So the vast consensus is I need to skip the iron age and enter the 21st century and get a new router. Guess i didnt realize it was THAT old.
Appreciate all of you taking the time to help me with this issue. For the short term I’ll try Enabling encryption and go from there. Guess I should’ve asked for a new router for Father’s Day. 
Ok, update for all who have been kind enough to offer suggestions. I changed settings to WPA Shared Key with password and was finally able to get the camera set up. Pretty nifty little device.
Got my laptop to accept new wifi settings.
BUT, my wife is no longer able to view our main security camera system from work.
Had her try the IP of the camera recorder then the router, but still unable to access them.
I had to enter the IP of the security camera recorder in the router to allow it access. I grabbed the IP of the PC my wife uses at work but the router only accepts 192.. range of IP’s. Hers is on the 107. range. The router only allows me to input the last set of digits of a 192 range IP.
Other than that, I tried downloading firmware for the router but was unable to save the .bin file to a file that the router would accept. Created a Linksys folder in C:/Programs but can’t get it to save it there, only options were various audio or video programs on my PC.
Even when I opted to Save the download to Notepad or other text file the router wouldn’t accept it.
Thanks again everyone for your input and assistance. May even buy another one!
Glad it’s up and running! 
Would need to hear more about what system that is to venture a guess.
What operating system is your laptop using? Knowing that would help if someone is to give you directions. Guessing you have a “Downloads” or “Documents” folder to download to?
What hardware version WRT54G do you have? You’ll need to know that to download the right file.
The download should come as a ready-to-use .bin file. You just need to successfully download it to your computer and then use the router’s web browser to upload it to the router (Administration>Firmware Upgrade). Note you should save your settings first, just in case it overwrites them (Administration>Config Management>Backup).
I have had similar issues with sharing cams. My uncle will tell me he cannot access our V2 cam at the camp in Maine. I have had to cancel and then reshare with him a couple times. Also after a power loss, the cam does not always properly reboot so I had to add a smart plug so I can remotely power cycle. This has been a sucessful work around. I also had a problem setting up a cam for a friend as his old verizon router was in WEP mode. I was able to change it to WPA and keep the same password.
After getting a new (additional) camera, I would run into this when setting the new one up and then it hit me, the hand smacking me in the forehead… The camera will connect to only a 2.4GHz but at home, my phone default connects to the 5 GHz frequency on the same router. The phone, or tablet or whatever you use to set up the camera has to be on the same WiFi connection, not just the same router. Once the setup is complete, I switch the phone back to the 5 GHz connection and all is fine.
I see the “Prior to 2012” EOL on the Linksys site too, but the WRT54G is still available online! Then there’s this:
Thanks for all the comments/input. A new router is in my future. Changed settings on the router and the camera had been working fine. Was also able to get our security camera system to be viewed remotely. Just had to open ports on the router to allow PC remote access.
Next question, how would I add a second camera and could they both be viewed at the same time such as a security camera system quad view, or would I have to access them individually?
I would like that too, and it is somewhere on their roadmap:
You would add a second camera the same way you Added the first wyze Cam .
You can view multiple cameras at once in the wyze app By grouping them together.
See the grouping section
https://support.wyzecam.com/hc/en-us/articles/360022543292-Wyze-Cam-User-s-Guide
Multi camera viewing already exists , Note the tag In the road map says launched