While this is true, my WRT54GL died. Well, it wouldn't do WiFi any more. I replaced it with a WNDR3700v2 running OpenWRT. I also have a spare one of those, which is currently doing duty as an extra access point, but could be swapped over for router duties at short notice.

I guess what I'm saying is this: all electronics die eventually. Be prepared to either fix them or replace them. This is a bit of an indictment of our throwaway consumer culture, but unfortunately it's a fact.

P.S. It turns out that there's a WNDR3700v4 which has gone back to the Atheros chipset: http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/netgear/wndr3700