I like that explanation. Otherwise I'd probably say the router is having hardware issues. I've seen the WRT54GL's go bad (I've installed dozens of them over the years), but at least they're cheap to replace. I think they're going for about $50 on Amazon over here in the US. I find it hilarious that Linksys/Cisco is keeping the model around.

I love it because it's the clearest example in the consumer electronics world of consumer demand dictating the products a company makes. I mean how many router models has Linksys/Cisco put out since the WRT54GL? But they continue to carry it in stores and online. The model still gets voted as the favorite router on sites like Newegg and Amazon, so they're not going to stop carrying it. But at the same time, for some reason they refuse to recognize the reason people love it, otherwise they would have released the current equivalent router with all the latest features.