Compras Nikon Bluetooth |
Efficient
The MR314 allows you to share and extend your cable/DSL connection to anywhere in your home or office, without the time or expense of Ethernet cabling. The built-in access point enables the MR314 to be used in larger wireless networks in conjunction with other standards-based wireless access points. For additional ease of use, Auto Uplink eliminates the need for cumbersome crossover cables.
Protective and secure
NAT security and VPN pass-through features give you a greater level of protection against hacker attacks, while 40/64 and 128-bit WEP encryption guard your wireless network for maximum privacy.
Watchful and informative
Web content filtering options let you customize restricted Internet access policies. E-mail reports and instant alerts keep you up to date on Web browsing activity.
Rugged and reliable I have a MR814 v1, MR814 v2 and a D-Link 514 and none of them have offered the range this beast provides. I acquired this model after returning a defective MR814 v1, and initially I was annoyed to get an older model. But I think they sent this for a reason - it's much more reliable than the 814. Someone on here complains that they can't get reception over 100ft from the AP - how big is their house?? I have the router upstairs on one side of the house and can get a signal fine outdoors on the other side of the house - i.e. travelling through all the walls of the house (approx 42 ft away). Also I have tested it with my PCMCIA SMC card and a Netgear MA111 USB wifi dongle, and the dongle provdies better connection than the pcmcia, so there is some proper evidence of testing being done here. It doesn't look nearly as good (or as small) as my other routers but if it does the job as well as it has so far - it is my first choice.
Now, I am not trying to run a lot of machines through it - a Linux box on ethernet, a Sony Clie, Tivo, and an iMac over 802.11, plus Packet8 for my phone service over ethernet. No great strain on the processor. So, why does the thing insist on locking up so much? To add to the problem, you can be going along just nicely on ethernet and suddenly the 802.11 dies. Now, asside from the thing croaking and needing rebooting weekly, I get to do a complete factory reset once a month, wiping out all the stuff I have programmed into it (WEP keys, etc), because the thing will completely quit responding. One would think that the problems are related to something overheating. But no, that is not it. That leaves the unit's firmware to be suspect. After reading about Netgear's sloppy code writing and their DoS attack against the University of Wisconsin time servers, I have to believe software is the issue. If they wrote code as bad as that which caused the UofWisc flood, I am sure awful code abounds in all their products.
I had to update the firmware on the router before I could get anything to work. However once that was done, everything was a charm. Setting the SSID and the WEP encryption is easy and recommended so as not to have your bandwidth stolen by your next door neighbor! I've never had a problem with connections dropping and I am also using the netgear MA401 wireless card with this router. Remember: Unless a product is WI-FI certified it is best to use like brands to insure compatibility, however most people get excellent results mixing brands even though there is always a chance that non WI-FI 802.11b products may not work together.
The router comes with a 10 Mbps WAN port, 4 10/100 Mbps LAN ports, and off course supports 802.11b wireless clients. The clients that I have connected to the MR314 are a Mac PB/G3 (Pismo) with an original airport card, a Sony VAIO with a MA401 PCMCIA card, and a hardwired Mac G4. One of the advantages of the MR314 is that it supports AppleTalk routing between the WLAN and LAN clients (although not between WAN and LAN/WLAN interfaces. This allows me to fileshare between the G4 and PB using AppleTalk. Note that Netgear specifically states that the MR314 doesn't support AppleTalk, although the router does. Configuring the router is a snap through either the web interface, or the telnet interface. The router permits restricting wireless clients via MAC address, and also supports 64-bit and 128-bit WEP. Enabling 128-bit WEP doesn't affect performance from either the Mac or the PC client. The router also supports pass-through VPN connections from NATed clients -- something the original Apple Airport does not. I get terrific WLAN reception from about 50 feet away. One complaint I have is that the MR314 doesn't come with a replaceable antenna to increase range, but I don't need increased range where I live currently. The firewall works okay, although it doesn't permit stealth mode operation. It can be configured to not respond to ICMP echo requests (ping request) on the WAN port, which gives sites like grc.com the impression that the WAN port is "stealthed". However, even with ping on the WAN port disabled, the router can be detected by directly attempting to connect to various ports (TCP 21, TCP 23 etc.) on the router. Overall, I am very satisfied with the product.
still, we won't buy another netgear box after this shoddy experience.
First and foremost, the router does NOT hang up. In the 10 months that I have owned it, it has locked up once. The others would lock up DAILY! The range was more than sufficient for my 1100 square foot apartment. Occasionally my neighbor would piggyback off of my wireless router for his work. The 4 ports allows me to hook up other non-wireless computers when I need to. The configuration process was incredibly simple and easy - again much easier than the previous routers. You will not be disappointed with this product.
Wi-Fi - I am using Netgear's MA401 PC card. The range in my three-story townhouse is excellent and I have never been out of "green" even in the backyard. And since European DECT cordless phones operate at 1.8 Ghz there cannot be any interference with Wi-Fi working at 2.4 Ghz. I am very pleased with this device. The only complaint is when I need to check for new software on "the manufactur'es" web site it is often very slow.
