| 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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excellent router, March 10, 2005
By Syed O. Ali
I started on a new Dell laptop with Link-sys wireless router. I spent 14 hours and much time with Dell customer support as well as link-sys customer support trying to get it to work. Finally link-sys directed me to return their product. I next tried a motorola router same problem. Lastly, tried this router and it works great. I've had 2 mos without one problem. I can go to my neighbor's house and surf the net without any problems, so the range is great. The trick is uninstaling all network connections prior to installing this router, and getting all the updates.
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sometimes it works, February 28, 2005
By henkej (Seattle, WA)
I have a brand new iMac with an AirPort Extreme card installed. I finally got around to purchasing this wireless router to go with it. I have been using the non-wireless 614 router with no problems and figured moving to the wireless version of the same product would be a piece of cake. Well, it wasn't exactly plug-and-play.
First off, I'm a software engineer. Tinkered with the hardware side a bit as well. Have been Unix sys admin before. I'm no dummy. As a _wired_ router, I've had no problems with this unit. Wireless, on the other hand, hasn't been so great. I would say that, very reliably, my wireless iMac can detect the presence of the router. But trying to connect to it hasn't worked very well. Once I enabled the AirPort card in the iMac, I was able to detect other wireless transceivers in the building and surf the net on their ISP's. (There's one called 'linksys' that's always worked.) I could also detect my own NETGEAR router, but the connection would fail. Usually. This is the second time (I've only had it 24 hrs but have played with it almost constantly) that I've made a connection with my router. I've done all kinds of resets and playing with configs, moving the components into different rooms, and honestly, nothing happened between my last failure to connect and now. I mean, it is capable of working, but my neighbors' wireless routers have been more reliable than the one I bought for myself.
1.5 stars.
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If it works, fine, if not, good luck getting support, February 25, 2005
By Stephen Billard
I purchased this item and installed it on my network. The installation went smoothly. Wireless connection to my laptop worked well.
HOWEVER, I found that my internet connectivity performance became crippled with this router. It went from about 4 GBps to about 280 KBps with the router attached.
I assumed that this was some sort of configuration problem, so I reset the configuration to the factory defaults. Still the performance was awful.
I attempted to call NetGear technical support to get the issue resolved. That is when the nightmares really started. The NetGear 800 support number drops you into a voice response menu system that is five layers deep to get to the point where your call might be transfered to a technician.
Each time I called, navagated down the five leves, and was told I would be transfered to a technician, the call was dumped. I tried most of the afternoon to get a successful connection to a technician. No luck.
Finally, I went out and purchased a D-Link Wireless access point and RMA'd the NetGear back to the company I purchased it from. That cost me a re-stocking fee, but that is minor compared to the frustration of not finding support from NetGear.
Do yourself a favor. Before you buy this item, call NetGear support and see if you can get through. Who knows, maybe they will get better....
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Piece 'o junk - your money down the drain, February 24, 2005
By Yoyoma99
Router setup was fairly easy and it worked like a charm for the first 2-3 months. Then, I began having intermittent wireless connectivity issues (connection would drop or worse, I couldn't connect at all). Issue was definitely with the router.
Netgear support (phone and e-mail) was pathetic at best (and costly if you are out of the first 90 days). Their solutions never worked and they never offered to replace the router.
In the end, this was a complete waste of money. I decided to purchase the Belkin Pre-N router, which has worked like a charm and has incredible range.
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Almost gave up on a great router, February 22, 2005
By Bob (Florida)
Like many other reviewers here, I also had problems with the router (WGR614v4) dropping the connection to the internet while the status indicator on the taskbar showed that it was 'Connected' at 54Mbps with 'Excellent' signal strength. This would happen 3-4 times a day. After a year of putting up with it (no help from NetGear support), I was ready to throw it away and purchase another (not NetGear) router. Before I made the final decision, I went back to the NetGear website and discovered that my router was two firmware updates behind.
So I downloaded the latest, updated the router, and changed the security from WEP to WPA-PSK. In addition, while I was in the updating mode I discovered that the wireless adapter (LAN-Express AS IEEE 802.11g miniPCI) in my laptop also had a newer driver available. The new driver was supposed to "improve connectivity with a Wireless Access Point", so I updated the laptop as well. Since these changes, the router has not dropped the connection--not even once! True, it has only been a couple of weeks since the changes were made, but prior to the changes the connection would be lost after only minutes of use. Therefore, based on my experience with the router I am inclined to believe that the hardware is OK. Whether the problem was fixed by the router firmware update, or the
adapter driver update is unknown--maybe a combination of both.
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Junk product, horrible support., February 19, 2005
By S. Roach (Portland, OR)
I found a deal on this router that was just too hard to pass up. After several rebates, (which haven't shown up yet, I might add,) this router (WGR614) and a PCI card (WG311) would only cost me about $10. Killer deal, right? Wrong.
