Netgear WGR614 Wireless 802.11g Router

Rating:
Summary: This Router Works Great
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Junk product, horrible support.
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Never had a problem with it.
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Couldn't be Simpler!
Review: 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.