| Netgear WGR614 54 Mbps 2.4 GHz Cable or DSL Wireless Router |
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Model: WGR614
Brand: Netgear
Manufacturer: Netgear
Average Rating: 
(submit your review here)
Total Reviews: 712
Operating system: Windows
Form factor: External
Hardware platform: PC
Data link protocol: Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g
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| Features: |
Router
WGR614
4 port
54 Mbps
Wireless |
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| Description: |
| Netgear WGR614 802.11g Wireless Router with 4-Port Switch - The amount of homes with high-speed Internet access and multiple computers is growing steadily. Wouldn't it be nice to share that high-speed Internet connection with all of the computers in your home? Wouldn't it be great to also share files between your computers? And wouldn't it be amazing if you could do all of that wirelessly!? Well you can, with this 802.11g Wireless Router. Just add optional 802.11g, or 802.11b, adapters to each computer, connect your modem, run through the easy installation process, and you're ready to go. It even supports the slower 802.11b wireless protocol for increased compatibility. VPN pass-through |
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| User Reviews (712 total): |
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Good router for the price, January 24, 2006
By TR (SouthEastern USA)
(...) Its a good router and will do anything you want it to do. For the people having connection problems make sure you go into WAN SETUP and UNCHECK "Connect Automatically". This is a real problem. When this is check the Router will "Turn off" internet connection after it has been idle for a while. The problem is that sometime it can't sense when to turn it back on! As of writing this, mine has been up 62 days. No more connection problems. Hope this helps...
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unbelievable, how bad it can be., January 23, 2006
By Ken (usa)
I bought this router because I believe Netgear product is good. However, it is not. This router make hate Netgear. I owned a Netgear router before, and that one work great. But, right now, different story. The current one is very slow and wireless signal is weak weak and weak. furthermore, you can't go to some website some time. No more Netgear.
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So disappointed
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Works well for me, January 20, 2006
By Me (NC)
I just upgraded to a broadband connection from my cable company and received a new laptop from work with built-in wireless networking capability. So, it seemed a no-brainer to me to look for a wireless router; I love toys and I loved the thought of being able to access the internet from any room in the house. And I can!
I bought mine used from eBay ($21) and had some initial trouble getting it set up right. Turns out the previous user had adjusted the setting which only allowed his computer -- his MAC address -- to access the router. Once I discovered and fixed that I was able to connect wirelessly and things have been good since then. Per another reviewer, and common sense, I've changed the SSID name and do not broadcast it, and I'm using the WPA security option.
By and large, I found the set-up process to be very straightforward and I'm very happy with my purchase.
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Not quite up to par, January 20, 2006
By kylefpoole (Austin, TX USA)
This router will work well if you're using a cable connection and not trying to access a PPTP VPN. If you're using DSL, you'll likely have to spend more time setting it up. If you're using a PPTP VPN (common for Corporations who provide remote access to their employees), you won't be happy at all with this device.
The setup routine is automated, 'sensing' the configuration of your broadband access and theoretically setting the router up correctly. This seems to work well for cable based broadband connections, but not so well for DSL based connections where the PPPoE client is located on the DSL modem - which is the way most DSL modems are configured today. The Router correctly picks that you're on a PPPoE connection, but then trys to establish the PPPoE session itself - which won't work. This is easy to work around - either set your modem into 'bridge' mode and use the pppoe stuff on the router, or skip the automated setup and config the router to work manually.
The VPN issue is a real show stopper. Even though the router claims to support VPN passthrough, it doesn't. You'll be unable to connect to many standard VPN's using this router due to this defect. A new version of the firmware was released yesterday and the problem is still not resolved.
Overall, it's not worth the hassle. There are other product out there in the same price range without the fundemental problems that this product has.
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Super easy to set up!, January 19, 2006
By Kim (Virginia)
I had always planned on buying a Linksys, but after doing some research I found that many people were unhappy with it. Then after reading these reviews I went ahead and bought this Netgear router and I'm so glad I did. I couldn't believe how easy it was to set up!!! I highly recommend this product!
