| Netgear MR814 802.11b Wireless 4-Port Cable/DSL Router |
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Model: MR814NA
Brand: Netgear
Manufacturer: Netgear
Average Rating: 
(submit your review here)
Total Reviews: 716
Form factor: External
Hardware platform: PC
Data link protocol: Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, IEEE 802.11b
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| Features: |
Connect to a cable/DSL modem and get wired or wireless Internet access for all your computers
Compatible with most 802.11b wireless networking devices
Firewall, 128-bit Encryption, Parental controls
Smart Wizard automatically detects ISP type, Port Range Forwarding, Exposed Host (DMZ), URL Content Filtering, E-mail Alerts, and Wireless MAC Address Authentication
Compatible with Windows 95, 98, Me, NT, 2000, XP, Mac OS, NetWare, UNIX, and Linux |
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| Description: |
| The Model MR814 Wireless Router provides continuous, high-speed 11 Mbps access between your wireless and Ethernet devices. Also, the Model MR814 router enables your entire network to share an Internet connection through a cable modem or DSL modem that otherwise is used by a single PC. With minimum setup, you can install and use the router within minutes.The Model MR814 router provides multiple Web content filtering options, plus e-mail browsing activity reporting and instant alerts. Parents and network administrators can establish restricted access policies based on time-of-day, website addresses and address keywords, and share high-speed cable/DSL Internet access for up to 253 personal computers. Network Address Translation (NAT) protects you from hackers. |
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| User Reviews (716 total): |
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Great Product. Low Price, July 9, 2003
By drago521 (Brooklyn, NY United States)
I'm new in wireless networking. Just got this router today, hooked it up and was online in seconds. Works perfect with my Motorola Surfboard cable modem. Took a little more time to set up wireless access, but now everything is up and running smoothly.
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Range Claims exagerated, July 9, 2003
By Jeffrey S Endres (Indianapolis, IN United States)
I got everything to work right out of the box pretty quickly and easily. Have three computers running through it, one using a standard rj45 cable, which works quite well. The other is using the MA311 PCI wireless card, and a Dell laptop using MA401. At a distance of 80 to 90 feet through the house the MA311 gets a 30% signal at best, and the MA401 gets 0% and will not connect to router. Tech support stepped me though a few things. But ended up telling me it's too far away from the base station, and that it was not really designed to function in a 2-Story Environment. I have limited experience with this type of networking but it seems that with a claim of 500 feet max range, an 80 foot distance should be working much better.
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Want to use VPN with it? Watch out!!, July 9, 2003
By Jorge Noyola (Columbus, IN USA)
After I received my new laptop with wireless access in the company I work, I figured it was time to upgrade my home network to wireless, and found the price of the Netgear very reasonable. Allright, it was 802.11b just like my laptop. I hooked it up, configured it (took me a couple of hours to figure out how to set up a new network in my laptop though) and voila!! I was up and running, able to access the internet from the laptop. Then I tried to get to my corporate network using the VPN software provided by the company. It connected ok, but then I was unable to browse our intranet or access my e-mail.The problem? After 2 days of researching and finding *very* obscure references in multiple discussion lists, I realized that VPN-encrypted packets are too large for this router. There is a parameter called MTU - Maximum Transmission Unit - in the router that can not be disabled (Linksys routers allow you to disable this "feature") and any packet larger than that will b dropped. You can typically configure this in your VPN software but I didn't have that option either. I had to return it. Recommendation: For home use, it's a very good and inexpensive router. But if you intend to use it with your corporate network with any VPN software, you may want to make sure the software you're using can be configured to small packets of data.
