Netgear WGT624 Super G 108 Mbps Wireless Router

Rating:
Summary: WGT624 802.11G - 108Mbps mode works well, but...
Review: I purchased this product after Netgear posted its long-promised 2.0 firmware for the WAG511 card, finally giving it 108Mbps support.

The good:
The product works as advertised; Turbo G mode gives me excellent speeds even at a modest distance from the router.

The not so perfect:
Netgear's Turbo mode support is incompatible with b/g mode. You can either set the router to b/g mode (max 54Mbps) or you can set it to 108 mode (any wireless device that does not support 108 mode will not see the router). By comparison, on October 13 2003 competitor D-Link announced firmware upgrades to add "Dynamic Mode" to their products, supporting 108Mbps mixed with b/g mode. Netgear's website states: "A firmware upgrade will be available allowing mix mode (802.11g and 108Mbps turbo) operation in the near future," so hopefully Netgear will match D-Link's features soon.

Also, there is no way to disable NAT on the WGT624 with the current firmware (rev 1.1.1). This annoys me, as I really just wanted a Wireless Access Point, but Netgear has no WAP with 108Mbps support, and 108Mbps support is why I bought the WGT624.

**Update**: I wrote the above originally on October 23 2003. In January 2004, Netgear finally provided mixed mode support across all versions of the original WGT624 (apparently different firmware is required for different serial numbers). Also, there is now a newer version of the hardware, dubbed the WGT624v2. Newer firmware for the WGT624v2 allegedly improves SPI performance if you use it (I don't). No hardware upgrades are available if you have the original WGT624. Unfortunately, Amazon.com doesn't have a separate ASIN for the v2 model so it is difficult to tell if you will receive an original WGT624 or a v2 when you purchase on Amazon.com.

Rating:
Summary: Performance problems with SPI?
Review: That's my observation. Ever since I installed this as a replacement for my D-Link DI-764, I noticed a drop in performance - downloading web pages and such. I thought it might just be some slowness to my cable provider but the problem persisted - Upon tinkering, I noticed that performance went from 1300-1700 to 2600-2900 Kbps when I disabled the router's Stateful Packet Inspection. That's a pretty big performance hit for SPI (in my book). Other than that, it's delightful and the wireless works great, can't use 108 much since it only works on channel 6 and my neighbor laid claim to channel 6 a long time ago.

Rating:
Summary: Compatability is bad, and support was WORSE
Review: Let me say first that up until now I had been a very big fan of Netgear products. I think this may be a case of the bleeding edge biting back though.

The overall setup of the device was pretty easy. I was upgrading my SMC wireless gateway and everything went well. UNTIL I tried to add my 10-MB hub to the device. All of a sudden every device on that hub could not lease an IP or communicate with the gateway if I set the IP manually.

I called Netgear support and had a horrible experience. Everything he asked me to do I had already done and refused to escalate to the next level until I redid all the tasks his script told him to. What made it worse was after escalating it, it was TWO WEEKS before I got an email from Netgear support. The email basically repeated everything I went thru with level one support!!! I even tried changing to a 100MB hub (I have to use a hub due to technical reasons for an application that I use). No good either.

I have shipped this and its PCMCIA card back to Amazon. I hope this is an exception for Netgear but the support left me dumbfounded.

Rating:
Summary: Super-quick installation, great performance, great upgrade!!
Review: I bought this router as an upgrade to a Linksys 802.11b router, which wasn't working well with a newly-purchased Dell laptop [Inspiron 8600 w/ a Dell TrueMobile 1300 WiFi card]...

I will tell you all that from the moment I opened the box, it barely took 8 minutes to remove the Linksys, hook up the NetGear, fire up the PC & cable modem, and run through the setup instructions. The Netgear router auto-configured the cable modem settings during the setup; it was a breeze!!!

Dell laptop owners, take note. This router works great with the TrueMobile 1300 b/g WiFi card!!! The Linksys [short range performance drop-off!!] didn't have a prayer!!! I got great performance throuout my apartment (just haven't been brave enough to try it outside or in the shower...).

Rating:
Summary: Good Range, Good Speed, Better than Linksys G
Review: I have set up Linksys and the Microsoft Router and this was by far the easiest. For the main PC, I pluged in the router to the pc and the cable modem then turned on the pc. It was instantly connected. I did not install any software. For the laptop using the Netgear 108Mbps card, I installed the software then pluged in the card and was on the internet in less than 2 minutes.

