Rating: Summary: I cannot get Netgear to honor its warranty Review: I Bought a wireless Netgear Mr814 almost a year ago. After a couple of weeks of usage the wireless connection started to break up. Assuming i had interference from my unshielded TV cables, I hardwired ethernet connections to the router and everything worked fine. A couple of weeks ago I started to get download error messages, then I started having trouble with sending and receiving E-mails (same problem two different computers). I sent six E-mails to Netgear, and called twice. They had me update the firmware, and change the MTU size to 1500, 1400, and finally 1000. Nothing helped, in frustration I bought another Netgear Ethernet router (RP614) - I am still using the same settings as with the original router - and I got perfect communications. I tried to get an RMA from Netgear under the three year warranty. Even though the replacement RP614 from the same company works fine, I was told that they could not give an RMA and that I would have to call their premium service at a cost of $29 to have them diagnose the MR814 over the phone (note that I have already been in touch with customer support for two weeks). If premium service is unable to fix the problem they would then give me a RMA. It seems to me that the $29 probably covers the cost of the replacement router. They have lost a customer.
Rating: Summary: Looks good and works good. Review: I bought one from Best Buy (I do not know why I got it from there) and they sold it to me for so much ($70)!!! I never buy anything from any store, I always buy stuff on-line, because they`re cheaper. Anyways, this product really good and is working perfectly with me. The only thing is, when you buy it, use the software immediately, and that will make installing it so easy. Because following their instructions paper is kind of confusing. Recommended.
Rating: Summary: Beware of NETGEAR rebate!!!!! Review: This company is very bad with rebate. Please send certified mail if you want to get your rebate. They are good at claiming not receiving your rebate. When you write to them, they don't response and don't bother to call them. Your call will be forwarded to their fulfillment center. I did file a complain against this company to BBB and got a letter saying that the company did not response to their request.Last year, I bought this router with a rebate. Mailed in all the requested documentations (receipt, original upc, form), but not by certified mail. Six months later, checked the status (wheresmyrebate.com) and said they need the original upc. Called them up and was told to resubmit a copy of the rebate. I did that,,,and 3 wks later, check the status again. Still said the same thing. Anyways, the whole process drags on and on. I called them up and was told the offer was closed. Anyone out there have this problem with Netgear rebate? I don't know now. Maybe I should return it to Amazon for a credit...Help.. Thanks
Rating: Summary: Not bad, awful tech support Review: I had one of these for a while, and had trouble getting it to work. Tech support with these guys is mediocre. They've apparently farmed tech support off to India. I called them twice, the first guy was helpful, the second just wanted to get me off the phone so he could get his count up, and was worthless. If you're getting this, be sure to get the MR814v2 (most probably are that these days). They don't tell you if you're getting the v1 or v2, but I'm guessing everything they manufacture the v2 these days. I have a Sony Laptop with a Orinoco wireless chipset. It had major trouble keeping a solid connection with the MR814. After several calls to tech support in which they didn't give me much help. They finally released the 5.03 firmware update, and it solved my problems. I find that the MR814 also has a major misfeature. It keeps a log of outgoing accesses, but it does not keep incoming access attempts. I personally prefer to know who's been attempting to get in rather than where I went. The moral of the story is it's an OK part, but be sure to get download the 5.03 Firmware release and upgrade to it.
Rating: Summary: Very disapointed Review: Duration of Ownership: 10 Months Strengths: works well as a wired router Weaknesses: wireless is so unpredictable but most of the time down Summary: I have this router for almost a year and I was never able to use it for its wireless fetures more then a few hours at a time, and only once. It usually drops the connection after 10 minutes. Then it does not work for days. Customer support is really bad, they give you the run-around trying to save a buck replacing the unit. They blame your wireless computer for it and want you to upgrade everything like there is no tomorrow. (My wireless worked well with other networks, and even in the house "sees" a neighbour's wireless network). I really wasted 1 hour on the phone with them so they told me (after on hold most of the time) they will connect me with level 2 technician. Probably somebody smarter at the run-around. THIS WAS MY FOURTH AND LAST CALL TO CUSTOMER SERVICE AND I TOLD TO THEM HANG UP BECAUSE THEY MIGHT BE ABLE TO "HELP" SOMEBODY ELSE (WHO IS PROBABLY ON HOLD FOR HALF AN HOUR). These were totally 3 hours wasted. I will never buy from NETGEAR again. (I have a 15 year experience with computers.) Thank you!