While I'm not a networking guru I do know a bit about computers and the basics of home networking. Even if you're not that savvy with computer hardware I don't think you should have any problem with this device. The router worked right out of the box and was really easy to setup. Just plug it in, hook up your ethernet cables (wired) and setup your SSID correctly (wireless) and you should be all set to go. Right now I have this router working wirelessly with a Netgear MA101 USB adapter, Netgear MA401 card, and an Intel Pro USB wireless adapter. In addition to that it also works with my friends Linksys wireless PCI card (I think it was the WMP11). I also have one stand alone computer linked via standard cable. As for the range, right now I'm on my laptop about 30-40 ft away from the router with about 3 walls (4 if the closet counts) in between me and router. The signal lights changes from green to yellow occasionally whenever I change the orientation of the laptop but I don't notice any lag in transmision signal during this time. So far I haven't had any problems with this devie. It worked as well as the RT314 I had but gave me the added bonus of surfing the web on my patio now as well :) Just a word of advice for all: Make sure and change the Admin password for this router when you set it up.
The router works well, and we've used it for everything from surfing the net, sharing files between computers, and a little LAN gaming action. When I use this router however, sites that you must log into, such as Hotmail, or E-bay, don't work very well. The router has some issues dealing with these types of sites and it always takes me a couple tries to get the websites to work. It's pretty annoying. Other than that it works fine.
Setup was fairly easy using the html web interface. This can be done from any computer (Mac or PC) using your favorite browser (in my case Mozilla). Placement of the router is critical. Placed on the (concrete) basement floor, I got very poor reception on the third floor. Raised to the desk (still in the basement), the reception on the third floor shot up to 80%+. The Apple iBook (with a built-in antenna) gets excellent reception anywhere in the house (and down the driveway). The IBM ThinkPad with a Netgear wireless card gets excellent reception in two floors and drops off to about 60-80% on the third floor. Clearly the little stub of an antenna built into the netgear network wireless card is not ideal but doable. With MAC authentication turned on and 128 bit WEP enabled, the IBM thinkpad had a little trouble maintaining 80% connection speed on the third floor. The iBook never broke a sweat and maintained an excellent connection. Bottom line: excellent wireless router that will work with both PCs and Macs. The sturdy metal casing is preferrable to the plastic case of the upgraded Netgear MR814 (although the latter has a detacheable antenna).
I strongly recommend MR314!! My name is JJ, Living in Korea... The country of Broadband.
I read the directions first, and it was clear as mud to me. I attached the router as directed and used the MA401 PCMCIA card to network my laptop: P233, 128MB running Windows 98 second ed. and my desktop P4 1.3GHz, 256MB running Windows XP. I quickly found that using XP's networking wizard was easier than following the instructions that came with the router. As long as your settings are appropriate for your ISP, you should be good to go. REMEMBER TO REBOOT... and when trouble arises... unplug the cable modem and router for a bit, then plug it in and it should reset itself. I found that my reception was poor in certain spots of my small 1300sq ft. house, but my router is inside a cabinet with my computer etc... and that my effect it. I did find I could sit in my living room (down the hall from my computer: about 40 feet ) and easily surf and watch tv with a consistant connection on the laptop... faster and easier than ever before! If you are unfamiliar with networking, don't panic... just keep playing with it and it will work for you. I did read some of the reference material on the resource disc when I ran into problems too. "BUY IT. With current rebates you can't beat the price and quality." (The reason I give it 4 stars instead of 5... I wish it was simply PLUG and PLAY!)
Problems: 1. when you try to mount the unit on the wall, be carefull! There are little metal plates inside the case shielding the two mounting holes useing, guess what? STICKY TAPE! It's not strong enough so if your nails on the wall happens to extrude a little bit too much than necessary, and you push the box hard enough, you know what will happen. 2. Weird that the web based setup menu just won't work on my Dell 4100/Wind2K (I can only get the top layer menu), since it happened to be the first computer I used to hook to my network, I simply wasted more than 2 hours trying to figure out what happened until I went to work on my second computer. The setup menu just works fine on my Sony Vaio/XP home. All in all, very good choice for a home network environment. Very happy up to now.
Problems: 1. when you try to mount the unit on the wall, be carefull! There are little metal plates inside the case shielding the two mounting holes useing, guess what? STICKY TAPE! It's not strong enough so if your nails on the wall happens to extrude a little bit too much than necessary, and you push the box hard enough, you know what will happen. 2. Weird that the web based setup menu just won't work on my Dell 4100/Wind2K (I can only get the top layer menu), since it happened to be the first computer I used to hook to my network, I simply wasted more than 2 hours trying to figure out what happened until I went to work on my second computer. The setup menu just works fine on my Sony Vaio/XP home. All in all, very good choice for a home network environment. Very happy up to now.
I took three calls to technical support to finally figure out that the router was defective. It could not sychronize the cable modem's signal. The worst part of my experience was the wait time for technical support. I literally had to wait an average of 45 minutes each time I called technical support. I returned the unit and purchased Linksys' wireless router. It worked fine right out of the box.
