Rating: 
Summary: Fixing the disconnection problem with WEP encryption
Review: Installation for the Netgear MR814v2 was a piece of cake. I previously used the comparable Linksys wireless router and was pleasantly surprised by the Netgear admin interface. The features and performance were more than adequate for my home WLAN. One problem plagued me for a long time: The router would reset and drop the wireless connection to my Orinoco wavelan card when I would attempt to upload files to a server or transfer files with Microsoft network filesharing while WEP encryption was enabled. The only solution was to disable WEP. That is, until I found mention of v5.02 beta firmware:
http://www.netgearfiles.com/downloads/router/mr814v2_5021.zip After upgrading the router to v5.02 I was able to transfer files over an encrypted connection. I suppose if you never need to transfer files securely then you shouldn't need to upgrade. Apparently the new firmware fixes problems with intel centrino systems and "adds some needed stability and compatibility to the wireless functions of the router, particularly with Macs." Now I am able to do everything I want, including wired/wireless networking with WEP encryption, DSL routing, network printing, port filtering, domain blocking and filtering (nice for blocking web ads, popups, and sitefinder), MAC filtering, DMZ host, etc.... without disconnections.
Rating: 
Summary: WEP encryption = drop connection every 30 minutes
Review: Once you turn on WEP encryption, this router drops connectoin every 30 minutes. I asked the customer care. One week later, they get back to me and says, "Turn off your encryption"
What kind of answer is that? it's like saying, don't use Wi-Fi. This product is worthless.
Rating:
Summary: I'm an idiot, and if I can do it...
Review: ...then you can, too. I successfully networked a mac powerbook and a windows laptop, and I now have high-speed internet everywhere in my apartment. Now, I realize that this is what this piece of equipment is supposed to do, but frankly, I was amazed that I was able to figure it out. Because I don't "get" technology, and I had no idea what I was doing, that's why. So, either it was sheer dumb luck, it's a lot easier to network a mac and a pc to each other, or this equipment is way better than anything else out there. All I know is that if I could figure it out, than you can too.
Rating: 
Summary: bad range
Review: I've used a few of these with friends and determined
the range is poor, I can't even get from one side
of the house to the other...I swapped in
SMC units, and they were fine.
I suspect the radio is lower power than others. The netgear G unit does much better in terms of range
even running at B speeds.
Rating:
Summary: produce works fine, but the worst on issuing rebate
Review: The reason why I give it 1 star is mainly because of Netgear
stupid rebate policy, they will try to find some ridiculous reason
to deny your rebate. In my case, they denied my rebate because
I used my PO as the address (while other companies are fine with sending rebate to a PO box!). The product works fine, but don't fall for the rebate crap!
It will not be cheap if you are not going to get your rebate.
Rating:
Summary: it's a good router if you don't need to surf oversea sites
Review: now i give this product 5 stars.
i first complained about the problem that it didn't let me connect to some oversea sites.
but now it works, i have no idea what happened.
but now it works, and i am happy.
ah, the wonderful world of the hight-tech world
you will be surprised how sometimes stuff works just by dumb luck or mysteriously.
(i should know coz i design some of the stuff that runs your computer.. : ) ### this is the original review ####
This router started great for me. i have a dell 8600 laptop (with dell 1300 true mobile b/g card instead of intel's). the signal was great everywhere within my +1000 sqft 2-br apartment.
(tip on setting up: remember to broadcast your SSID and enable WEP)
My friends brought over their pda and laptop, all got great signal strength (after keying the WEP passwd).
For the past 2 weeks since i set it up, signal dropped about 3 times for me. minor complain. However, the router for certain reason DOES NOT allow me to connect to websites in mainland china. (if you have the same setup, please try www.baidu.com, www.tom.com, ).
i have talked to netgear support 3 times already.
they have no idea what is going on.
(to give them due credits, they are ok in trouble-shooting common errors).
BTW, if i unplugg the router, and connect my computer to the cable moderm directly, i could get to these sites.