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Most excellent product, July 8, 2003
By plpatterson513 (Columbia, MD United States)
I had my cable company come in the morning to hook me up and then I attached my 814 router to the cable modem and my computer
came right up! I put in the CD-ROM and the wizard basically said Hey, you're already connected. It was amazing. The most quick and painless installation of hardware/software I have ever encountered. I also used Netgear's MA311 PCI cards on two of my computers: both the signal strength and link quality are great, with the router 2 floors below the computers.My advice: buy this along with Netgear PCI or USB cards. I initially tried to hook up Linksys PCI cards with the Netgear router; after spending ALL day with Linksys tech support to no avail, I went out and bought the Netgear PCI cards which came up right after installation. I am most pleased with both Netgear products
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Problem With Dell Centrino Laptops, July 6, 2003
By fool4foisgras (San Francisco)
This is actually an MR814v2 If you are a Dell or other Centrino laptop owner, you might want to look for another wireless router. There is a known problem with a 25min disconnect - which I am experiencing and just today reading about on the DSLreports forum. Intel Wireless Pro software apparently has trouble with this router. I'm still troubleshooting about 3 weeks later. Some reports that it works fine with a regular wireless card.
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Sooooooo EASY, July 6, 2003
By lewiscape (Louisville, KY, USA)
Installing this wireless router was possibly the easiest connection I've ever made in computing history. I have BellSouth DSL and a Dell Dimension 4550 (with WinXP). I simply plugged the cords into the router and followed the instructions on the setup card. I didn't have to load anything onto my computer. My wife's laptop (new HP with WinXP) already had an 802.11 card installed and it recognized the connection before I even sat down. All I had to do was hit connect and it was running. We were able to get good speeds anywhere in our house, including the basement, and all around the outside of the house.I think having Windows XP made this very easy thanks to good plug and play capabilities ... who knows what other O/S's would do. We love it and its SO [INEXPENSIVE].
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Read the manuals at Freemanuals.com, July 5, 2003
By unknown
You can get all the user manuals for electronics, cameras, alarms for free.
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Great Product..., July 4, 2003
By jibang (Northridge, CA United States)
This is a great product especially for the price. I got this and 2 cards for a great value. It works perfectly.
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poor customer support, July 3, 2003
By Supratik (Chappaqua, NY USA)
Installing wireless networks reminds me of software installs 10-12 years ago. You had to fiddle around with a lot of stuff and things did not work smoothly from the get go. At the first install the MR814 did no seem to "see" my cable modem. Kept asking for a static IP address even though there was none. This is the point where you find out about product support. For me there was none. I tried calling their "7/24" number and was kept on hold till I ran out of patience--twice. Sent them an email and got a standard response asking me to turn everything off and on and reset the router. That failed again and they did not respond to subsequent emails. Finally the powers of Google and user groups came through and I found that I had to reset the cable modem since I had used it with a different router earlier. Since then I have had internet connectivity. But I have been dissatisfied with customer service and would not have minded paying more if that had meant better support.
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Not suitable for cross platform environments, July 3, 2003
By unknown
Even though this router is supposedly suitable for PC and Macs both. Don't waste your money. It had to be constantly reset. Dropped connections repeatedly. The tech support line has waits that exceed anything I have ever experienced on any product. Information from them was not helpful to cross platform. They know PCs and nothing else.Get the Linksys wireless for dependable service and good tech support, but you probably won't need the techsupport. Linksys is plug and play. No hassle.
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Best Router I've owned, July 3, 2003
By Moses M (Fl United States)
I've set up a few routers for friends and family before and this is by far the easiest and best out of the bunch. It has an easy setup, and great wireless range. I also like the fact that it is small and sleek looking, in contrast to some of the bulkier routers out there.
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Bad performance bad service, July 2, 2003
By A VICTIM (MA USA)
Bought this ... two weeks ago, it is NOT compatible with my Centrino laptop at all. ... I then bought another router D link DI-614+, works perfect with Centrino, 2 times faster than Netgear (tested through MSN.com).
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Good to Go, July 2, 2003
By TheBucket (Minneapolis, MN USA)
Bought this router along with the Netgear 401 PC card. Easy, easy install, and has worked flawlessly so far. Can use all over my 3000+ sq ft house with a strong signal. Tried to go across the street to the neighbor's, but that must have been too far (the router is in the basement, so it's not the best place for long-distance surfing). I've been at a couple of friends houses with wireless networks and have connected without a hitch as well. I'm vcery pleased - especially for the price. Also working well hard wired into my desktop right near the router.
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You can't beat this for the price, July 1, 2003
By unknown
I hava a mac and when I tried to hook it up myself I couldn't get it to work. It had mac instructions, but they may not have been complete enough for a semi-techno idiot. Anyway, I called tech support (no wait time) and they fixed my IP settings and it has worked beautifully ever since. I'm still waiting for my rebate though.