Again it has worked great
Throw out the cable company's CD and just connect the MR324 to the router. Sweet! I removed the satellite equipment and had the router and cable modem on line in less than 30 minutes without having to install any drivers (Windows 98SE). The web interface is direct and simple to configure for ports and wireless security. I put my three primary machines onto three of the router's switch ports, and connected the last port to the SOHO LAN switch. This product is everything that computers are supposed to be: fast, friendly, reliable. Keep an eye out for Netgear rebates... Al
Throw out the cable company's CD and just connect the MR324 to the router. Sweet! I removed the satellite equipment and had the router and cable modem on line in less than 30 minutes without having to install any drivers (Windows 98SE). The web interface is direct and simple to configure for ports and wireless security. I put my three primary machines onto three of the router's switch ports, and connected the last port to the SOHO LAN switch. This product is everything that computers are supposed to be: fast, friendly, reliable. Keep an eye out for Netgear rebates... Al
Throughput is great across my middle-sized house, and the unit looks sturdy and fits easily among other equipment.
The first is that the router only functions via the uplink port. And that port is ONLY 10Mb. If you already have an existing network that is 100Mb, you'll need to buy a 10/100 switch to plug this in. Irony is, I bought this because it includes it's own switch. This 10Mb port is a major bummer. A single wireless laptop is 11Mb. If you have two or three (or 32!) they all have to share that 10Mb uplink. If you want to connect 100Mb wired devices to the switch portion of this device, they share that 10Mb too. CHOKE CHOKE. The other killer with the uplink port is that it cannot be a bridge to your DSL/Cable modem or other hub. The uplink port is a router or it is nothing. If you have multiple IP addresses from your ISP, the MR314 will not function as a bridge for those other IP addresses. If your needs are simple, the MR314 is a great device. You get a single address from your ISP (and it will MAC Masquerade for cable modem users) and you plug in the MR314. Plug everything else in and you don't even need to configure the MR314, it just works. However, and why I killed two stars in my review, if you have an existing network or want to build your network out later, the MR314 integrates very poorly.
I'm a web monkey, but always have a way of uncovering stumbling blocks that nobody else does. I'm crashing with relatives and there's one cable internet connection in my sister-in-law's room. She's in college and can't give up the connection. I need access to the 'net when she's using it/occupied in her room, so I sprung for the router. I knew I'd do it eventually, so why not now? First of all, my main cynicism was due to the reported range of the product. From a performance standpoint, I couldn't be happier, however! The router is in a room on the second floor and I do my work on the main one, and I always get a good to excellent signal (you can tell by looking at the status of the wireless card). The room is essentially at the extreme end of the second floor. I went to the extreme end of the first floor (maybe 40 feet) and still got a good to very good signal (these are actual ratings, btw). Then I took it down into the basement and still got a "good" (again, that's an actual rating) signal. Realize a few things. One, I'm using linksys' wireless card and these results are in a new construction (3 years old) home. Obviously your results may be different but I hope mine are just as good when I get back to my house, which is under construction. Two, realize that the maximum that most cards transmit at is 11 Mbps, which is obviously faster than all 'net connections out there. Even with a crappy signal, the average person won't notice it. Good signal, very good, excellent, what does it matter? It's hard to picture that even without cables, the bottleneck is actually your ISP and not your card! Now, on to the things to watch out for. First of all, I decided to pull out my wife's old pentium II, wipe the drive clean and start from scratch with windows 95. Realize that most wireless network cards (at least the ones that I've seen) need at least windows 95 version B to work. Of course, I had version A installed and had to upgrade to 2000. Linksys, simply states that you need windows 95, so be careful. Secondly, there's a bug accessing the web-based admin utility. Specifically if you use I.E. 5.0, none of the links work! This is with firmware version 3.25 (whatever the latest is). I'm assuming that netgear is working on a solution for this. Third, as with most of these router guys, the product is great until you need tech support. The wait makes you find solutions to your own problems! Finally, this router, like most out there, doesn't have a "real" firewall. It won't stop denial of service attacks, doesn't check packets, etc. Netgear's FM114P does have this and more, but to be honest with you, not only does no one need it, anybody who does (only businesses do) should get a professional hosting service to host their site. To me, the FM114P is more novelty than anything else. However, I'm eventually going to sell this one and get it anyway! Maybe. Okay, enough rambling. Overall a great, great product. Don't know why I didn't do it sooner.
The product itself is very sturdy. Blue metal finish makes it tough. :) Few tips to new users: After doing alot of reseearch I finally went with Netgear. I had considered buying the Linksys but after reviews from Amazon[.com] I got scared that I would have the same problems others were experiencing. Setup took all of a minute. The configuration of the router took about 3 minutes. Speeds are great, I have tested with many bandwidth meters and actually hit 790 on a 768K cable modem. If you have a laptop and want to be able to be anywhere in the house, this is the one. One thing that always gets overlooked until you need it is customer tech support. Netgear tech support is great! With wireless prices going down in the last 3 months, now is the time to buy and NetGear is the logical choice.
I also recommend reading about 802.11b security and suggestions like change defaults, SSID, password changing, WEP encryption and MAC address so you don't have any eavesdropping. Extreme tech was a good source.I don't believe you can turn off the SSID broadcast. I think that would be a nice feature. It doesn't matter to have the 11 Mbs max connection since ATT@Home is not faster than this. I guess very large file transfers may take some time. NAT is the only type of firewall for this router. It works well. I use black ice defender on one computer and nothing gets though, but what I want. There are some routers with SPI which is a true firewall. They cost more and I believe will protect you from denial of service.
