| Netgear WGR614 54 Mbps 2.4 GHz Cable or DSL Wireless Router |
 enlarge
|
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
|
|
|
| |
| Features: |
Router
WGR614
4 port
54 Mbps
Wireless |
| |
| 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 |
| |
| User Reviews (712 total): |
|
Started easily...working great, August 2, 2005
By slick-m (Houston, TX)
I was able to set up the router easily on my warner cable system. Didn't take long. I live in an apartment, so range isn't a big issue. But I'm on excellent reception all the time. For the money, I can't believe I waited this long to go wireless.
|
Looks nice.... but not great., July 31, 2005
By J. Jordan (Chapel Hill, NC USA)
I own a wired router and wanted a new one so I said why not get a wireless one? I got the Netgear and It was easy to set up but the signal is horrible. I am on the second floor and getting very poor signal. Also with the computers that I had hooked up with the wired feature was also slow. It is a OK router for a small home. If you want to bridge routers DO NOT BUY THIS!!
|
Junk, July 29, 2005
By Ben A Gabis (Chicago)
Have had this router for 1.5 years. It worked for a while, and then would periodically drop connections. Calling Netgear is great, if you have 1 hour to spend on hold. Once you get someone on the phone, they are rude, assume you are ignorant, and then, maybe will replace it. I was sent a replacement unit, and it had a huge crack on the front. I called Netgear, and they said if it works, why do you care? What? Anyway, got a replacement unit that was not cracked, and it worked for 1 month (probably someone else's return), and called Netgear. I was told to re-install the firmware. Again... what?? Who has ever heard of re-installing firmware? This router is junk, and I will not buy another Netgear product (although I have a switch of theirs, and it works fine). Bad products, bad service. Linksys or Airport here I come...
|
Started failing immediately after warranty expired, July 26, 2005
By J. Laurent
This Netgear router worked flawlessly for me for ONE year. After that it intermittently would loose wireless connection.
|
Scam, July 17, 2005
By Paul Mosier
I thought for a while that my DSL provider's modem was screwed up until I found out that there was some sort of problem with the router. I purcahsed this particular router thinking that a different brand would not have the same problems as my linksys wireless router. However, after speaking with SBC for about 20 minutes and another 20 minutes on the phone with netgear I found out it was a software not hardware problem; since I bought the router over 90 days ago, I don't have free tech support anymore. Henceforth since it isn't a hardware problem I would have had to pay 32.95 just to fix a configuration problem, rendering the 3 year warranty on the router pretty much useless. I only payed $40 for the router! The customer service is horrendous there. The guy did not explain what he was telling me to do. I was unaware that there were still companies that charged for tech support on electronics. Wow. It seems like they have some sort of magical thing that goes wrong on them so you have to either pay for tech support or buy a new router. Thankfully, I managed to reconfigure it myself to get it to work. Boycott Netgear.
|
Junk!, July 14, 2005
By Kevin K. Nguyen (San Diego, CA United States)
Let me get to the point. Do not buy this router. It drops my connection on a daily basis and even minor changes to the wireless settings must be done after reverting to factory default. Whatever issues you might have is further compounded by the idiotic and RUDE Indian tech support, they speak perfect Brit English but their attitude sucks. What good is 24/7 techsupport if its populated by a bunch of oversea morons?
The only upside to this router is the easy setup but after that the experience goes downhill.
|
Over 1 year and still problematic., July 10, 2005
By R. Michael Rhoades (Cleveland, GA United States)
I had this router for over a year.I have been working through Netgear since January 05 trying to solve the problem of my internet connection peridically dropping. I have tried a sheet full of possible solutions. The Netgear support tech told me it was probably a hardware problem and I should send it back for replacement as it was under warranty. When I called Netgear they refused to replace it because it was not under warranty anymore! I bought it last June (04) started having problems 7 months later (under warranty) and was finally told in July to replace it, but it was no longer under warranty. I will never buy from this company again.
I have since switched to the Linksys WRT54GS and have had no problems what so ever. No dropped connection and excellent wireless coverage.
|
Junk, July 8, 2005
By polinchw (Atlanta, GA)
I had this router for 2 months and it stopped sending out the wireless signal. The VPN does not work either with it. Don't buy this product.
|
Dirt cheap... for a reason, June 27, 2005
By D. Smith (New York, NY)
As has been widely reported throughout the web, modern revisions of the WGR614 are often prone to processor overheating issues, resulting in partial to complete loss of internet traffic. I discovered that--rather than arranging the router vertically (using the two supplied feet)--arranging it horizontally and elevating the underside to ventillate helps with these issues.
For $25 to $30, the WGR614 can be considered a "tech hobbyists bargain"; modfying the outer case with a CPU fan might be necessary for carefree use in warmer or non air-conditioned climates.
Functionality-wise, the router offers not only terrific consumer oriented carefree setup (networking functions right out of the box) but also pleasant advanced features such as automated Dynamic DNS login & updating for cable modem subscribers.
While I would like to give this unit 4 stars, the inherent overheating design flaw hurts its rating.
|
Faulty product - problems with DHCP, June 26, 2005
By Juan M. Madrid Molina (Cali, Colombia)
I purchased this router a while ago. After installing it and following the setup instructions, I found out the router wasn't obtaining an IP address from the cable network. I tried both using the router's MAC address, and making the router "clone" the PC's MAC address; none of them worked. Then I upgraded the router's firmware to its latest version; that didn't help either.
At first, I thought the issue had to do with my cable company, but after reverting to my original configuration (PC directly connected to the cable modem), the DHCP problems were solved. Checking in Netgear's forums and in some other sites around the Internet, I've found many customers with similar issues.
I decided to discontinue using the router, and to purchase a Linksys WRT54G, which has been working flawlessly.