Sure, it was really easy to install, and it got up and running pretty quickly, but then I'd suddenly lose connectivity. I'd open up the list of available wireless networks, it would tell me that I'm still connected, but it just wouldn't allow me to connect to any sort of outside internet site. I'd disconnect from the network, and try to reconnect, thinking maybe renewing my connection would fix it. Nope. I'd have to take regular trips to my housemate's room (where the cable modem and router are located,) and reboot the router. This would happen every half hour or so.
I attemped to reach Netgear "customer service," which is naturally a call center in India, and they steadfastly refused to help me until my product was registered. Ironically enough, to register your product, you have to visit their website, something that I couldn't do at the time.
After that debacle, I purchased a LinkSys WRT54GS router, and connecting with my laptop, haven't had any issues with it. Connecting with my desktop (and the netgear PCI card), on the other hand, is another wonderful experience. It recognizes that there is a wireless network available, it is just incapable of connecting to it, in both encrypted and open modes.
This has taught me one lesson, though. I'm never going to purchase another netgear product again.
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This Router Works Great, February 19, 2005
By Networking in Colorado (Fort Collins, CO USA)
I recommend this router. I went into home networking with a little trepidation, given all the negative feedback for all products (not just Netgear). However, I installed the WGR614 802.11g Wireless Router on my XP machine and was running in about 30 minutes. Very easy, step by step installation wizard. Great product for the price (I got the $20 rebate from Netgear).
Also, I installed a wireless adapter for a remote computer 2 floors away (the Netgear MA111: a medium performance USB adapter at a great price) which also turned on immediately. I'm now successfully running a wired PC, 2 wireless PC's, and a Microsoft XBOX running XBOX Live.
Finally, I was helping a friend turn on a Netgear WG511 (wireless adapter for laptop). I initially couldn't get it to work with my WEP encrypted network (it worked fine with encryption turned off). But after visiting the Netgear website, I found an updated driver for the WG511, installed it, and am running in secure mode just fine.
I am very pleased with the price/performance of the Netgear solution and suggest you give it serious consideration.
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Never had a problem with it., February 18, 2005
By 6enny (NY, NY)
While I am a technical person, I still say that anyone would find this router quite easy to use. I've set it up in my apartment, restricted all but my girlfriend and my ip addresses and encrypted the data with no problems whatsoever. It's been about 6 months now and I've probably only restarted the thing 3 times. Both times the laptops were connected but weren't receiving any data, and all I did to fix it was unplug the modem, unplug the router, and then plug them back in. In fact I'm not even sure if the loss of connectivity was caused by the router or the modem.
All in all this thing works great, has a good range, and is durable. My girlfriends cat is always jumping on and sitting on this and even that doesn't seem to effect the signal. Also, anyone thinking of buying a router shouldn't buy one without wireless capabilities. Even if you don't use it, you're better off paying the $10 extra to have the opton which you may someday use.
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Couldn't be Simpler!, February 15, 2005
By sun-inspired (Hoboken, NJ)
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.
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Please do not purchase this product!, February 12, 2005
By OR (Morristown, NJ USA)
I'm a Software Engineer with 7+ years of networking experience. Have installed dozens of routers and configured several corporate networks. I bought this product for personal use(WGR614v5) on January 30, 2005. After running the "wizard" everything worked as expected for 5 days. On the night of the 5th day, the connectivity to the internet was lost. I attempted many methods to regain access to the internet, without success. The unit simply won't work anymore. Furthermore, Netgear's "support" is almost nonexistent and not knowledgeable at all. Please do not purchase this product.
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Great Router, February 11, 2005
By J. Odom (Mesa, AZ USA)
I recently ordered a new laptop from gateway to replace my 5 1/2 yr old Windows 98SE Compaq. It came with this router. Since My laptop had to be customized, the router arrived about a week ahead of the laptop. So i decided to set it up with my current computer. Even running windows 98se i was up and running 10 minutes out of the box. i also connected my xbox and had no problems whatsoever. then when my laptop arrived it took like another 5 minutes to connect the wireless function. Much easier and faster than my older linksys router. And it's cheaper too. Would definately recommend over a linksys router.
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Excellent router., February 6, 2005
By Juan Ramon
I am smitten by the Netgear routers. I helped a friend of mine get this router, the WGR614v5, with the WG311 PCI adapter. Installation was flawless, with the router detecting his username and password after the SBC Yahoo software installation. He was up and running within 10 minutes. Setting up the wireless part was a little tricky, but I did get it all to work, including using my laptop on his network for testing. My laptop has the MA401 PC card, which is a "B" card. In the router's settings, I allowed B and G to be used. I do recommend this router, but do read the instruction carefully. Sometimes, I need to read before acting.
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I luv wireless,, February 2, 2005
By Michael B. good (Ohio)
I got one as a Christmas present so I could enjoy wireless internet on a new Dell laptop (no Centrino on this one, I got the WG511 card too). Set-up was quickly/easily and I immediately noticed that the response time was much better than my few year old wired Netgear RP114 router...I hope I'm fortunate enought to have it last as long. I eventually turned on the full security set-up (WPA, SSID non-broadcast, and MAC address filter) and pages still loaded nice and fast, just a little noticable slow down, but no surpise there. Even streaming audio and video clips are still smooth with the encryption.
