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Review: Linksys Wireless-G / SRX Broadband Router

04:35 - Saturday 19 February 2005 by THG Reporting Team

1. Introduction
2. Basic Features
3. Internal details
4. Setup and Administration
5. Firewall and Other Features
6. Routing Performance
7. Wireless Features
8. Wireless Tests - Throughput vs. Range

9. Wireless Tests, Continued
10. Mixing it Up - 11g
11. Mixing it Up - Super-G plus XR
12. Mixing it Up - 11b
13. Performance Improvement - 11g and True MIMO
14. Performance Improvement - 11g and Super-G / XR
15. Summary of Test Results
16. Closing Thoughts

Linksys Wireless-G Broadband Router with SRX

Linksys Wireless-G Broadband Router with SRX
Summary	802.11b/g router based on Airgo True MIMO speed and range enhancement technology. Does not support wireless bridging and repeating - v2 model has removable antennas and QoS
Update	8/15/2005 - Added v2 model info 2/22/2005 - Updated WPA2 info 2/21/2005 - Added disclosure note.
Pros	• Excellent throughput vs. range performance • Improves performance of non-SRX 11g
Cons	• Reduced Non-SRX STA throughput in mixed WLANs • No wireless bridging or repeating • No QoS controls • Very limited wireless monitoring • Expensive

Linksys' announcement of its SRX line at last month's Consumer Electronics Show made it the second consumer networking company to take the plunge into the current MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) wireless networking fad. Like Belkin, Linksys' SRX line is based on Airgo Networks' True MIMO technology.

But unlike Belkin, Linksys has chosen to eschew the use of both Airgo's "True MIMO" and Belkin's "Pre-N" branding. instead, Linksys is contributing its SRX moniker (Speed and Range eXpansion) to the industry's continuing cause of totally confusing the wireless networking product buying public.

In this review, I'll look at the WRT54GX, the latest in Linksys' ever-expanding "Wireless-G" product line. I'll take a quick run through the product's feature set and then take a deep dive into exploring many of the performance and interoperability claims of the SRX / True MIMO technology.

NOTE: In the interest of full disclosure, you should know that I was contracted by Airgo Networks last year to perform an evaluation of engineering samples of pre-release Pre-N products. However, all testing presented in this report was performed on released Linksys SRX product.