Netgear WGR614 802.11g Wireless Router

 cheap but not very good
This is the third wireless router I've bought - I thought routers were now generic, and bought the cheapest I found at CompUSA.

Mistake.

The signal strength on this is clearly weaker than the D-link router I have (which is fantastic) and linksys router I also have (which has OK signal but otherwise is rock solid).

Also, this netgear router seems to switch slower than linksys or d-link. Maybe I'm imagining it, but I swear that it seems to be slowest out of all the routers I have - the fastest by the way, is the siemens router (which is not wireless).

 Cheap Product, Poor Support
I'm tech savvy and ended up spending hours upon hours network troubleshooting this router ONLY to find out that the problem I was experiencing is KNOWN. My only solution to many of the issues encountered, was to disconnect the firewall (leaving my computer totally exposed, not good). To resolve the issue, I had to update firmware multiple times. After all this, it still doesn't work right.

$50 router. $500 in my time to fix it.

Note: you get what you pay for.

 come on in, the water's fine!
If you've been putting off getting a wireless LAN for your house, try this one with a WG511 card for your laptop (as applicable of course). The setup on this is amazingly simple and works just as documented. I had the router up to the cable modem and working in less then 20 minutes. Installed it on an XP HOME O/S between a newer Dell and a Motorola cable modem and we're jammin. Take all the guesswork out of setup just by following the directions yet it also has all the latest security levels that you could want. Try it, you'll be glad you did! And with the rebates available, you won't find it cheaper than right here at Amazon.

 Completely Died on My Folks
I bought this router for my parents earlier this year and have had problems ever since. For whatever reason, it suffers from major connectivity problems - especially when you enable encryption. I frequently found myself on the phone giving tech support to my parents. The solution was almost always the same: reboot the router.

Then one evening, the router completely died. It no longer broadcast a wireless signal. Total piece of junk. Go with D-Link, or alternatively Linksys, and avoid Netgear.

 Consider it "Renting a Router"
Like many reviewers have also noted, this router sets up in a snap, is up and running beautifully.

Until about 5 months later. Then you sit down at one of your computers and after some diagnostics, discover that the router is the only thing in your network not working (at all). I wasted 15 minutes with their so called tech support before I decided on a better technical solution; chuck this garbage in a dumpster where it belongs. It seems like a great price at first, but thats before you realize you're only renting it. Folks, according to my experience and a majority of the reviewers, this thing WILL break. If you get a year out of it, consider yourself lucky.

Me? I'm off to buy something that doesn't say NetGear on it.

 Constantly resetting this router
There is something wrong with the DHCP server on this router. Even after upgrading to the latest firmware, the DHCP server constantly drops the IPs from my computers. I can be in the middle of surfing, playing games over the net or even mid-download, the DHCP server will attempt to renew and drop the internet connection. The LAN will still be operational, but the internet will suddenly be inacccessible. The support page only offers "reset everything..." which is ludicrous. A person should not have to constantly return to the router to reset it manually. I end up resetting the router 3-4 times a day.

I had a Linksys 802.11b router and gave it away to my brother when I upgraded to G. I seriously regret that now. This Netgear is the most finicky/exasperating router I have ever encountered. I will never buy from Netgear again, and will now spend more money for a new Linksys g rouiter.

 Couldn't be Simpler!
This product is so simple to install and it works fabulously! The software walks you through the installation and configuraion. In all it took about 15 minutes to go from box to surfing the internet. I'm using this product with a Netgear WG511 wireless PC card. There are also some great rebates being offered so the value to price ratio on this product is a steal.

 Crippled product, brain-damaged installer
Save your money, this thing is a Mickey Mouse piece of crap.

1. I bought the WGR614v6 and a wireless NIC when my Ethernet card broke. Alas, the router's wireless interface is disabled until you physically plug in an Ethernet cable and configure it. Using your physical Ethernet interface. That's right. You must have a working Ethernet NIC, with a *WIRE*, to use this *WIRELESS* router.

2. I took the WGR614 to work hoping that I could set it up there and convince it to turn on its wireless interface. So I *PLUGGED IN* the *WIRELESS* router and tittered with joy as the "SMARTwizard" "detected" my "network type". It detected I had a "DHCP network", and then spent about a minute and a half trying to DHCP. It couldn't, because my company has static DHCP based on MAC address. So it gave up and displayed a 404 page. That's right. The "SMARTwizard", on the router, gave up and redirected to a page that didn't exist. On the router.

3. I took the router back to the store and got a different one.

 Defective - Terrible customer support
I must say that I was pleased with the product while it lasted. Unfortunately this was only 1 month. At that point the we couldn't connect to the router via wireless (only by wired connection). Firmware upgrades were a no-go. It took me 8 calls (long distance - there is no 1-800 number) to customer support to talk to a real person and attempt to get an RMA, when they informed me their "system was down" and they would call me back. Regardless to say, they never did. The "email" support is a scam. They never responded to my emails either. The router now relegated for use as a network switch in my lab. Don't buy Netgear. Buy the D-Link 624 or similar instead.

 Dependable as always
This was easy to install and I connected to it within a few minutes. As long as you follow the instructions and install the software first before connecting the router, you'll have no trouble. Several co-workers have purchased this same item and all have found it easy to set up and use.