The only real shortcoming is that the web interface to manage the unit isn't the most intuitive, and it takes some hunting to find what you're looking for. But I'm not going to be changing settings with any regularity..Also, you can't attach an external antenna, but for most people, this is a non-issue.
The bad part about the customer service is that they didn't know that the MR314 could be used like an access point, they said I couldn't do what I wanted to. I would recommend this product.
All in all, I'm very happy with the purchase on my end. I also hope that this information can be helpful to some people out there.
My equipment: My experience: After initial setup is complete, using the html setup wizard, to access advanced functions, was just as easy. The only glitch I hit was on Apples end. Apparently when you want to configure WEP with a 3rd party basetstation while using an airport card you have to: If you are using a Hexadecimal code, precede the string with a dollar sign ($). If you are using an ASCII, i.e. alphanumeric code, enclose the characters in double quotes ("). After figuring that out enabling WEP was a breeze. The mr314 has been up and running now for 304 hours now (according to the router) and so far not a single glitch. All in all, after fearing the worst, creating my home network has been an absolute breeze. I would recomend this product in a second. Hope this is helpful to you Mac faithful.
Apart from that - very easy setup, great signal strength and link quality all around the house, and an excellent price.. too bad the upstream connection is so unreliable. I'll return this router tomorrow.
I noticed that each week, a new brand offers discounts. So I picked the brand that was the cheapest at that time and Netgear happened to be the one - so I went ahead and bought it and I am so glad for purchasing such a reliable and easy-to-configure one. Since I already configured my wired Belkin router for my ISP, I decided to connect the Wireless router to the wired Belkin, so I did not have to go thru the configuration process of the router. As a result, I spent a total of 10 minutes to (a) Open boxes (b) connect the equipment (c) Install PC Card software. Bingo - I was online and the connection is great. Some things to consider before buying this: a) Win2K users: The PC Card asks you to have your Win2K CD available. Not sure why. b) On the Wireless configuration utility, I do not see the "available networks" tab that was on LinkSys config utility. So I cannot jump to my neighbor's network. It might be because I did not install the router software on my laptop.
The only problem I encountered was after the wirless connection was first running. It would crash after 1-10 minutes and require rebooting and then it would crash again. I called Netgear and in fairly short order I was told to upgrade the firmware from their website. The woman was a little wooden and hard to understand but I managed to find out what I needed. I upgraded the firmware and have had NO problems since. The connection runs uninterrupted and fast (1 floor apt less then 300 ft from router to furthest point). This process, which I thought might be loaded with problems, went quite smoothly and the wireless service is a joy
If anybody cannot get it working, they should not own a computer. It just does not get any easier than this. I recommend using the same brand for the PCMCIA card such as the Netgear MA401 802.11b Wireless PC Card.
Anyway, I never called technical support! Didn't have to! I had some questions about DNS names (dynamic) for Verizon DSL, but the Verizon techies told me EXACTLY what to do with this box, I was truly impressed. I now have a wired ME PC hooked up by CAT-5 and a wireless USB XP Home PC upstairs. My old 450hz PC seems happier having the Netgear handling everything. The new PC recognizes everything except for the ME PC file sharing, this might be from a conflict in files types, not sure... Also, I like the keyword filtering... Very easy to use. No negatives. Initially, the system wouldn't connect, but went through the settings and rebooted and that was it. Totally satisfied!
Although I haven't had to use customer support yet, I understand that it is outstanding, plus the router has a five-year warranty. I can't say much more, I've had it only a couple of hours, but this router is fantastic. It does exactly what it is supposed to with minimal fuss and very little technical know-how.
I connected my Netgear through the modem Verizon provided for their DSL service (a Stormport 620). The connection from my laptop to the Netgear router would go up and down like a yo-yo-up for 5 minutes, down for 6, back up for 45 seconds, down for 2 minutes, etc. When the link would drop, I couldn't even ping the router from my laptop. This same behavior was observed if I was using either a wired Network card (D-Link DFE-890TXD) or my ORiNOCO Gold wireless card. Through the course of 4 phone calls lasting a total of about 4 hours, over the course of two weeks, I went through all sorts of troubleshooting with Netgear, including: I finally tried unplugging the DSL modem from the router. Lo and behold, the router worked fine. I could ping it without dropping a single packet for hours. Now, I also know that my modem works fine-I connect directly from my laptop to the DSL modem with no problem for hours at a time. So, something was causing the router a problem with its LAN connection whenever it had a WAN connection to contend with. I was escalated to a Mitch in Netgear's Level 2 support group. As is common in the hi-tech industry, he was only interested in blaming the other guy. This is despite the fact that it's the connection from the laptop to the router that goes down (i.e., that LAN connection). Once the LAN connection comes back up, the statistics reported in Netgear's management interface show that the WAN connect has stayed up continuously. He ultimately suggested that I return it and buy a different brand, which I will be more than happy to do (probably a Linksys). It's just the hassle of shipping it back, ordering/waiting for a new one that bothers me. A note on Netgear's support. Their level 1 support group is in India. Having set up and managed several call centers for hi-tech companies, I can tell you this is becoming more and more common. Heck, I was even connected to a call center in India when I called American Express last month to update my address. In any event, I found the support guys in India to be very polite and competent. I've read about quite a bit of frustration with Netgear's level 1 support, but I think it's important to remember the purpose of a level 1 support group. They are essentially running through checklists, and performing basic troubleshooting and solving well-known, well-understood issues. I found the folks in India were more than capable to do this (they ran me through all the steps mentioned above). I probably would expect more support than I got from Mitch in their level 2 group, but I know that the problem I had was fairly subtle, and it's tough for support guys to actually fix something that's broken in the software or hardware design. I think I would have at least expected him to offer to investigate further with their engineering folks before punting. I imagine this product is fine with certain configurations. But, if you have a setup similar to mine, I would avoid Netgear. If you already bought it and start seeing similar problems, I would try the latest firmware, and if that doesn't work-return it while you can.