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Chokes on heavy UDP traffic, June 30, 2003
By ken27560 (Costa Mesa, CA USA)
I've bought alot of Netgear products in the past, but this is by far the most unreliable piece of network equipment I have ever used (and I work in networking). If you do anything that generates a large number of packets, this router probably won't cope. The router gets overloaded and stops routing any time I send heavy UDP traffic through it over my 1.5Mbit ADSL WAN.Services especially likely to trigger this are UDP-based services such as some file sharing services (like Overnet) or game servers (like Half-Life/Counter-strike). I have applied the latest firmware from Netgear to no avail.
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Easy setup - great value, June 28, 2003
By svgirish (CA, USA)
I got this is in the mail yesterdya. Spent 5 minutes getting the router up and working with a wired connection to my desktop. Another 10 minutes to get it working with my wireless laptop (an extra 5 minutes due to the fact that my client needed some tweaking).
I was able to browse and get my VPN connection to work without any hassles. My ssh session to work has been up for almost 1.5 hours now and the link quality and signal strenth are very good at a distance of 40 feet from the AP.All in all a very hassle-free experience setting it up. Wish the manual had been printed instead of on CD.
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Don't buy this!!!, June 27, 2003
By greg10780 (Los Angeles, CA United States)
I bought the Netgear over the Linksys to save a few bucks. My router sits between my DSL modem and my PC. I also have a wireless Mac. Everything installed OK, but I wasn't able to get the router working at all until I found (on my own) a new firmware download and rebooting the PC. After a few hours, I was able to get a wireless internet connection for my mac. They earn 1 star for basic functionality. However, I still can't get my Mac to see my PC, and Netgear has about the WORST support I've ever experienced. I have scoured their website, but found nothing that handles the connectivity issues I'm hitting. The phone support nimrods simply read canned scripts to you, not listening to the problem...I was told "we don't handle Mac issues here" even though the box clearly promises connectivity between Macs and PCs. They were more than happy to offer PAID technical support to resolve the issue. So several weeks in, and I still can't see my PC from my wireless Mac, and I feel like my options are exhausted. I won't buy anything else from Netgear; their attitude has soured me on the company.
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very simple and quick to set up with a PC, and use with Mac, June 27, 2003
By Steven Bradford (Seattle, WA United States)
The setup proces for this wireless transmitter was very simple. I used my pc and the web based setup wizard to get it programmed.Then I flipped on the Airport in my iBook, and it saw the Netgear and communicated with it instantly. Impressive. I've not yet figured out if I can use the encryption feature, that may not be possible for my airport card to talk to the encryption in the Netgear. But I did save more than 120 dollars over buying an Airport Base Station.
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Great product for the price!, June 27, 2003
By Scott (Clayton, CA United States)
I can only speak for this router using Windows XP... on this platform, installation was a breeze. I followed the easy-to-read instructions and in approxiately 50 minutes, I had three different brand desktops networked and using the DSL connection. All three PCs were equiped with Windows XP (one Professional and two Home versions. They're connected at 100 Mbps with no signal degradation. I have friends that used other, more expensive wireless routers and none could site an easier installation or better performance at three times the cost.
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Works with SBC DSL -- Easy with wire ... hard with wireless, June 27, 2003
By Ralf B Lukner (Austin, TX United States)
I had no trouble hooking up my PC accessing SBC DSL using a standard "wire" ethernet connection. However, my "wireless" connection with a Netgear wireless WAB501 card in my Dell Laptop was a pain (and the Laptop and card were not the problem). First I tried the SBC folks, and they flat out would not provide for a router that they didn't provide ... that makes sense since they don't sell it, so I gave Netgear a call. I waited on hold for about 35 minutes (ugh!) and then got excellent support. Over the phone, the support tech guided me through fixing the IP address on my wireless laptop, Gateway and all that (as opposed to obtain automatically) which clearly is not ideal, but it did the trick. With most routers, I don't need to use the fixed IP settings. However, the thing works, and I'm happy about that. Out of the box to working took about 3.5 hours.
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