Linksys WRT54G - VoIP-Info

The Cisco/Linksys WRT54G

Because this router has Linux based firmware its possible to replace portions of the firmware with custom programming. Of particular interest to VOIP users, many of the replacement firmware packages add much more usable QoS to the router than the official Cisco/Linksys firmware.

WARNING: newer retail versions of this device no longer support Linux (but read on; there is hope).
The warning above is old and false. LinkSys now actually has an OTS product with the Linux OS firmware installed and is available at retailers such as Frys and Micro Center. There is a price increase for the Linux versions, around $89.00.

As of version 5 of the hardware of the WRT54G(serial numbers starting with CDFA), Cisco has ported the platform to VXWorks, which is closed. See the OpenWRT Table of Hardware for more information on which devices run OpenWRT. In response to community pressure , Linksys also announced that they have released a version (dubbed Linksys WRT54GL) that is based on the version 4 hardware and will run Linux.

Since firmware release: 3.x.x from Oct 2004, limited QoS is now supported by the vendor on all versions of this router.
Cisco/Linksys download page for WRT54G

http://www.linksysbycisco.com/US/en/support/WRT54G/download supports limited QoS on all models. 2 MAC-addresses can be given high priority OR 3 speciffic port numbers. In addition, each of the four LAN ports may be given high or low priority.

NOTE: There is a known SIP registration problem with the WRT54G v5 & v6 with firmware versions below 1.00.6~~:
A bug in the Linksys/VxWorks firmware version 1.00.6 on the WRT54G v5 and v6 can cause SIP registrations to fail regardless of NAT settings in Asterisk or on the phone/ATA. This has been verified with a Cisco 7940 running SIP 6.3 and with X-Lite. Updating to the latest firmware will fix the problem.

The 3rd party replacement firmware listed below offer additional features and more elaborate QoS.

Custom Replacement Firmware

OpenWRT – Linux distribution for WRT54G, small core, with many optional packages including Asterisk!.
Wifi
EWRT — project closed down
DD-WRT – An implementation originally based on Sveasoft Alchemy pre5, but incorporating many features of OpenWRT as well as RFlow traffic management, RADIUS authentication, SAMBA filesystem, internal FFS2 Partition and a working WDS system.

The Linksys WRT54GS is a newer model with additional memory and other improvements.
Different firmware is required, but most of the replacement firmware options are available for both models.

It is possible to run Asterisk on the WRT54G — see: Asterisk Linksys WRT54G
You can also use the SIP Express Router — consider the SIPatH Project

DSL Reports Forum Thread on custom firmware for the WRT54G
Broadband Reports Forum Thread sveasoft compared to wifi firmware

WRT54G Sites

Mini Linux Distribution for WRT54G
Broadband Reports Linksys Forum

Custom Replacement Firmware

WRT54G Sites

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