Linksys - WRT54G

I still have an OG WRT54G in the attic in a box.  Also the AC 1900 TMobile Personal Hotspot, reflashed to what it is, a rebranded RT-AC68U, it's working flawlessly as a wifi mesh node. 

Worst idea ever. Been linksys for years nothing but problems. I have run servers in the past and networking is major hobby.

Still has a valid niche for the 100 of us trying to keep our old Nintendo DS systems online. As well as the Wii crowd who won't just buy a compatible LAN dongle.

Talk your shit, but the WRT54G will always be the king.

You can't even buy the WRT54G. I know because I still hoard a stack of WRT54G-L's in storage because I loved them so much I couldn't part ways with them. That being said get one of the Asus models in the $100 price range. They're perfectly capable and running Merlin firmware can do so much more.

I have a box full of them in the basement. I was going to try a WiFi mesh project, but it was more trouble than it was worth. Lol.

Same. Refuse to part with the former goat

Edit: to clarify. I posted what I've used in the past, not what I want to use next. The first two were recycled. I added an image of what I've used over the years (Linksys WRT54G, Westell 7501, Asus AC-1900). I feel like the 3 primary routers I've used have been great and reliable. I think I got lucky. I'm looking for a moderate upgrade, even though I don't really need it. My current Asus is pushing 10 years and I'd like to retire it and keep it as a backup. My wishlist: ~$75 (I can wait for a sale), super reliable and automatic, dependable, WiFi6 or 7 just to keep up, would work well with older WiFi tech. A mesh system is not required, but my parents have a 2story house so it might help. I've got the ability for wired back-haul. Honestly a single point would be fine for us i think I want this for my family, my parents, and my grandparents. None of us are power users. All 3 of us have the same AC-1900 router, which makes management super easy for me. In-fact, besides powering off and on occasionally, they've been very reliable for the non-tech-saavy. Just looking for something to continue that tradition. Last year, I bought an ASUS AX3000 WiFi 6 Router, but I returned it. I used it for ~3 weeks, but it was super unreliable compared to my current Asus AC-1900. I never figured out why. I thought it would be an upgrade, but it seemed slower and had tons of connection issues. I have some older tech that was the primary connection problem, but even newer ~4 year old tech was having trouble. Maybe i screwed up the configuration, but it was also more complicated than my current Asus. Hoping to avoid that again. Need something the other family members can handle without any input, like we currently have. Thank you!