Strong signal in my apartment, no more cables! I highly recommend buying it!
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I sincerely recommend that you consider another product.
I sincerely recommend that you consider another product.
To test the range, I took my laptop out to the grass across the street from my house, and from the opposite sidewalk I was still getting a 2 out of 5 signal strength. The unit itself is very sturdy, made of metal. Holding it in your hand (which is no small feat at 5+ pounds) you can feel how well-made it is. Finally, the built-in security features will probably come in handy for when my home-network is attacked. In short, I'd highly recommend this product, and for the inevitable breakdowns, you'll be very glad it comes with a 5 year warranty.
But, when I called phone support I had to hang up after being on hold for 45 minutes. And it was the most annoying hold I've ever been on - "please wait while your call is being routed" repeated over and over and over again every couple seconds. Their web support is useless for the problems I'm having with port forwarding - one of the more advanced features. I'm getting no answers to my email support inquiries.
Here is the problem and see if anyone has the same. I'm trying to set up a web server for my personal DNS site with the MR314 router, Pacbell DSL, and my pc running the Apache web server at port 80. There is no problem with my ISP, but only with the PORT FORWARDING FILTER on the MR314 router. Since the router applet on the router does not provide options to set HTTP filter for port forwarding, I had to use CLI. I should have said the applet is very basic and minimal (generically ok but is not in sync with the router CLI). Here are the command set that I tried after telnet to the router: >sys server secureip web 192.168.0.2 Believe me, the "server" option with the "sys" command cannot be found under router help or from any Netgear spec or document (bad Netgear!!!). I "pulled" them out from their firmware bin. With these commands, I was successfully set the IP address on the router referring to my pc's web server. The first line tells the router that I have the web server running on my pc at the provided ip address. The 2nd line turns web access to ALL (0=ALL, 1=NONE, 2=LAN, 3=WAN if I don't remember wrong). The 3rd line tells the router that the Apache web server running on port 80 at that IP. That last one saves everything. I was successfully setting everything and displayed back using the >sys server disp command. However, the router still does not forward any internet traffic to my web server. It kept opening the router applet everytime I tried my personal DNS. I guess the step I missed is to set up the filter. Unfortunately, the router has no help on filter option, neither Netgear.com site or their customer support for MR314. Netgear web site said that CLI reference should be found on the CD that comes with the router but I found nothing (did the sofware packaging/build guy forgot that?). Netgear customer support simply referred me to the [URL] web site (easy job!), but I found and even experienced this site only refers to RT311 and RT314, not my MR314 router. To save your time if you have the same router, none of RT314 commands worked for MR314. Overall, this router, MR314, offers a very poor CLI with very poor help. The engineers just wanted to make it work to be... Test engineers passed it without comments. Netgear simply wanted to ship the products for their PR ads to pump up market "money." So, what should I do? Look for another one and sell back the one that I have as used to someone just need basic DSL for a few PC's at home.
After the successful installation of all the hard wire machines I moved on to the laptop. With a Netgear MA401 wireless card and Windows XP I was online in less than one minute. I tested the connection carrying the laptop to every room of my house (2100 sq. ft.), walking around my yard and even out in the garage and never lost the connection. Now all three of the kids can surf online at the same time while my wife and I are out on the patio shopping online!! The days of fighting and arguing over taking turns online are a thing of the past. Do I recommend this product?? Absolutely! Do I have any regrets?? Yes, I wish I had bought it sooner. It really does work better than expected, was easy to install and tech support was also fantastic...
My particular router locks up after 8-9 day of use and requires a cold boot. Although, this may be a bug in the current firmware that might be corrected in the next version. I've spoken with Netgear's technical support dept and their level of knowledge is no higher than someone who has read the quick install guide for this router.
My remote PC is two floors up from the MR314; point to point it's about 50 feet. The signal strength registers as "low" (2 out of 5 pips on the MA101 adapter software), but it's good enough for an unbroken connection that's indistinguishably fast from the one I have on my wired PC. Actually, I did have one problem: the regular telephone modem on one PC stopped working after the install. It took me a half hour to figure out that I'd inadvertently pulled the jack out of the wall.
The only bug I did run into was when using IRC or mIRC. Any attempts to initiate a DCC send cause your connection with the router to be terminated. I tried to open up the correct ports but nothing worked. I did a web search on the problem and others have also found that a DCC send will cause a disconnection of your network. It seems to be a bug that Netgear knows about but isn't doing alot about. In short, if you don't use mIRC at all, then you probably won't see any problems and it's a great price, expecially on amazon. However, if you do use mIRC or other unconventional software, you're likely to run into a lot of headaches. Personally, I had to return the product and simply setup a computer based proxy/firewall home network using WinXP. It's a more complicated option but it works flawlessly.
