Buffalo Technologies Turbo G High Power Wireless Smart Router

Reviewed by: mikethec

Strengths: Hardware appears stable; 16MB of on-board RAM and 4MB of flashable memory make this unit very attractive to anyone (newbie to enthusiast)

Weaknesses: Buffalo's firmware is mediocre at best - consider re-flashing the unit upon purchase (see comments below).

Overall: I've now re-written this review (before submitting it) several times, and each time it's been a battle to hold the line between product review and college-level technical lecture. So I hope you will bear with me and I promise I'll make it worth your while to read "more than just ten words.".What makes Buffalo's WHR-HP-G54 hardware itself so attractive is that it comes with more RAM than pretty much all the units you see on the shelf at your local retailer (it comes with 16MB, the rest typically come with 8MB), and it also has 4MB of flashable memory storage, whereas most of the rest come with only 2MB. And in the age of commoditization and mainstreaming mass-production of wireless routers (and their overall declining product quality) a relative minority player such as Buffalo has to differentiate itself based on hardware features, stability, etc..Now, why did I title this review "A Diamond In The Rough"? Simple: this router is a wonderful product -- perhaps the best router I've ever owned, and I've owned several different brands -- but Buffalo's firmware (think of it as the operating system which makes this device function) is simply dreadful. So dreadful, in fact, that I almost thought I had a physically defective product. Yeah, it was *that* bad. However....I never intended to leave Buffalo's own supplied firmware on the unit; it only happened to be coincidence that it was that bad. So, what exactly was it that I did, and how has the unit behaved since? Well....Without going into the history of it, the open-source community (think: GNU/Linux) has been writing replacement firmware for wireless devices now for several years, both out of frustration with the quality of the various manufacturers' offerings, as well as a desire to add in more capabilities. There are several such projects going on, the two largest being DD-WRT and OpenWRT. I flashed this unit with DD-WRT's firmware, and this thing became absolutely rock-solid. It makes administration of my home network a snap, gives me access to the latest and greatest wireless security protocols, and it's constantly being reviewed and improved not by just a few employees of some company somewhere, but by many, many folks all over the world..While I would recommend this product without hesitation to most folks (obviously some people will need specialized features that this unit doesn't offer), what I would highly suggest you do before buying this wireless router or any other -- EVEN IF YOU DON'T INTEND TO FLASH THE FIRMWARE -- is to go to DD-WRT's product table:.http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Supported_Devices.and read through what the various specs (RAM, etc.) are. This is the single best possible way for you to know what it is you CAN get, and what it is you ARE getting for your money. Who knows, you may find features you didn't know existed that might make your life better, like a built-in web server, or support for an external USB hard drive, and so forth.

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Strengths: Very fast, compact, came with wall mounting bracket. Supports OpenWRT and DD-WRT Linux firmwares, which really open up the capabilities of this router. Fantastic wireless range.

Weaknesses: Really the only issue I have with this router is that the link/activity lights for the wired ports are on the back instead of the front. Not sure why they did this, but whatever. It works perfectly.

Overall: This is absolutely the best value I have ever seen in a residential router. If you're not afraid of tinkering with this beast and using TFTP, give OpenWRT or DD-WRT firmware a try, they make the WHR-HP-G54 a hundred times more useful.

Reviewed by: vmc230

Strengths: Ease of set-up, solid performance with Tomato firmware, no problem with Sunrocket VoIP

Overall: I was having problems with Linksys router and switched to Buffalo. I was able to upgrade the hardware, install the router and get VoIP back up and running in 15 minutes. I am very pleased with my decision!

Reviewed by: techsfan

Strengths: Signal strength, cool looks, small size saves space, repeater/bridge capability

Weaknesses: Very poorly written manual, AOSS setup is not as easy as promised and can be buggy, only supports WEP when two or more WHR-HP-G54 routers are connected to expand the wireless range, weak firmware

Overall: I live in a single-family house with a Linksys WRT54G router placed in the master BR upstairs. There are a few dead spots on the middle floor, as well as almost no signal in the basement. As for signal strength, this router was better but not by much! The AOSS technology touted by Buffalo as a quick method of wireless setup is a little buggy, and could pose a challenge to the inexperienced user. This is particularly so if one has already used an advanced encryption mode (WPA and higher; did not try it with WEP) on one unit, and intends to establish a wireless link between a new AOSS-capable Buffalo router or adaptor. With a little extra time however, I was able to link a Buffalo Ethernet Converter (WLI-TX4-G54HP) to the WHR-HP-G54 router via a hardwire setup. Note that while wirelessly linking Ethernet Converter (WLI-TX4-G54HP) to the Airstation (WHR-HP-G54) extends your network and supports WPA encryption, it does not expand the range of your Wi-Fi environment. In other words, the second computer or the gaming unit in the basement must physically be connected (via an ethernet cable) to the Converter/Bridge to gain access to the network. One good feature of Buffalo routers is that they may be used as either an access point or a repeater/bridge. This allows one to daisy chain up to six routers together in order to eliminate the dead spots in a wireless environment. One of the routers needs to remain as the main gateway connected to the internet, and the others switched to the repeater/bridge mode. It is not recommended to interconnect more than three routers, as the signal quality will diminish. However, the biggest drawback about this type of setup is that you can only use WEP encryption. The firmware does not support any other security protocol when units are interlinked. I am relatively knowledgeable about networking and build + upgrade my own computers. For the average user who does not require an advanced network, this unit may be more than adequate. If you need to expand your wireless signal by interlinking two or more of these routers and do not mind WEP encryption, then you also will be fine. However, for people like me whose work on the network involves financial transactions, may want to wait until the firmware is updated to accommodate a higher security level. UPDATE: You may now flash your router with the DD-WRT firmware. This firmware is substantially more flexible than the one installed by Buffalo. It will also allow you to take advantage of an array of security protocols (WEP, WPA, WPA2, etc.). Make sure to follow the instructions CAREFULLY however. Visit the following site for more information: http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Installation#Buffalo_WHR-G54S.2C_WHR-HP-G54.2C_WZR-HP-G54.2C_WZR-RS-G54_and_WHR-G125

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Strengths: speed, signal strength

Overall: I bought this to replace my dlink wap. I kept on getting bumped off, and had terrible interference.. I got this one and I get 100% at 54mbps!