23 March 2026
(No, I will not run Wayland on there.)
You used some sort of a router to view this page and if not, I have questions to ask. Ever wondered what the hardware consists of, is it perhaps an alien technology with little green gremlins routing the network traffic? Well, it looks rather green, but I do not see gremlins.
This particular router has a reserved space in my heart as it was this specific machine which allowed me to access the internet for the first time all of these years ago. Hence why I think it is only fair to peek under the lid, quite literally, instead of meanly throwing it out.
When the TL-WR543G became available, Atheros eXtended Range (XR) technology for maintaining connection with devices with low signal, together with a focus on client mode, differentiated it from competition. Atheros released a white paper for its XR technology back in April of 2004. It worked by improving sensibility to -105 dBm and lowering bandwidth down to 256 Kbps if needed to preserve connections instead of dropping devices. Interestingly though, Atheros does not mention this technology anywhere in the spec sheet for their SOCs. Perhaps because it would then not comply with the minimum WiFi bandwith of 1 Mbps required by the IEEE standard.
There are reasons for modern routers to hold a minimum sensitivity of around -95 dBm instead of going as weak as this router does. For one, router manufacturers do not have to deal with customers returning products in disappointment when network traffic does not go through, even though it was said it would. Reliability at such low decibel-milliwatts can not be well guaranteed, so the connection is rather dropped and it is called a day. Secondly, -95 dBm is way less than a modern day phone can listen for. Smartphones cut out at around -85 dBm (eight times less), as their small antennas can physically not listen for such weak signals. Meaning it is quite a niche use-case and probably better solved by adding an access-point. Nevertheless, back when this router released it was a hit.
With its declaration of conformity signed on the 24. of March 2007, the TL-WR543G v2 is equipped with the Atheros AR2317 SOC processor and radio, Marvell 88E6063-RCJ1 switch for wired traffic, ESMT M12L128168A memory, HST-2027DR / 1025DR Group-tek surge protectors, serial port.
To be continued... (Postponed due to exams)