Once I sorted out the settings for my ISP, it was a breeze to setup for basic routing (NAT & DHCP) and firewall use. The 4 switched ports are WONDERFUL, so I used 3 for 100mb access PCs and put all the 10mb machines on a hub on the 4th switch port. This box is an absolute block-out firewall. You must be prepared to specify which ports you want open and hard-code the IP address for that particular machine. Wireless setup was for a Powerbook G4. Again, basic setup was simple, but it wouldn't work with WEP enabled. (Don't call tech support: they know NOTHING about Macs.) Here's the scoop: select and enter 4 different WEP codes where provided, click the radio button of the one you want to be the default. When logging in from the Mac, the "password" will be a "$" followed by the default HEX WEP key. Once you know the scoop, it's really that simple. This should be in the documentation and available to their techs. Security considerations: (1) Change the configuration password to something difficult, immediately. All in all, LOTS of features at a GREAT price, but if you're going to use many of the features (correctly/securely), plan on spending a couple hours, not 10 minutes, setting it up. PRO: Supports most OS platforms and other manufacturers' 802.11b clients (WiFi). Web-based configuration fairly straightforward. Strong firewall with nice features. CON: Instructions may do more harm than good. I suggest you scan them for general ideas and then play with it or buy your local nerd dinner. It will likely take some tinkering to setup securely & use advanced options. Look for help on comprehensive (non-manufacturer) sites on the web.
Sturdy metal construction on the outside, dependable 802.11b standards-based technology on the inside, all backed by a five-year warranty to give you high-performance reliability.
1 issues with Earthlink DSL, but works fine with SBC Yahoo!
My brother got this for his Earthlink DSL. It never quite worked right. (Both of us took a look at it.) The connection would work for a few minutes, and then disconnect. To reconnect, you had to go through the setup again. This was quite annoying for general web browsing. However, it just won't work with internet gaming.
I had an older Linksys router w/o wireless and swapped with him. The Netgear works fine with my broadband service (SBC Yahoo!) I can VPN to work without any problems. The wireless works fine too.
As for my brother's Earthlink connection, the Linksys router is as steady as a rock.
I gave it 2 stars instead of 1 because it does seem happy with my SBC Yahoo! connection. If given a choice, I'd stick with Linksys.
2 Amazing wireless range
I don't like it when people write reviews on here criticizing a product without giving real proof that it wasn't their fault. Some reviewer thought the router setup page didn't work with IE - but doesn't mention any attempt with a different browser. So beware of noobs.
3 Nicely built but has big issues
I bought this thing about a year ago and it worked pretty well. For a while. But after having to reboot the thing every few weeks I started to get a little tired of it.
4 Good price; rock solid performance with a variety of devices
After trying with three other brands (Linksys, Belkin and one I can't remember), this is the router that finally was able to bring together the parts of my network. Its installation and cpnfiguration were straightforward. It hasn't had any issues with any of my networking options (one wired PC, one PCI-card adapter on a desktop, one USB wireless adapter on a desktop, one USB wireless adapter on a TiVo --Linux!-- and one PCMCIA card on a laptop). It recognized and communicated with each of these from the first plug in, and it gives good signal strength from its location in one corner of the house to the farthest device which is one floor up and on the opposite side. MAC filtering and WEP configurations were also easy. Any vendor can ship a bad unit of course-- but this has handled its networking across every available adapter type and multiple operating systems without missing a beat.
5 Great for the price
This is a great little router. I've used it for 18 months with only a couple of minor problems. Range is adequate but not exceptional. I have a large house and there are dead spots where the wireless signal just isn't stong enough to work. The ability to add an external antenna would probably help, but alas, Netgear did not see fit to include that feature in the model. My second problem happened just a couple of weeks ago. The wireless functions quit altogether. Netgear's tech support (like most anymore unfortunatly, was of almost no help. The read from a script if you can get past the voice-mail tangle at all. Finally I downloaded the latest firmware update and uploaded it to my router. BAM! it started working again like a champ. Too bad it took so long to figure that out. While I was trying to work it out I ordered a new MR814 which arrived today. Now I don't need that new one.
6 Good unit.
I purchased this for my brother in law. Setup was good and the quality of the card seem to be on par with the rest of them. The signal strength isn't as good as my Linksys. It had trouble getting through some thick walls, but it's an old house. I've never been a netgear fan, but the price of this after rebates was a good deal at the time. Overall I was impressed. I'd buy Netgear again.
7 Not a good wireless access point
The netgear router is just too basic. It can't set non-standard gateways. Its signal seems pretty weak - only works for about 100 feet. I am off to buy a new one, as I've just had enough of this one.
8 Steady, Reliable, Once You Get it Working
I am using the Netgear MR314 wireless router a with Verizon DSL Wirespeed connection.
9 Netgear Nightmare!
This Netgear router will lose its connection often to wirless cards in computers that have Netgear wireless cards. After ten months in service,the tranmitting mode went out.Called customer service for a RMA number(required) and told to hold for 55 minutes. Never got through! Buy another brand!
10 Simple to setup, works great
I recently replaced my original Apple Airport (Graphite) with a Netgear MR314.
