Rating: Summary: good machine for the price, PDA quirks Review: I bought this router to network my toshiba E750 to my PC and the internet. Set up took some time due to user errors and some firmware quirks on the router. First, I had my DSL modem connected to the wrong port on the router. It can only go into one port. Second, the router assigned IP address for my toshiba pda would come up wrong, and I would have to hit IP renew several times to get it right. The pda would not connect until this was right. Lastly, most web pages did not download properly to my pda until I upgraded the router firmware to 5.03. Now it is wrorking great. Range is limited to just outside my house, but that may be my pda. Overall, with these headaches over, and some hours spent working them out, I am very happy. Please note I am an engineer and have some networking background, so I did not give up, whereas most people might have. This rewiew was written on my pda using the wireless network.
Rating: Summary: never got the wireless to work Review: above says it all, hours on the phone and on line. i think the radio part must be dead buthow do you tell or prove it? too late to return. i won't buy any more 'netgear' brand. as they say your milage may vary.
Rating: Summary: Good - but not good enough Review: I bought this prodcut with the hopes of sitting in my dining room or living room and working from there...however, the range just did not allow for it. It was easy to set up, just like my hard wired router, but I could not believe how slow it was and how weak the signal seemed to be. I am going to try another brand, but unfortunately I believe all these wireless networking devices are going to have problems with my house, my 2.4ghz phone and my need for spped.
Rating: Summary: Go for the Linksys Review: I started setting up this product and while it is well documented with a good interface, there was a fault in the wireless access point. Ok, fair enough everyone makes mistakes, but this is only the start of my problems, I sent an e-mail to the tech support e-mail address which was plastered all over the netgear website, the product documentation, and even in the router admin webpage, then quickly got a response back to say that the email address had been shut down due to a huge amount of SPAM email. Ok fair enough...SPAM is a pain that we apparently will have to live with. But what really torqued me off was that the e-mail suggested I use their web based form to report a problem and provided a link. So I took the time to fill out this form, and promptly got another e-mail back saying that the e-mail address was shut down due to SPAM, they had programmed the webform to send the data to the same e-mail I had used earlier. So, I was forced to call the tech support number. After 20 minutes on hold I finally talked to a tech support guy who walked me through all the settings I had done...eventually found that the firmware was not the most current available, so they told me to update the firmware. I reluctantly hung up and performed the process to update the firmware. As I expected no fix. So, I spent another 20 mins on hold waiting to talk to a tech who again verified all the settings, which is what I had just done with the previous tech...what was the point of having a case number if I have to repeat the process over again anyway? Spend the extra few bucks get the Linksys.
Rating: Summary: Networking two PC's with this product is NOT a breeze! Review: Update: After working for two days, I finally went out and bought Windows XP for my client computer that had been running Windows ME. After both computers were on XP, I got the router to work. Distance doesn't seem to be a problem, the two different operating systems was. Now I'm having a hard time figuring out how to network one printer between the two computers. Again, this was not as easy as some of the reviews made it sound; if you're up for the hours of figuring and configuring, go for it! Otherwise, have someone who knows networking do it for you. *********************** 1/22/04: I have been working for two days trying to network my Windows XP with my Windows ME using this product, a LAN cable, and PCI cards in both computers. Is range/distance the problem? My base computer is XP and is in my home-office; the ME computer is about 15-20 feet away in another room. I don't know what the problem is, but frustration is the name of the game and I have almost totally given up on this working. I'm thinking the reviewers who said the Netgear MR814 v.2 is an inferior product might just be right.
Rating: Summary: 2dbi, not 5! Review: The previous MR814 cranked out 5dbi, but v.2 quitely reduced that to 2dbi (much weaker, which means less range.) Also, the antenna is not removable, so you can do nothing about the limitation...
Rating: Summary: Do not waste your time or money on this one Review: This router has some problems. The DHCP implementation does not follow standards, as a result, some CompactFlash Wi-Fi adapter cards will not work with this router. The keyword blocking feature does not work in the firmware upgrades 4.13 and higher. After firmware upgrade, the router stops generating access logs, the empty logs are not e-mailed as per schedule and the router stops showing the attached devices. Technical support is extremely poor, with no solutions to the problem and long hold times. Aside from these problems, it is really a great product!!
Rating: Summary: Don't count on the rebate! Review: Very easy to setup and has worked flawlessly with my laptop running Win XP Pro, PDA running PocketPC2003 and my old PC running Win 2000. I can share documents and a printer but only after some playing, less than two hours, with the Connection Wizard. After an MS update I could not disable the WEP security as before; now my work VPN connection has slowed and I cannot figure out why. Video runs normal and am not sorry for saving money over the performance of the 802.11g format. The ONLY draw back has been a very slow rebate check, TWO months and counting, and no confirmation from Netgear.
Rating: Summary: Cheap, Reliable, and Easy to Set Up Review: I have owned this product for six months now, and have had absolutely no trouble. I replaced a Linksys router for this wireless option, after a tragedy involving the Linksys router and a glass of water. The hardest part about setting this one up was crawling under the table to plug it in. After that, it worked like a charm. Took no time at all, required almost nothing from me. In the six months I've had it, I have never had trouble with either the wired or the wireless connections I maintain. I can't recommend it highly enough.
Rating: Summary: not as described Review: The router described on Amazon's page and in the downloadable user's manual offered as part of that description is not the router you will get. All information describes Netgear's original model the MR814. You will get the MR814 v2 which has no stand, is half the size, has a 2db antenna rather than the original 5db (and it is not removable like the original) etc. The MR814 v2 is an inferior, cost cutting product. Which probably accounts for the wide range of ratings you see in the 400 customer comments. Except for those that didn't get their rebates which means they paid even more for an inferior product. Read those comments carefully before you decide to buy on price alone. And Amazon - how about updating this page with current information.
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