Comparing to the Linksys I own, I am able to go further in the house using Netgear's own 108Mpbs setting. You have to have their card to get to the 108 otherwise it will go to regular 56Mps.

The web browser interface is easier to understand than Linksys and seems better for someone who is trying this out for the first time. I set up a Microsoft for my brother and that was a pain for some reason.

The signal strength is good at places that the Linksys wasn't but this is probably due to the gact that it is using all of the available channels that typical G doesn't. So far no problems, only time will tell.

Rating:
Summary: Does not work with Microsoft Games.
Review: I was very unhappy with this product when I installed it and it did not work with Microsoft's Asheron's Call. I had to get a tech support to come to my house to work with my router for TWO HOURS! It came up short and the router still doesn't work well. There are still many bugs with the new wireless G Netgear routers. There is way more speed than you actually need in a house hold. You can spend much less on a product that gives you much better quality and support.

Sincerly,
Robert D.

Rating:
Summary: It couldn't be made any easier!
Review: I am SO glad I read the review I did about this product because the setup couldn't have been easier. I literally put in the Netgear cd and followed the software instructions first for the router and then for the PC card(WG511T)and never looked back. It worked FLAWLESSLY from the get go. The Netgear setup really is "fast and easy". I have no hands on experience setting up a wireless network. I can't comment on the speed yet but I can on signal strength. My son took the laptop outside and went more than 100 feet away before the signal dropped from green to yellow level. I couldn't be happier and Amazon got it to me incredibly quick.

Rating:
Summary: Buyer Beware...
Review: Got the router, and when it chooses to it work fine. Unfortunately, even after upgrading the firmware from the shipped version 1 to the current 4.1.x, the product still doesn't want to work. So far as I can tell, they put so many bells and whistles on it that they didn't have time to make it all work together.

It reboots continually, causing you to lose anything you were working on, phone calls to drop, etc.

Spend your money on a product that works.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent range and easy setup
Review: I have two PCs with wireless cards in an office on the opposite side of the house from where my cable modem and wireless access point are located. Since there are stucco walls in my house, there's chickenwire in the walls which has really cut short the range of my wireless access point. I've been using the D-Link DWL-900AP+ access point along with a DWL-800AP+ wireless range extender. I even put a DWL-R60AT antenna on the DWL-900AP+ to increase the range of the access point. This setup worked with moderate success, but I never liked the fact that I had to have two devices plugged in (actually three since I had a Netgear FVS318 firewall in between my cable modem and my DWL-900AP+) and sometimes the signal would suddenly be dropped. I don't know where I heard about the superb range of the product, but I just installed the Netgear WGT624 Super G 108 Mbps Wireless Router, and I'm amazed by the range of this access point/router. Instead of a weak or non-existent signal when I used the D-Link DWL-900AP+ access point before, the Netgear WGT624 Super G 108 Mbps Wireless Router provides a excellent to good signal anywhere in the house. Because the wireless G protocol is compatible with the B protocol, I don't have to replace any wireless devices in the house which use a mix of the B and G protocol. One other thing is that the Netgear WGT624 Super G 108 Mbps Wireless Router was also very easy to set up. Basic setup was straightforward and security settings including 128-bit WEP encryption and MAC ID access rules were very easy to deal with. In conclusion, if your wireless access point or router isn't providing the range that you need in your office or home, I would definitely take a look at the Netgear WGT624 Super G 108 Mbps Wireless Router.

Rating:
Summary: This product deserves more that 3.5 stars
Review: I don't have much to say, but saw the low customer score and had to give it an overall 5 stars. I bought this thing the day it came out over a year ago and never had one problem with it. I use to have a linksys 11B. This has twice the range.

The only problem I ran into was when my dsl provider (Verizon) replaced my modem. I used hours of Netgear support and yes their support is in India. But it wasn't bad. They even called me back to try one last thing. Of course they were of no help. I found the answer on Google in like 2 minutes.

It was Verizon's Infospeed modem/firewall/router/DHCP server. The factory disabled everything except the modem. The annoying 3 day chuckle was it still had an internal IP address that was the netgear's default. I couldn't get the two to work together mainly due to the modem being crippled at the factory. I had Verizon send me the model with the full features and everything was kosher.