible footprint? Although I always dreamed of the day I'd stack my router on a switch from the same line to create a beautiful networking statue on my desk, I always deferred to price and other features when making purchasing decisions.
- abcd_f 13y ago
  You guys are comparing apples to oranges. I would rather have a $300 fully open source, hackable device than a $50 locked down box, which is what recent WRT models were. Belkin's price is off, but they inherently get "it", they aren't afraid of letting their devices go and this is awesome.
  - simoncion 13y ago
    I agree that most anything is better than an underpowered $50 locked down box. However, I suspect that the thing that Belkin gets is that they can charge a substantial premium for a Linux-compatible router/AP. Belkin seems to be charging a 2 to 3x premium when compared to comparable dual-band 802.11ac routers. If this work results in wider 802.11ac support in OpenWRT et al., then this will be awesome. If not, then Belkin is selling a decent bit of kit, but you'd probably be better off hanging up a Ubiquiti AP and using a tiny PC for routing.
  - nodata 13y ago
    A lot of TP-Link routers work with the OpenWRT firmware.
  - mcgwiz 13y ago
    I wasn't making any comparisons. But since you brought it up, I'd rather have a $50- open source router than a $300 one. Just me. Ironically, Belkin has a decent line of routers that are already flashable. I bought a dual band one new through their eBay store a couple years ago for $35. Threw Tomato (firmware of choice since it was released) on it and have been happy ever since: very fast, never locks up and supports dnsmasq.
- simoncion 13y ago
  Oh, I was unaware of the second changing of hands. Thanks for correcting me! Do you know if Belkin caused old router firmwares to vanish from linksys.com, or did that happen during Cisco's watch? Also, did you ever stack the WRT54s? I got the impression from random forum posts that that would overheat the stack when under serious load.

chaud 13y ago

A decent AC router is still around ~$150-200, so prices will fall as AC becomes more popular. That being said, there is no way to justify spending an extra ~$100-150 on this over various other models for most people.

ghshephard 13y ago

I've owned nine WRT-54Gs since 2003 (a couple were WRT-54GLs) - If I had some assurance that this $300 Wireless router actually went through some ALT/HALT procedures, and was designed to last for five years (Maybe include a five year warrantee), I would buy it in a heartbeat. I'm not expecting Cisco Aironet quality (though, the ones we installed in 2007/2008 have been serving several hundred people day without a hiccup) - but is it too much to ask for a solid state appliance that gives me 5 good years of service?