The MR314 was very simple to setup. It took me less than 10 minutes to get it up and running, and connected to my DSL service using PPPoE.
11 disappointing
we're constantly needing to reboot this gadget after it declines to transmit packets. we suspected the dhcp server but switching to static addresses didn't fix it. it clicks all the time. why? it's powered by a wallwart. what is clicking? the o/s is pathetic. the u/i poor. contrary to an earlier reviewer (who probably didn't rtfm) it does offer a firewall, which runs entirely steath (checked against dslreports and grc).
12 Works great, easy to set up
I think this router is excellent. It was easy to set up. The documentation is easy to follow and does a great job of leading you through the setup process. Once you get it set up, just put it in a corner and let it do its work. I haven't had any problems with this item.
13 Terrible Router, go for Linksys
This router has many problems. First of all the admin page does not work with internet explorer because of errors in the internal javascript code. The tech tried to blame it on IE instead. Second, it keeps dropping connection and having to get reset. It wasted a lot of my time. I set up a similar network but with Linksys and it works great. I recomment that you don't buy this
14 Range was limited to the same room
This item did not work out for me - range was limited to a single room within my house. Returned.
15 Outstanding wireless router stays up
I went through 2 other wireless routers from competing companies (returned both of them in less than a month) before purchasing the MR314.
16 Very disappointed
This unit cannot be used as an access point compared to other units. Also after testing its security through various test sites, grc.com, security.norton.com, and scan.sygate.com this unit does not hide ports as well as other units also. Also static routing seems to interrupt connections. I would not recommend this unit to other people.
17 Works flawlessly with European ADSL
I have been using it for four months already with my ADSL provide in the Netherlands. At the beginning I was a bit concerned that the US-targeted model might not be compatible with Euro-DSL. Not to worry. My ISP even limits my account to one permanent IP address by binding it to my MAC address. So, I gave them the MAC address of router's WAN port. I initially had a bit of a problem losing my DNS server but that was remedies when I entered a secondary DNS server in the router's configuration.
18 Great value and easy setup.
I've had previous luck with Netgear products (RT314) before and decided to give this one a shot especially since the price was right.
19 Great Tech Support, Bad System
I recieved this as a gift for christmas and I set it up right away. Then it didn't work, so on CHRISTMAS MORNING I was on the phone for 2 Hours! Then, that night, the network failed! This happened to me about 3 times. The tech support is awesome. It could be a defective router but I do not think so
20 It's just OK
I purchaced this router because we share DSL between 4 computers in our house, and we didn't want to run wires all over the place.
21 Ideal wireless router for Mac & PC computers
As I have a mix of PC's, G4 PowerMac and an iBook (both running OS X.2) I compared quite a few routers out there. Most of the routers (including the Netgear MR814 and all Linksys routers) do not retransmit AppleTalk wirelessly. This would mean that I would not be able to print from my iBook to a network printer (unless I setup CUPS [common unix printing system] and print using TCP/IP).
22 Excelent
Excelent Product. Works perfect and the signla strenght is excelent all over the house. Easy to setup also.
23 Breeze to set up
I use XP professional with a DSL line. This router took me all but 5 minutes to get up and running. Follow the manual to the letter, and save yourself from the horrors of the cheaper brands. One downside I've found is that my Eudora client does not always like to cooperate with this router to check my POP server. Be warys that the range is precisely what you'd expect of a sub-hundred dollar router...100-150 feet in my case. I've also noticed that turning the little antenna in different directions seems to improve the range. I consistenly get the highest speed connection with my Thankpad (using a 3Com wireless card). That is good enough in most cases, unless of course you live in Graceland.
24 good router but missing printed manuals
This router was easy to configure. I purchased 2 of these routers. One for my employer's work. The other for his home. Just remember to set the encryption key so that no one can mooch off your broadband. Also change the router password. Set the key on your wireless pc and your set. Not too difficult. One bad note is that the manual is on cd only and for some reason you can't find it on the netgear homepage.
25 VDSL Compatible
I've using MR314 model for four month, I recently changed my Broadband service to VDSL. It just worked same as DSL did.. Speed is awsome, (14Mbps up-download) design's great.
26 Newbie in Networking... up and running after about two hours
27 Good performance/value with minor problems.
Bascially this router do what it suppose to do. works great with Comcast cable/Motorola SB4200 cable modem. Wireless performance is adequate, just don't expect too much on its range. I guess the specified range on the box is simply derived by some ideal link model, so... be ready.
28 Good performance/value with minor problems.
Bascially this router do what it suppose to do. works great with Comcast cable/Motorola SB4200 cable modem. Wireless performance is adequate, just don't expect too much on its range. I guess the specified range on the box is simply derived by some ideal link model, so... be ready.
29 Fustrated user
I purchased the Netgear wireless router and wireless PCI card. The wireless PCI card worked perfectly out of the box. I wish I could say the same for the router.
30 addendum
I have been using the MR315 wireless router for about 3 weeks now and it works great. I have read more about the switch portion of the router and the 4 wired ports. If you have an existing network you can hook up at the fast ethernet connection of 100 MBS unlike another reviewer said. The cable/DSL port is 10baseT connection true but you can uplink to any of the wire ports of the router. The 10baseT connection is for the cable modem which is a slower connecion. I have the 3com office connect modem and ATT cable service. I can connect to my smc barricade for true firewall.
