Rating: 
Summary: Yay! Finally, a good wireless router!
Review: After a very dissapointing experience a year ago with a Netgear 802.11a router, I was very reluctant to try another router, even with all the supposed advances in 802.11b. Finally, I was cornered into buying this because I purchased a Centrino notebook (IBM Thinkpad T40).
Setup was straightforward and had no complications, and in a few minutes I was happily surfing the net three floors above the router without a hitch. Some ten minutes after, I lost the signal, but the computer reconnected instantly. About five minutes later, the signal was lost again. This erratic behavior was reminiscent of the 802.11a system in which I wasted almost a half grand. Yet in another laptop computer which was using a Netgear card we purchased from Amazon signal strength remained constant and disconnects were really rare (maybe once a month). This led me to believe that the problem lied in the router's firmware or in my computer. A few weeks back I downloaded the latest firmware, and, since then, my T40 has been performing wonderfully. No disconnects, amazing range (I can go outside my house!), and a consistently strong signal that never represents a bottleneck for my 2.0 Mbps cable internet service.
For all those network-administrator wannabees out there, the MR814 is surprisingly versatile--you can basically set every single parameter you can dream of short of an all-out firewall. The router does have a significant drawback--it does not use the newer, more secure WPA encription, but the older and slower WEP. If security is an issue, I think Linksys' newer routers have WPA.
-E.S.L.P.S. If you were wondering what happened with the 802.11a router and cards, I returned them to Amazon and they gave me a full refund, including shipping!
Rating:
Summary: Easy setup
Review: Very easy to setup. This unit has a strong signal, and operates at full speed even across the house. Don't even notice a drop in broadband speed. Only microwave oven use close to the unit will cause slow down.
Rating:
Summary: Great for the Money
Review: I wanted an economic yet easy to install wi-fi system and this fit the bill. I read a number of reviews here, and read a very strong recommendation from Kiplinger mag which gave it high marks for ease of installation in a *home* office. We have it installed to the dsl modem and computer on the bottom floor of a townhouse with a MA311 on the 3rd floor. Going on 8th month and no problems yet! Because the MA311 is hooked up to CPU which is against the wall, the signal strength varies from 60+ to 80+%, but I really cannot tell that it is slowing down my internet surfing speed. I was a bit confused on the installation, even though the guide/manual did have clear, illustrated instructions. I called up installation support, and it turns out that my confusion stemmed from my thinking that installation much have been more difficult, i.e., I was already hooked up and didn't know it. Installation support is 24/7 and was quite helpful and patient. I did disable all antivirus/internet security software before installation as I had read somewhere that some complications may arise if I had these turned on. I'm looking looking forward to hooking up our laptop with the MA521.
Rating: 
Summary: terrible
Review: I bought this router for about an year and then the wireless
signal become worse and worse, now I can only use it as a
normal router.
don't buy it.
Rating:
Summary: Mac users steer clear
Review: Now I know why the price of this router keeps getting cheaper and cheaper. I bought this to replace my aging Linksys router, which was starting to require a reboot almost daily. In short, this Netgear router does not play nice with the Airport Extreme card in my Apple Powerbook. Sure I can connect to the Wi-Fi router. And sure it has great range (which was important to me). But transfer speeds of 3 kbs just don't cut it (doesn't matter how close I am to the router). Signal is nice and strong, but transfer sucks (WEP on or off). Hooking up to the router with a wired connection works just fine.. but that kind of defeats the whole purpose of wireless, doesn't it? Oh yeah, and even though it says "Mac OS compatible", it doesn't pass Appletalk traffic. So be prepared to enter the IP address of your printer and whatever net devices you need to connect to. Mac users would be wise to avoid this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Great router
Review: Anyone, computer geek or not, will be able to set up this router within minutes. It's very, very simple, and I didn't even need the installation CD to set it up at all. I was hesitant to go wireless because of the connections and insecurities, but was forced to try it out as it was my only option at the store I went to. I bought this router in a package that came with the adapter. I was connected and on-line in minutes, which was a great stress reliever for my old Lynksys died on me for no apparent reason and I was left without Internet for over 2 weeks. A few months later, the router is still working without any major problems. One thing I am a bit annoyed at is I always have to reset configurations to default for the connection to work properly. -_- this defeats the purpose of cable internet as you are "always" supposed to be online. but it's something I've adapted to, I think. If you're on a budget, want a quick and easy to set up router, buy this router and hopefully you won't be disappointed!(There seems to be a lot of mixed feelings about it. You could always return it if it doesn't work for you...)
Rating: 
Summary: wasn't as easy as it should be
Review: For some reason, I had a hard time getting my netgear router set up - it would help a lot if the troubleshooter manual came in print - the little dinky pamphlet doesn't tell enough, so I had to scroll through the voluminous pdf file and finally found a small bit o' information hidden in there that made me realize that I needed to reset the router. Only after that was I able to get the thing to work. Ironically I was able to access other wifi networks with no problem. But now that its working I would hope that it would be worth the trouble.
Rating:
Summary: Better than my Linksys or SMC Barricade routers
Review: I love this router. I have this one at my parents' house, and it works great. I can get a very good signal anywhere in the 2000 sq. ft. house on either floor. I love the logs it keeps (which you can view through the web-based setup screen), as I can see what everyone is accessing anytime they're on the net - great for spying on relatives to see who looks at what and to keep the kiddies out of the seedy underbelly of the web with the IP blocking capabilities! It even shows which computer accessed the sites and the time of access. The only thing missing is the stateful packet inspection that I am used to with my SMC Barricade (SMC2404WBR). My Linksys BEFW11S4 (ver. 2) at my in-laws' house has similar range but junky logging, as you can't clear the log without powering off the router, and it doesn't show which computer name is associated with the web sites logged. The Barricade has much less range than the other two routers, and the Linksys is just too big/bulky. The slim profile of the Netgear MR814, superior range, excellent logging, and overall stability make it my favorite of the three routers. I like it better than my brother's D-Link DI-614+ too. I hate its junky dual list - one across the top and one down the side - of setup screens. Hard to navigate! Overall, this router is well worth the money for its features and performance (even though it only uses NAT and is missing SPI). I plan to buy another one as replacement if any of my routers break in the future.
Rating:
Summary: Works ok, but Netgear never gave me my rebate
Review: The Equipment setup was fairly easy for this. The range was not as good as I had hoped. I have a compute a floor above with the wireless pci card and it barely reaches. The pci card had problems in that the encrypted key would change by itself and had to be manually entered at every bootup. Tech support was
unable to fix this, but I managed a workaround by using all numbers. My guess was that the uppercase/lowercase ascii changed somehow. My only real complaint is that I never got my rebate from netgear. I sent the original barcode with the form, waited the weeks it took to get the rebate and it never came. I wrote letters, sent copies that I had made, but was told that I needed
the 'original' barcode which was appearantly lost in the mail, so I was out of luck. Just be careful and stay on top of it
with this company. I also purchased the wireless card for my laptop and it works great.
Rating:
Summary: great
Review: Great price (with the rebate) and terrific router. Works flawlessly for me and seems to have a great firewall. Highly recommended.
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