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Bad product- Nigtmare Technical Support, January 15, 2006
By The Californian (USA)
WGR614 Router comes in multiple versions, some of which have known problems with many DSL routers. Of course, you won't learn this until you spend 8 hours with Netgear level 1 technical support (outsourced to india). Only after hours of this torture, did they bump me up to level 2 support where after a couple more hours they finally confirmed the device had this known problem. They promised to send me a more reliable version within 5-7 days. Three weeks later, it never arrived & I never heard a word from them, no email, no confirmation, nothing. I gave them one last chance & tried to call back the level 2 support line ... can't... their line is out of order the past couple evenings.
Conclusion: DON'T BUY THIS PRODUCT unless you're a masochist and need to be punished and humiliated.
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easy setup, good price, lousy support, January 11, 2006
By jj (portland OR)
This router is a breeze to setup and configure, however I was unlucky enough to call Netgear support. I was able to configure the router with my cable modem in a matter of minutes and had it up and working. It appears to be fairly easy to set up filters and services as well. I was losing a fair bit of network throughput when connecting my pc to a cable modem via the router. That was my question to the donkies at Netgear support. Five stars on the modem and a minus one on the support = 4 stars.
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piece of crap. Huge disappointment., January 10, 2006
By S. Ng
Bought this a month ago.. started having problems with dropped and slow as hell connections after a few weeks of using it. The unit gets really hot even though I have it in an open space. I shouldn't have to intall a fan just to get this P.O.S. to work. I should have listened to prior reviews.
Your 40 bucks is better invested into a stable router that actually does its job. Don't be fooled by a cheap price and nice case design if it DOESN'T WORK right.
Never Netgear.
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Bargain for what you get, December 22, 2005
By jpw1138
For $30, you can't beat it. Much easier setup than Linksys, and seems to provide a strong signal from anywhere in my 2-story house (including patio).
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Doesn't work with VPN, poor tech support, December 20, 2005
By MDot (SF, CA USA)
Bought it, set it up (not too hard, not too easy), worked great with Internet ... but Outlook did not work across my company's Nortel VPN. Contacted tech support; they only do email back and forth. I quickly tried suggestions and responded. It's been 2-days and no response yet.
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Router easy to install, works fine, low price, December 20, 2005
By Mister Fenster
I bought this router for a home network. It came with an install program that made it almost mindless to install. I suspect it would also be easy to set up manually. The price was low enough. The unit I got in December of 2005 was a v6 unit. That means this model has been updated 7 times and you shouldn't pay too much attention to the older reviews you read here. It's fast, it also worked with a Linux server I have in the house. If you need a fast and cheap router/access point for a home network, your search is over.
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Worked fine for a while, then no go. Tech support lousy., December 18, 2005
By kmaletsky
It worked OK for about 6 months, although at one point it completely lost all the settings and I had to start from scratch to re-load them.
Then it stopped working - I could talk to it through the lan port but it couldn't talk to the cable modem, never got an IP address. Tried everything under the sun, finally bought a Linksys 54 and everything works fine.
Tech support was horrible - took two weeks for them to tell me I had to call in. Waited 30 minutes (twice, call was dropped first time), then they said the router was fine, I should pay for Permium service and if in the end it turned out to be hardware they'd refund the payment.
So really, the warranty is only 90 days.
I'd avoid this (and I guess all other Netgear products with this crazy 90-day-and-then-you-pay warranty scheme.)
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Worked well for me., December 16, 2005
By KOk (OK)
I had D-Link and Belkin routers and 1 given free from SBC. By far, this router is the best among those routers. It gives me the strongest signal and easier to config the router when compare to Belkin and SBC 1(gave that away so can't remember the brand). Once in awhile probably due the heat, the wireless signal dissapear, or wouldn't let wireless comps log in and I have to pwr it down for 10 secs and pwr back on and it worked again. Also, I found out that signal strenght is weaker as time goes by. I had it about a year now and had to reset it about 5 times. My router is on 24/7/365. I will recommend this product over G-series D-Link and Belkin router. I wouldn't recommend pcmia nor pci Netgear wireless adapters due to bad experiences. The Belkin USB 11B is much better than those Netgear even tho it had been thru as a toy for my 1 year old girl and piece of bone for my puppy.