My friend has linksys, and it connects to these sites no problem. so in conclusion, i think if you don't need to go to these sites,
go for netgear, it's cheaper than linksys and the connection is good (at least for me).
Rating:
Summary: A toothless beggar in fine clothing.
Review: I bought this thinking "Netgear" is a brand name, honest company with sound engineering. Netgear is a division of Nortel Networks, who makes telecommunication equipment. Oh my goodness, was I wrong. This router does not work with Netgear's own FA311 ethernet controllers. It also does NOT work on Centrino laptops. I know all the fixes with the power cycling on the laptop, however BUYER BEWARE it depends on the make of your laptop. DOES NOT WORK WITH IBM THINKPADS!!! It loses connection constantly, and mangles TCP packets so that bits and pieces of each packet is missing, making your computer go into over time trying to resend lost packets. I looked at the firmware and they have not updated it to address the problems with this router. Netgear customer support is extremely unhelpful, they do not have anyone technical on staff, nor do they forward problems to their engineering teams.
They probably employ hourly temps who are computer illerate, but sound nice on the phone. All in all, if you want a nice pretty looking paper weight that costs roughly fifty bucks buy this. Otherwise go with Linksys (Cisco), Dlink, or even the Microsoft product (I heard Microsoft makes nice hardware [extremely crappy software tho ;-)]).
Rating:
Summary: What a dud!
Review: I thought this would be a quality router, given the Netgear name, but I was wrong. Setup seemed easy, but functionality was a different story. At first, it seemed fine. However, it made my DSL connection seem slower than 28.8. Sometimes it worked. But most of the time, it didn't even work at all. The signal strength showed "excellent" on my PC's, so I thought my DSL was the problem. Vigilantly, I got rid of my DSL and got cable, thinking that it would solve the problem. How wrong I was. I got the same old crap I did with the DSL. It seems as though the Netgear MR814 was not all that it was cracked up to be. The problem persisted. I used the process of elimation along with the knowledge that it couldn't be interference because the same problem occured when wiring a computer to its 4-port switch. So, I decided to fold with the MR814 and purchase a Linksys BEFW11S4 which I had had good experiences with at a different location. The problem was solved, giving me flawless Internet on all PC's on the network. So, that was my problem! The Netgear MR814 had been the sabteur of my network. The only reason I have the MR814 the extra star (1 more than minimally required) was that I chose to give it the benefit of the doubt that my specific router was defective.
Rating:
Summary: A TOTAL LET DOWN
Review: This router was supposed to be the classier expensive router but it has let me down. The big problem is that it CANNOT STAY CONNECTED TO CENTRINO notebooks. That basically defeats the purpose. I even tried a USB external SMC 802.11b card. Ditto. The CONNECTION DROPS. How annoying if you are browsing the internet or say telnetting or doing instant messaging.
I tried everything - including upgrading the firmware but Netgear apparently hasnt bothered to fix the problems. Oh yea it looks nice - but thats about all I can say for this poor poor router.
Rating: 
Summary: Thanks, Netgear, for easy, cheap, and speedy wireless!
Review: This is an awesome device. It works just like it says it does, and all for an extraordinarily low price. The setup and installation was short and sweet, and the instructions made it really simple to figure out.
I had previously had my cable modem connected to my computer's USB port, and use of the wireless router required that I use the ethernet port instead. The switch from USB to ethernet was really long and annoying, but that had nothing to do with the router...just know that before you use this that you need ethernet!
I also bought a wireless card for my laptop and a USB adapter for my other desktop, and the laptop works great. I have the laptop in the room right above where the router is, and I get an excellent signal, and am able to download at hundreds of kilobytes per second. Now I no longer have to dial up, wait for downloads, or put up with my phone cord falling out! My desktop, however, is upstairs at the opposite end of the house, and I do not get a signal on it. That is my one complaint -- that the range is a little short. If it could go through 5 walls and about 200 feet, then I would be happy.
An awesome, awesome peice of equipment...thanks, Netgear.
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