Think twice before purchasing this Netgear router... for the same money, you'll be able to find a better product.
|
|
|
Easy Setup, Easy Configuration, Great Product!!, June 25, 2005
By Daniel McKinnon (Tewksbury, MA USA)
Having been a LINKSYS user for a number of years, my old .b equipment had been flaking out for some time and I needed to upgrade. I saw this NETGEAR router for an outstanding price and picked it up and have been a very happy user ever since. Easy to set up, configure, and I haven't had any trouble at all with this piece of equipment and my cable internet connection. I think that this is a fine solution for your home wireless network and I wouldn't have any qualms recommending this to any potential buyers!
**** RECOMMENDED
|
Wow, this router is just terrible, June 24, 2005
By words for nerds (Seattle, WA USA)
Goes catatonic if you run Azureus (requires a reboot to get it to stop rejecting connections) and is noticeably sluggish loading Web pages even when working "correctly." I should have read the reviews here before buying one of these turkeys. Yes, I upgraded the firmware and checked the MTU. Didn't help. In fact, when I changed the MTU the device stopped taking incoming connections entirely. Stay far, far away.
|
beware Yahoo email, college email, hotmail email users, June 18, 2005
By artsy intermediate networker (northern virginia)
I bought this router and setup was a breeze! Much easier than the Linksys setup (i'll tell you why i even know later). As soon as i set up this router to my PC, i could connect additional computers no problem! my roomates laptop was up and running in no time. (in fact, i recommend the netgear laptop card, hasnt given any problems so far) BUT - when i tried to log into my yahoo email account, it would get stuck in the process ---so there i was, blank browser screen, and some process totally hung up for minutes until it finally gave me an error message. i even tried with different browsers, no luck. the moment i plugged directly into the modem, there were no problems at all! so, after then doing some research online searching the model # i saw Many forums that had people complaining about the same things... could not access their college email, nor hotmail, and some others, i can't remember them all -- and those forum posts led me to a help site that was run by a third party sort of networking-know-how bunch... they gushed about the security vulnerabilities with this router and how even at a university there were serious things happenning involving millions of packets trying to be transmitted while network activity was suppossedly idle (as in, the users were not transmitting any files or data) So, i gave up with netgear, after seeing i was no alone, bought a linksys for much more money, had a bear of a time setting it up with my Verizon DSL (not verizon;s fault, Linksys's directions fault) and everythign is fine. for a good cheap ol router i guess it's alright if you don't care about security or your email account.
|
One of the Worst routers I have ever had, June 18, 2005
By sxytruered (Morganton NC)
In short their techinical support only works from text books and have no clue how to resolve problems, they are rude and degrading. Customer support does not return phone calls or emails. Easily hacked into by anyone with a basic computer understanding, leaving all your confidential information vulnerable. Nothing but a headache, and problem. RUN away fast from any Netgear product.
I got a Linksys router and have been very happy with it and my security.
|
for those of you complaining of networking problems, June 18, 2005
By e^pi*i+1=0
this advice is not only limited to this router, but because of the default settings that it comes with, this problem seem to bite netgear users the most. if you experience problems where loading webpages seem to "hang", ie-the page begins to load but never finishes, one likely culprit is the mtu setting on the router. by default it is set to 1500 bytes, but this value is *too big* for some types of internet connections, for example pppoe. before you decide that your router is broken, try reducing the mtu value in the wan setup section of the configuration utility. this may not solve your problem, but in my experience 50%+ of all "broken" home routers could be fixed this way.
for what it's worth, i've generally had good experiences with netgear kit.
|
Faulty product, absolutely no support!, June 13, 2005
By D. Wilkes (Yakima Wa)
Stay away from Netgear products! Mine rarely works and I can get no response from Netgear what so ever. Take a look at the discussion board on their own web site for this product, you will find a long list of people having the same problems and getting the same response from Netgear...none! Mine is going to sit on the shelf above my computer as a reminder, to do better research before buying.
|
STAY AWAY FROM NETGEAR, June 10, 2005
By Jason De Armond
I bought this router a few months back and have had MAJOR PROBLEMS. My "b" router never had any problems but I lose the signal on this one at all the "right" moments. Just when I need to send an important email or find some tech support on the internet.
DO NOT BUY THIS ROUTER. I know it's tempting because it's cheap, but, remember, you get what you pay for.
|
Defective - Terrible customer support, June 8, 2005
By Planktonguy
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.
|
Bad products and bad service, June 7, 2005
By Charlie (Los Angeles, CA)
I got their product because of a rebate and what I thought was a good product and company. When I got the items, it work fine but then I started to have problems and had to unplug it to get it to work. One day it just stoped working and I called customer service and they could not figure out what was wrong after hours on the phone with them. Then I came to find out that they made up some error with the rebate form and I would not be getting my rebate. Their customer service sucks and I will never buy their products again.
|
Save your money, June 7, 2005
By Mfg Engineer (Columbia, SC USA)
Started out great. Easy setup, great connectivity. Recommended it to a client.
Mine died. Tech Support was a joke and won't respond to my email requests. Router will not respond to the config IP address. I HAVE done this before. Router client bought is DOA.
After 8 months the three year warranty is useless. With one dying in service and one DOA, I bought a Linksys and it is a dream. PLUS it is even easier to install than the Netgear. Longevity for the Linksys will be determined, but the Netgear score is a big fat zero. I don't have time to argue with a tech support technician half way around the world when it is CLEARLY a hardware problem that they don't want to acknowledge. All I want is a router that works. Two netgear routers are trash. Maybe you will get a good one, but both a V1 and V5 have failed me. Good luck, but better yet learn from my misfortune.
|
|
|
| Copyright 2001-2007 WiFiReview.com |
|