Have you considered using third party firmware in the wrt54g like DD-WRT or Tomato? They may be more stable.

With respect to what else to use, just about any wireless router will do. You just have to disable DHCP, set its LAN address and connect it LAN to LAN. I used to use a Draytek but when that finally played up I upgraded to a Linksys EA6300 (and because it was an early model it is really an EA6400 masquerading as a 6300). I did a faulty bit of research and thought it could run DD-WRT but, for the moment, it cannot. The firmware does have the option to use it as an AP only, but this disables some bits which could be useful (the USB port for file or print sharing).

It really comes down to what you want it to do. G, n or ac, single or dual band (for n) and what speed do you want from ac? ac is really only beneficial if you have gigabit wiring at home although it may help with the range a bit and uses the less congested 5GHz band. Some better smartphones and tablets may have ac and/or dual band n built in (iPhone etc, my work Dell Laptop etc). It is becoming more common.

I hear lots of positive reactions of Ubiquiti access points.

Any thing that can run DD-WRT.
Got a Netgear WNR3500v2 at the mo, doing nothing more than being an AP with a built in 5 port gigabyte switch.
And if my server goes down for any reason i just switch it to router mode and move it to the cabinet.
Just keeps on going with out needing reboots

Simmples

Hello,

I'm using at home a Unfifi AP. it's a relatively cheap solution and has a really good range

look this link:
https://www.ubnt.com/unifi/unifi-ap/

You don`t need a POE swicth or router. The POE injector is inclued

If you have a wireless nic that supports master mode (atheros is a great choice), you can use ClearOS to be you wireless access point. The module is called 'app-wireless' and the configuration file gets installed to /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf

You can either use a wpa2 password or tie it into radius and authenticate users out of your directory.

Dave Loper wrote:
If you have a wireless nic that supports master mode (atheros is a great choice), you can use ClearOS to be you wireless access point.

.... but you may have difficulty positioning the antenna. My server is in the attic at one end of the house. The antenna extension leads I found seem to have quite high losses, so I gave up and used a router as an AP.

Marcel van Leeuwen wrote:

I hear lots of positive reactions of Ubiquiti access points.

Jim Joomla wrote:

Hello,

I'm using at home a Unfifi AP. it's a relatively cheap solution and has a really good range

look this link:
https://www.ubnt.com/unifi/unifi-ap/

You don`t need a POE swicth or router. The POE injector is inclued

I need to upgrade my network also. Ubiquite just released the EdgeSwitch lite. Looks like a interesting switch. If I go this route I also buy a Unifi AP.