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Netgear MR314 802.11b Wireless Cable/DSL Router with 4-Port Switch

Netgear MR314 802.11b Wireless Cable/DSL Router with 4-Port Switch

List Price: $213.00
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Poor Reception
Review: with no hookup for a Wifi Antenna - Very dissapointed with the technical support reps (and the long hold times!)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: nice unit
Review: nice, easy to setup wireless router. the web interface for the setup is nice and convenient. i also have an orinoco rg-1000 wireless router. that came with a separate program you need to install and run to configure the unit...it's a lot more convenient if you just have to point your browser to the unit rather than dealing with a separate setup program.

i had problems with large downloads using the wireless connection, but i found a firmware upgrade on netgear's website and it fixed the problem.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great product, easy setup, no hassles yet
Review: I unpacked the box, set it up and was humming in about an hour. At first it wouldn't work and I got a little nervous, but I just rebooted my system and voile, it works. I highly recommend this router. I'm writing this review one floor and two walls away from my router and even though my connection is rated at 40% I can't tell a difference from when I was sitting in the same room with the router and was rated at 100%. I'm using Netgear's MA401 wireless network card with it and it's setup was even easier. I plugged it in, my computer (Win 98 SE) recognized it right away and asked where I wanted to look for drivers. As instructed I told it to check the CD which came with it. I had to browse the CD to find the right driver because they're broken down into directories based on your operating system. No real hitch, in fact it's a very intuitive way to organize the drivers. Believe me I've seen worse.

The Install Wizard that you connect to through your internet connection to the router is a breeze. Just follow the onscreen directions and everything is hunky dory. Like others have said, the documentation on the CD is a little more complete than the written version, but not that much better. Newbies may have to call tech support just because the directions expect you to have some knowledge of your computer and setting it up.

This is an excellent product that I would highly recommend.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Unbelievably easy
Review: Out of the box, I was connected to DSL both wired and wireless in 7 minutes. I plugged in the router, powered up and it worked. No drivers to install, no "new hardware found" menus to go through. Pretty shocking.

I do have Windows XP and already had DSL working through a wired LAN card which probably help. The router instructions said I would have to have my IP address & DNS server address handy before installing but I didn't need them. I didn't even touch the CD that comes with it, and the signal strength seems great.

This review sounds unhelpful because I can't really say anything negative or describe any troubleshooting I did to get it working, I'm just really pleased it worked so fast without the usual installation headaches. Great product!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Can't really go wrong for sharing broadband access
Review: My desktop, running WinXP, was hard-wired to the router and worked immediately after hooking wires up. I took a little more time getting my wireless PCMCIA card (MA401) to work on my laptop running WinNT, but problem was fairly simple to debug (based on instructions in manual and on the CDROM).

In both instances, my AT&T network client (bluemoon dialer) tunnelled seamlessly thru to my office.

I only wish that the operational range was better outdoors, and would have been beneficial having a firewall in the router. Regardless, I'm getting about a 60-80% signal strength/quality throughout my 2-storey home but transfer speeds don't seem to be affected at all.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Super easy setup!
Review: I installed this model and connected my PC directly to one of the switched ports. Then, installed a Netgear PCI card with the Netgear Wireless PCMCIA card on my daughter's PC. Within 5 minutes their PC was talking on the net. It's running at 11mbs and hasnt' given me a single problem. Highly recommended.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: doesn't get much easier
Review: I've had this router for two weeks and it works great. it was real easy to set up in under 10 minutes w/ my airport-enabled iBook and a hardwired B&W G3. I recommend this router for Mac users for its simple set up - plug and play with my DSL connection.

It also has an easy to use wizard set up in case you don't get your connection running just by plugging the cables in and turning it on.

The wireless range is pretty good thru 5 walls, but you'll get an even better signal if you set it as high up as you can, on a shelf or hanging from the wall - it has two holes on the bottom.

For wireless security I use just the access filtering feature under the "wireless" section, but a WEP password (128 or 40-bit) is also an option.

overall this is a good choice for a reliable product with easy set up.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Up and Running in 1 hour
Review: I just purchased the above unit and the corresponding Wireless PC card. The entire set up took approximately 1 hour, including installing many of the security features for the Wireless LAN.

Several months ago I had purchased another unit from an un-named vendor and gave up on the installation after 8 hours over 2 days. Eventually, the unit failed and I returned it.

The Netgear unit provides a focused and easy to understand set of installation steps. Their web site provided useful information about the set-up for a variety of ISPs.

Throughput for the wireless LAN seems pretty good, but range is limited, but adequate. Lastly, the price is very competetive.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: One of the better DSL/Cable routers I've used
Review: I gave up the Linksys router because of a problem that kept occuring while using FTP. I gave up the D-Link router because it was just plain awful--constant disconnects, annoying user interface--uggh. Then I went to the Netgear.

This thing is great! First off, it's constructed very well and looks nice. Solid metal with a really nice blue finish. Feels sturdy in your hands. Next, user interface. This is by far the best router-firmware interface I've ever used. Very user friendly, plus it actually explains what different settings do (as opposed to the Linksys router, which just gives you a place to enter them--can be very confusing for anyone doing this for the first time). It was very easy to set up, plus offers some nice features such as a wireless access list, where you can type in the MAC addresses of the wireless interfaces you want accessing your network, so intruders can't get on.

I highly recommend it--the only reason I gave it a 4-star rating is because of poor tech support. I emailed them and they never got back to me. My problem ended up being resolved with a firmware update, but still...poor tech support, at least that was my experience.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Solid product with sparse documentation.
Review: As mentioned in other reviews, the documentation on the CD is sparse. I read other reviews on Amazon.com and other websites for helpful (and necessary) installation tips, and have a friend who does networks.

Having other technical resources is key because the customer service is lacking - believe what other reviewers are saying. I don't mean to be racist (I myself am a minority), but the customer service reps have very thick accents and communication both ways is difficult. Another reviewer said customer support is actually in India - don't know if that's true.

The competency of reps varies wildly. For example, I also use Netgear's wifi card in my laptop. When I called with an installation problem, the first rep I spoke with told me that I have a defective card and I need to return it. When I spoke with another rep the next day, he told me to simply use the other slot on my laptop, which solved the problem. He said that 80% of all installation problems with the card are solved that way!

The real-world operational range of the router is very sensitive to placement. I have a 1960's house with relatively thin walls. When I took my laptop from the bedroom with the router into a bedroom 20 feet down the hall, my signal strength and throughput speed drop to "poor." When I went into an open living room 40 feet away, the signal similarly degraded. Moving the router to a different part of the room helped the problem.

In summary, if you don't have some outside technical assistance, you may want to consider another product. Otherwise, performance is reliable.

One note - it works fine with my Verizon DSL, contrary to another reviewer's experience.


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