My only complaint is that the instruction manuals do not have some pertinent information that I would like (for example, secure connections, sharing devices, etc.).

Otherwise, I would highly recommend this item!

I've also noticed the slow response on Outlook, but this is only a minor issue. Outlook was slow when I worked straight on my DSL modem as well.

This is well suited to its use: a low-cost no frills home wireless router.

I am amazed. It took me 20 minutes to get connected/configured and online via a "normal" internet connection and also through vpn. It worked. I mean..IT WORKED.

Now have 3 computers setup..1 via 10/100 cable, 2 through wireless cards (netgear and cisco). No problems or issues.

I bought a netgear because of the reliablity in getting up and running w/out any issues or calls to any help desks. Also from
querying friends who have various other brands and hearing all the trouble they've had.

Netgear's tech support took a few shots at solving the problem but didn't have anything that helped, and in the end they stopped replying to my emails. I finally returned the router.

I gave this 3 stars instead of 0 because I think this router would probably work for the average user. I'm running 6 systems behind the router. One of these is a server, so I'm doing port forwarding of several ports. I use a VPN to connect to work. I also typically open half a dozen telnet windows at a time and leave them idle for long periods. All of these are things that _should_ work with a router, but they're not things most people do. If you're surfing the web this router might work just find for you. But I couldn't get it to do what I wanted, and I didn't get timely responses from Netgear's customer service.

As a followup, I got the following reply from NetGear tech support:
It seems that this router, with a small percentage of ISP and/or network configurations has trouble with TCP disconnects.

The problem has been isolated and our engineers are working on it.

A new firmware fixing this problem should be available soon. Unfortunately, I have no exact date as to its release.

Getting the DLink internet connection working was difficult. It took two calls to tech support. The second call did the trick, it also directly contradicted the first tech. Waste of time and a lot of frustration.

The double data rate only worked when the computer was next to the router. When I left the room signal strength dropped rapidly. Sitting on the couch 20' away I was borderline. In my bedroom it was off and on.

Today I returned the D-Link stuff and bought Netgear. Internet sharing went up almost as easy as can be. I had to call tech support (hence the four not five star rating) and they actually helped. All I had to do was uncheck a couble of XP menu boxes.

Signal strength is MUCH better. Walking around the house, in most places it's good to excellent. Going into the basement it drops the connection but that's as far from the router as I can get and stay in the house.

I will say this, tech support is free for internet sharing. They charge a pretty penny if your computers won't talk to each other. I have two XP computers, the XP network wizard was useless and it took somework to get file sharing up and running.

This website www.homenethelp.com/web/howto/net-xp.asp helped. Along with this tip, from their discussion board: "uninstal "File and Print Sharing for Microsoft Networks" under the "General" tab of the "Network Connections Properties", restart the computer, and reinstall "File and Print Sharing for Microsoft Networks" and then going to the files or drives I want to share and turning sharing back on."

Netgear worked, not as easily as I would like, but so what else is new. Now I'm a happy guy surfing the web with no strings attached.

Had a little bit of trouble getting the router and modem to "speak" to each other, but it basically had to do with the fact that you have to fully unplug (electrical, cable, etc.) the modem and let it sit for a few minutes prior to re-plugging in the router (so it can reset).

Upstairs I loaded the driver for the adapter and had to go through the process a few times before the PC would actually recognize it. But, once it did, the amber lights went on and we were live!

All in all, it took me about 45 minutes from opening the boxes to being wireless. Pretty painless and no lag at all from the wireless network. We can both be online with no delays. It works great! I would highly recommend this setup and with the prices coming down/rebates, you can probably pull it off for arond [$$$].

Hope this helps!

Joe V.

1. Removed it from its box.
2. Connected the router to the gateway with the provided Ethernet cable.
3. Plugged in the router.

Et voila. That was it. The iBook's Airport card saw the router immediately, and I was surfing away. I can heartily recommend this product to Mac users, if easy setup in a simple home environment is what you're looking for. Did I mention it was less than 1/3 the price of an Apple Airport Base Station (with rebate)?

I was having trouble and tried calling Netgear's tech support and can confirm that their "free" tech support extends only to Windows users. I began to worry that I would have to return the MR814 for a more Mac friendly device when it occured to me to see if there was an update from Apple for the Airport card. Sure enough there was and after installing I am able to establish a network with the MR814 with encryption enabled.

The range of the MR814 is pretty good as is the price, but it's overall support (Netgear's website is slow and poorly organized) and it's almost complete lack of Mac support earn it a 3 star rating.

They had me talk to their support people three separate times to try to resolve. At the point they told me they would escalate my call to a system engineer, I returned the product and bought a Linksys, which performed flawlessly on all counts.

With that said, however, as long as you are not doing VPN, the Netgear router should perform very well for you. It seemed slightly faster than the Linksys. (Though my signal strength was typically better with the Linksys.)

I would Recomend this Router To everyone. Does not matter on your Knowledge of networking.. It has Wizards on the Router to help you set it up...

I am MCSE and A+ Certified and I work as a Network admin and love the Router so much We recomend it to the Users of our company so they can connect VPN to the company securely!

Here's a small sample of the lost functionality (websites that no longer work through this router):
Yahoo! Mail (various issues)
Pizzahut.com (customer login)
Weather.com (entering zip code)
Bellsouth.com (customer login)

There are many more, but you get the idea