The range on this unit has been much better than that of wireless-B networks I've been on, especially noticable when I'm working at the outer edge of the range (3 old wooden walls/floors, upstairs) and its still plenty fast. Its all I could ask for.
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poor performance, no customer support, January 31, 2005
By AnnaMaria
I bought WGR614v4 months ago. From the very first week the connection was dropping constantly - 4-5 times per day I needed to switch on and off to make it work. The problem was even more so when I used wired connection through this router.
But 1 week ago router just stopped working at all - I cannot get any connection at all.
I tried to call Netgear support, and as some other reviews already pointed out, after being put on hold for quite some tme you hear: "the number you have dialed is not correct, try again later". I am very dissapointed and exhausted by this product and the service. I will never buy Netgear again.
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Stopped working, piece of junk!, January 31, 2005
By gamer
At first it worked fine. I had two pcs (wired) & an Xbox, (wireless). For a month or two everything was fine. Then I began to get disconnected or was unable to connect. Powering off and on the router or cable modem usually got it working again. Then it just wouldn't connect any more no matter what I did. Finally got fed up and replaced it with a Linksys WRT54G. I immediately got good connections with everything. It has been working fine ever since. Netgear looks nice, vertical stand takes up less desk space, and it's fairly cheap. But it doesn't work! Unless you need a paperwight avoid Netgear!!
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doesn't work!!!!, January 30, 2005
By tom
After reading most of the good reviews for this product, I couldn't wait to receive it once I placed my order...Once received I followed all the installation instruction but this router could not find my ip address, submask, gateway default etc...as it was advertised it could...I've been using an older linksys router and wanted to get something new, but I think I will stick with it or at least with linksys...
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Overall good product, January 30, 2005
By CBR Rider (Sacramento, California)
I have the WGR614v4 version of this router and it is running the latest firmware from the Negear site for the v4 (v5.0_02). I purchased my first one about 8 months ago, which stopped working after 3 months and was replaced under warranty from Netgear (no problems with the exchange) and have been running it with a WG511 PCMCIA card. Overall I have had a good experience with the router, the connection is good and stable when using my WG511 card and installation was very easy. The router does have problems, though, when connecting to an IBM Thinkpad R40 (Centrino 802.11b) when WEP is enabled (I had to uninstall the IBM Wireless Network Manager software on the computer and use Windows XP to manage the wireless connection, then it worked fine), but this is a common problem with the Centrino chipset from what I understand. My only other issues with the router are that some games are blocked for internet play (Blizzard Software) and there are fewer customization options in the router setup than I would like, but this may or may not be an issue for everyone. I would recommend this product to anyone looking for a 802.11g router, but keep everything Netgear 802.11g if you do to avoid connection problems.
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Two working just fine so far, January 29, 2005
By patwood (Lake Hopatcong, NJ USA)
I installed one of these for the neighbors two weeks ago, and my own two days ago. Both are working just fine. Tested 802.11b with D-Link DWL-120 USB adapter and Orinoco Silver PCMCIA cards using 64-bit WEP and a ThinkPad T41 with built-in wireless with WEP and WPA-PSK. Tested with a Netgear WG311 with 64 and 128-bit WEP and WPA-PSK (had to download an upgrade for the WG311 to support WPA).
Better coverage than my old D-Link DI-713P, even when talking to an 802.11b device, probably an extra 20 feet or so indoors -- good enough to fill in the dead spots. At the neighbors, it talks to a WG311T two floors up and has around 80% signal strength. That's with desks, a drop ceiling, and flourescent lamps in the way.
All in all, I'm much happier with this than the old D-Link (which, don't get me wrong, was really great in its day and paid for itself many times over in the last three+ years I've had it).
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Look elsewhere!!!, January 29, 2005
By John H. (Union City, CA)
This router was included for no extra charge when I bought a new laptop. The wireless performance is horrible. It would drop the connection to my computer every 5 minutes. I replaced it with a Linksys access point (I had another router already) and the Linksys works perfectly. I would avoid this router at all costs (even if it's free).
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Extremely EASY to Install...Small and attractive package, January 28, 2005
By Joey Buslon
This wireless router not only looks great (very small and attractive package) but works great as well!!! Set-up was a SNAP and I've had NO problems since installation. The user manual and set up CD is very intuitive and easy to use. This wireless router controls my two PCs, a wireless Hewlett Packard 2710 all-in-one printer, and my XBOX gaming system downstairs (using xbox live connection to play online games).
At first, I was worried that the Linksys wireless adapter (WET11) that I use to wirelessly connect my xbox to my internet connection upstairs was not going to work because it was 802.11b AND it was from a different manufacturer...all of my worries were for NOT because the NetGear wireless router recognized the Linksys adapter AND the wireless printer with NO PROBLEMS!!!
I highly recommend this product for new and/or experienced PC users. I consider myself as an average PC user.
Additionally, I've had absolutely NO PROBLEMS wirelessly connecting to any device in the house despite living in a tri-level house.
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