Rating: Summary: mr814 Review: The MR814 is pretty good for anyone at a tight budget. The tech support is bad, but if you can live through that, this router works as fine and dandy as any other. It uses a SMC reverse connector for those who are wondering if you want to add an antenna to it. Works okay. If your internet goes down alot, this router can suck trying to reconnect. (I'm on dsl, goes down when it rains, takes the router forever to figure how to get back online) Anyways, overall, its pretty good. The signal is pretty strong for the price so I won't argue about that.
Rating: Summary: Okay but unstable Review: Overall this router is easy to install and set up. However, the default settings allow anyone to access your network. After several hours of playing, I ended up using the Access Control feature to limit what computers access the router. I could not get WEP to work with my wireless adapter (Netgear MA111) with the latest drivers. Ocasionally the router locks up and I have to either power it off/on or perform a reset. Yuchh!! This is with the latest firmware. Now that I got all of the bugs out, so far, I can enjoy using my laptop anywhere in the house!
Rating: Summary: Terrible Support Review: Simply put, the support staff is terrible. After encountering a problem the technician had not come across before, I was told that the problem would be escalated to a more experienced technician. I would definitely recieve a response within 48 hours was what I was told. That call was placed in January and I have never recieved that call back. Email support is just as terrible. After carefully wording a summary of the problem I had and noting in the first sentence that I had downloaded the current drivers for the hardware, the response was a one-lined "Please download the current drivers". Mind you, I ommited the spelling mistakes in that one-lined response to my 3 paragraph issue. After I read the response, I responded by wanting a manager to review the support I was given. I have yet to recieve a follow-up and don't plan on ever recieving one. Is it too much to ask that customer support spends more that 1 minute to carefully understand the issue before responding? I have since fixed my problem but my the whole episode has left a bad feeling when the next issue occurs.
Rating: Summary: This is GREAT! Review: This cable/dsl router is one of the greatest money can buy!If you are wondering wether to get it or not i encourage you to get it, it helped me so much.It saves me minutes of waiting and walking, one of the greatest things about it is you don't have to worry about where to put it! It is wireless! I hope you consider getting this it is worth it!
Rating: Summary: If it actually worked, it would be a bargain. Review: Pull the router out of the box; plug in the network cable between my laptop and the router; supply the network SSID, ISP IP information, WEP key, and IP range for DHCP. Unplug router from laptop, plug router into DSL "modem", slip wireless card into laptop. Network connection says the wireless connection is excellent, but the IP address it gave me is 0.0.0.0, so that's not right. Try a few more times with "ipconfig release/renew, "repair connection", pulling and reinserting the card, still nada. Restore old wireless router (Apple Airport), browse over to netgear.com, get the latest firmware (5.03), install on new router, put new router back in network. Network connection says the wireless connection is excellent, and the IP address is right! "yay" But wait, now it's gone! "boo" Now it's back! "yay" Now it's gone! "boo". Move laptop next to wireless router and the connection stabilizes but it takes 5-10 seconds to get to each admin page. Local throughput on a file copy approached 50kb/sec for at least 30 seconds. Web connections are hopeless. Manual says to try a different channel. Still awful. Manual says to disable WEP. Still awful. Send email to tech support with details of problems including the fact that I upgraded to 5.03. They tell me to upgrade the firmware to 5.03. I am getting a little upset and tell them I have already upgraded the firmware. They give up and send me to phone support. I call Netgear and explain my problems including the frustrating experience with email support. Phone support tells me to upgrade the firmware to 5.03. I sigh quietly and explain (one more time) that I have already upgraded the firmware. Phone support sounds puzzled by this. Phone support puts me on hold, and later tells me to change channels, I do so with no effect. Phone support seems baffled, I ask if it could be that the product doesn't actually function as advertised? I give up on phone support and send the Netgear MR814v2 back to Amazon for a refund.
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