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Worst product I have ever purchased, December 11, 2005
By yohjo (San Jose, CA)
I rarely submit reviews but I found this product so bad I felt I should warn potential purchasers. It worked only about 10% of the time. Sometimes my laptop would connect to the internet and/or share files but most of the time it would not. Sometimes it never worked from the moment the laptop was turned on. Sometimes it did work for a few minutes then it would stop. This is nothing but a piece of junk. I replaced it with a Belkin and the Belkin works flawlessly.
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Worked for a few months...., December 10, 2005
By do student (new york, new york)
I would encourage you to visit the netgear website and browse their forums for posts on the wgr614 and the 624. There's got to be thousands of posts dealing with essentially the same issue; a lack of wireless connection stability. I'd rather have my old 802.11b linksys WAP....that thing has been running without a problem in my parent's house for 2-3 years. Oh well. Does anyone here want a netgear? They're so cheap now I can't even sell it. All you have to do is cover shipping....
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Very Nice!, December 9, 2005
By Maddy_s (NY, USA)
No flaws!! Works perfectly.. Never had any problem..
Easy to configure and understand!
Great product... cant beat it! unless luck is running bad!
Hope this helps!!
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Excellent Router With Robust Features, December 9, 2005
By C. Kissner (San Jose, CA)
This little router provides easy setup, a low grade firewall with Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI), and easy setup of private IP assignments and a simple way to do port forwarding. The ability to reserve an IP address for a particular computer is great if you want to set up port forwarding for services like remote access or network video cams. In Linksys routers, you have to set up a static IP on the computer itself, which can be a real pain for a computer that operates on different networks, a typical use for laptops.
The system log is non-existent, however, which makes it tough to record network problems, which can be very useful when tracking DSL issues, etc. There is a log, but it is really for security as it tracks access to web sites. The D-Link DI-524 has a diagnostic log and is less expensive (although no SPI firewall).
Wireless range has been excellent in the units I have used.
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Doesn't work; Netgear says tough luck., December 8, 2005
By Gwoho Liu
I bought one of these a few months ago--it has never worked correctly. It works for a few minutes and then quits until I reset it. Netgear's tech support determined that my router was defective, but Netgear will not fix it, even though it is still under warranty--Netgear says take it back to the store--but the store says send it to Netgear. Some people have managed to get theirs to work by opening it up and blowing a fan on it--this did not work for me.
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Junk - not worth your time or money, December 7, 2005
By D. Winberg
This router has turned out to be a huge headache and cause of high blood pressure. Locks up every few days, DHCP server doesn't work if you alter the subnet. The "USB drive" feature is worthless - the security is a joke. New firmware caused more problems than it had already. Netgear won't even talk to you without first giving them your credit card number. I was going to put this worthless pile of junk on ebay, but cannot morally sell this thing to somebody. I wouldn't even give it to somebody for free, don't want to loose friends. Its hardly worthy of sharing the trash can with moldy bread. My heart goes out to anybody who bought one of these things. Save yourself the stress, throw it away; better yet- burn it, run it over with your lawnmower!
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Works great... for a while., November 27, 2005
By S. Hadley
I've had this item for over a year. It was super simple to set up and the filtering and logging capabilities were awesome.
After about 9 months, it strated randomly dropping my internet connection. At first I thought it was my ISP. But after reading more from other users I found this to be a common problem. I tried everything that others had recomended...upgraded the firmware, changed setting and even reset it back to factory settings and started over.
Netgear was no help at all. They kept telling me to reset it and start over.
I replaced it with a Linksys WGR54G (which is WAY more hackable) and have had no trouble since.
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