The Router

The WL-500g Premium V2 is much blockier than I thought it would be; it reminds me of the first wireless router I ever owned. That was a thick and boxy device just like this one.

ASUS is following the Mac-alike look that many manufacturers have adopted with white and silver colours. The top of the WL-500g Premium V2 has a dimpled surface and the ASUS logo in the center.

(Click the above image for the large version)

Taking a look at the front of the WL-500g Premium V2 shows us the usual lights you would expect to see on a modern wireless router. The one thing that I found odd was that these are orange. Now, normally I would not notice, but I have gotten used to seeing green and blue so this orange really threw me. To most people an orange light is going to be a warning. In fact, at first I thought the lights were orange because I had not completed the setup. Perhaps the next revision will feature less alarming lights.

(Click the above image for the large version)

Flipping around to the back, we get a good view of the single antenna connection right next to a Quick Setup button; this launches the EZSetup that is a very handy tool for first time users. With EZSetup you are walked through the basic setup of a wireless network. To use this you need to open the EZSetup tool on your computer then push the EZSetup button on the back for three seconds. ASUS recommends using EZSetup only with their wireless products to avoid configuration issues.

Next to the EZsetup button is the hard reset button and this allows you to perform a hard reset of the WL-500g Premium V2. Flowing the line down we see the WAN port and the four 10/100 ports. Again, I am disappointed to see a modern router that states it offers file sharing, yet only having 10/100 ports. In a day where most new devices are Gigabit, I would think Gigabit ports would be standard.

(Click the above image for the large version)

After the LAN ports are two USB 2.0 ports; these are what give the WL-500g Premium V2 its real flare. With these two ports you can turn your simple wireless router into a print server, FTP Server, File Server, and Media Server; all through the use of the built in GUI and configuration utilities on the CD-ROM. This feature puts the WL-500g Premium V2 well above the current crop of g specification wireless devices.