Well... I picked up a wrt54g today.

I tested it out with the default settings... worked fine.
Enable the encryption and mac addy filtering and everything worked fine.

I then loaded the sveasoft firmware 6.0rc6a and it added a whole lot of functionality.
Most importantly... signal strength!

I boosted the signal from the default 28mw to the max 251mw and it gave me about 14dBm gain.

This is without the additional high gain antennas... I was just using the stock antennas. I plan on getting the high gain antennas next pay. They are quite expensive... just about as much as the wireless router itself... however, the linksys antennas give a rating of 7dBm gain. I've seen some others that claim a 14dBm gain for half the price of the linksys brand.

My laptop was within 6 feet of the access point so I can test the signal strength accurately.

I used netstumbler to check out the strength.

If anyone is interested in the log file... let me know.

So.. this firmware will def. do the job. Even if you just want it for the increased signal.

IMO- It is worth the $20 for the supported version. The antennas will cost you about $70 for the pair. Keep in mind that the $20 only gets you support and unlimited access to the firmware releases. But, from what I've seen... you can already get unlimited access to the releases through the torrent site. My bittorrent download was completed in under 30 seconds or so.

I've only tested the signal strength so far. I plan on using this router at my girlfriend's house along with the other features.

One I know I'll use... Quality of Service. (QoS) to limit a roomates habit of downloading pr0n from p2p apps. I hate when he has so many downloading and I can't surf the web or etc. I'll just make HTTP, HTTPS, SSHD, etc. a priority over the different downloading protocols. p2p apps, ftp, etc.

Sweet!