Rating: Summary: Easiest upgrade EVER!! Review: If I hadn't doubted myself, the install of this router would have taken me 3 minutes. The hardest thing was getting the power wire behind the desk. I have Comcast so this may not pertain to everyone but all I had to do to install the router was plug it in. DONE! No software, no hassle, nothing. You would have to be a fool not to buy this unit.
Rating: Summary: Easy setup and running Review: This router is really easy to setup and run. I got this router through amazon and had it shipped to my home. This is outside US so there is no support I can call. I tried to install and configure it with our local cable modem and it worked right out of the box. Very friendly. The MAC address emulation was the best thing - this router can emulate the MAC address of any network card. This came in handy with my cable modem ISP who insists on the same network card being used!
Rating: Summary: Easy to install and very secure! Review: So far, so good. I've only had it for four days. I couldn't pass up the deal with the $40 rebate.My main goal was to secure my home computers from my cable internet connection. This router did the trick! It was easy to install and configure. After it was connected, I went to broadbandreports.com and ran a security test. I received a PERFECT SCORE! Passing their test is pretty impressive. The combination of ethernet and wireless is awesome! I can bring a laptop home from work and have internet access without wires.
Rating: Summary: Works well with Centrino with adjustments.... Review: Just bought a Centrino type computer, Dell Inspiron 300m (excellent machine!). Set up the Netgear MR814v2 with DSL, a desktop (wire) and a laptop (wireless). The wireless connection started to work right away, but started having problems with dropping frequently. (This has been reported on other reviews) Once dropped, sometimes it would reconnect, sometimes not. I would have to reboot the router sometimes by turning off its power. Google search turned up a small posting by a person stating similar problems with Netgear MR814 and Centrino. Suggested turning off Windows XP control of wireless setting (open Wireless Network Connection Properties and uncheck the box "Use Windows to configure....") Then double click open Intel ProSet Wireless panel. Setup a profile of your network (self explanatory, you cannot do this unless you turn off Windows XP configuration as stated above). I tried this and WHHHOOOOOOSSSHHHH. The network works GREAT!!! Wireless connects fast on boot up and flawlessly. I live in a brick townhouse with four floors. I have the Netgear on the Third floor office and I get excellent connection on the first floor. NO dropped signal!! Beautiful. MAKE SURE YOU TURN ON WEP SECURITY. If not, other computers in the neighborhood will pickup your signal. Netgear support website is crap. I would not have known to do this without reading the web posting. The installation software is not intuitive and not comprehensive. It should have more instructions on setting up the Network itself, not just the router. So, minus one star for the poor support and software.
Rating: Summary: Bad bad bad Review: I have both a PC laptop with winXP and an iMac with MacOS X10.2 I wanted to network and to connect to my DSL. Netgear claims that their MR814 wireless router is compatible with both so I bought it. As it turns out the router was impossible to connect to the iMac. The instructions were missleading and incomplete so I called Netgear's tech support. After waiting for about 40 minutes I had to deal with someone who didn't even know that Macintosh and PCs use different operating systems. Needless to say my patience was stretched to the max trying to explain to this person what was going on and I kept getting back instructions on how to install on Windows. After a frustrating 30 minutes I was transferred to their Mac "expert". This person effectivelly knew that MacOS exists but had no idea how it works and how to make the install. In the end he asked me to call Apple Computer's tech support. Clearly I was on my own so I tried some more and ended up returning the item and getting my money back. I can understand Netgear not having their manuals up to date as new versions of OSs come to market but it is unacceptable that they don't get up to speed to assist customes via tech support, and even worse that they don't have the decency to simply accept their limitations and save us a bad bad bad experience.
Rating: Summary: Do NOT get this router if you want WEP or have CENTRINO. Review: This router is awesome. It really is. Design is great. Connectivity is great. If you want WEP (encryption), forget it. There's a problem in the firmware or hardware or something that drops your connection after 15-30 minutes in wireless mode. Disabling WEP eliminates the problem. If you have a centriono notebook, forget it. Confirmed problem from Netgear. If you need technical support, hah, good luck talking to a bunch of non-english speaking Indians.
Rating: Summary: problems with centrino notebooks Review: I purchased the MR814v2 router with the MA401 wireless card from Amazon after reading several glowing reviews. Installation was quick and easy, including wireless using the MA401 until I tried getting my Centrino notebook to connect wirelessly using the built-in Intel PROSet 802.11b. It won't stay connected for more than few a minutes so I contacted Netgear technical support. Replies were prompt but after several exchanges and suggestions, did not help fix my problem. I found out on the web that a lot of people with Centrino notebooks have the same problem. To fix the problem, you have to upgrade the MR814v2 firmware to version 5.01 ......, uncheck the "Use Windows for Wireless" in the wireless network properties (use the Intel PROSET program that comes with the centrino notebook), and make sure that the PROSet power management is set to manual. It appears to work well after that although I occasionally need to recycle the router every few weeks, which isn't such a big deal considering the problems I had prior to this adjustment. I hope this tip helps a lot of people who already purchased this router save time. I otherwise would not recommend this router as it is not WiFi certified (see Netgear website). I'm still disappointed that Netgear technical support was not aware of this solution and last I checked, the solution is not posted anywhere on the Netgear website.
Rating: Summary: wow, this router is awesome Review: it's so easy to setup...just plug in your cable/dsl modem to the modem port, and connect your pcs to the other 4 ports. then all you have to do it login to the routers private ip address and it can even set it up automatically. i don't have any wireless equiptment right now, but i will test that once i get my centrino laptop. this router is great, i ran it through a full firewall test on several sites, i even had some of my "hacker" friends try to break in, but they couldn't get pass it. the wireless security seems strong too, you can set mac addresses for who is allowed. also, it generates up 4 WEP keys for wireless encryption of either 64 or 128 bits. visually it looks nice, it comes with a brace that will allow you to mount it vertically. the silver look of it is nice and clean looking. it runs pretty cool too, does not get hot, unlike my modem (webstar). the lights on it are a nice cool green for 100 mps or orange for 10 mps. and they flash whenever activity goes through that port. it has alot of features it will never use, like dns server stuff, and port forwarding.. it always works when i need it...just buy this one, you won't regret it, it has everything you need
Rating: Summary: good overall product for the price Review: Summary: Does the job for me! get 66% signal average with router on 1st floor and pc on the 2nd floor at a 45 degree angle (approximately 3-4 walls in a 2900 square foot house) Pros: Signal is consistent. Only 1 disconnect so far after 1 week of use. Happened on the 1st night Cons: signal is not strong enough to use 64 or 128 bit WEP. I am guessing you need at least 80% signal strength for this.
Rating: Summary: Good overall, but connection lost from time to time Review: I bought this wireless router a couple of months ago, the setup is pretty easy and it is smaller than I thought and I actually like the style. However, the wireless connection is lost from time to time and the interval is anywhere between 1 hour and 1 day. Everytime this happens, I have to unplug the adaptor and restart again. BTW, the rebate provdided by NETGEAR is very unreliable.
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