31 Don't start a cable modem installation without it
I just upgraded my satellite return system to a cable modem using the MR314 as my firewall/router/WAP.
32 Don't start a cable modem installation without it
I just upgraded my satellite return system to a cable modem using the MR314 as my firewall/router/WAP.
33 Does what it should.. easy and effective
This is a handy little unit, combining everything you need for safe, easy broadband access. If you are not a complete idiot, it is easy to set up in just a few minutes. I am an incomplete idiot, and it took me about 15 minutes while making dinner and chasing two children.
34 Excellent
This product has been very good. At first it may not work right for you and will keep disconnecting or taking away your connection. You need to upload the new firmware via netgear.com. That should help the problem. Also there is one problem, sometimes it's not that fast, but usually its the same speed as the hardwired computer to the modem. Also sometimes you may get booted off. One other thing, it doesn't always show up with Green connectivity, meaning the best. It always is yellow for me, but the connection still works. This is based on my situation thought. It may be different for you. But overall, this product is excellent.
35 Uplink is only 10mb - can't be just a bridge.
This would be a 5 star item except for two major problems.
36 Doesn't handle ISP gateway switches well
I have this router and 802.11b rocks... but I've had trouble using it with my Charter (my ISP) cable modem. When Charter resets it's gateway (which is something very common in the ISP industry I guess), the router has to be completly reset (to factory defaults) in order to "regain" a connection to the internet. This in itself would only drop the rating to a 4 of 5, but Netgear's backup settings utility seems to back up the old gateway address too, so even after resetting the router to factory defaults and then re-installing your backed up settings, you aren't on the internet. You still need to completely reconifgure the router from scratch... by hand (can be very frustrating depending on the amount of conifguration you want your local intranet to have).
37 It's a funny feeling not seeing an ethernet cable!
You know when you leave your house and you have that empty feeling because you forgot your work bag? Well that's how you'll feel when you go wireless!
38 Well, I guess it's okay
Well, I am re-reviewing this product after 6 days of use. It was really easy to setup. Setup wizard was very easy to follow and I was up and running under 10 mins. WEP configuration and MAC filter was also very easy to setup. First of all, I got this for very cheap after the rebate. I'm very satisfied both pricewise and qualitywise. The first day I got it, I experienced a lot of disconnects and low signal strength. After searching Netgear's website, I found the firmware update. Since the update, I have always gotten full 11Mbps connection, very good signal strength (my laptop is about 50-55ft away from the router) and NO disconnects. I am really really really happy that I bought this. Some of the cool features I like are web content filter (limit websites accessed by computers using keywords and such), website log (it emails you all the websites visited by all the computers connected to the router), and NAT firewall (I did few firewall tests on the net and it blocked all my ports and hid some). Another thing I like is the backup/restore feature. You can backup the router settings to your computer, so, if you ever have to reset your router, just, restore and you're up and running with previous settings after one single click.
1. Rename your SSID.
2. Change your admin password.
3. Use MAC filter to filter computers that can access the wireless connections.
4. Use 48/64 bit WEP encryption. 128 is better but that will have some effect on your throughput.
39 BUY IT!
Buy it!
I was never put on hold for more than 30 seconds before I got a live person!!
40 kept dropping wireless connections
I bought this router and MA401 wireless card for my laptop. It was pretty easy to set up everything. Within 10 minutes, I was already enjoying my wireless network. But, after a few hours, my wireless connection was suddenly dropped and my access to the Internet was denied on the laptop. I tried to restart the machine, reconfigure the network... but nothing worked. I called the customer service number. They told me to change some of the configurations and it worked. But then the next day the problem came back again. It kept happening for a whole week. And each time I called them, they would tell me to do something which seemingly solved the problem. But each time, it came back again. Everything became so annoying and frustrating now. I just wanted to return the products. Then the last time I called them when this problem happened again, they told me to upload a new firmware into the router. And bang, it solved all the problems. Their customer service is polite, nice and knowledgable. But I just don't understand why they didn't tell me to update the firmware in the very first place. Now I'm happy again, after all the pain I went through. So be prepared for big trouble if you want to purchase this router. And if you know what you are doing to your computer like me, ask them about the new firmware before they keep throwing garbage solutions to you. Other than that, the product is cool. Easy and fast to use.
41 Easy on Mac
Hooked it up to my Mac G4 tower via ethernet, and also using an Orinoco wireless PC card with it for my Powerbook G3. Not pretty on the outside but works great.
42 Wireless ATT@home user
I installed the Netgear MR314 today and had it working in less than 1 minute. During the time I ordered the product and the time I got it about a week. I read Netgear's Product manual. So I knew how to do it right away. The website has the ISP installation guide for all the popular cable and DSL connections. I have a 3 com cable modem and 3 wired computers and one laptop with the US Robotics 22 Mbs max cardbus. Windows 98SE, ME and XP all worked.
43 Terrific!
Couldn't believe how easy this was to install- took me less than 5 minutes and it was all up and running. It's great to be free of cords!
44 Great service
Setting it up was pretty easy, and when I got stuck at one point, phone support was quick, concise, and walked me through the rest up to the point that everything was just as it should be. Absolutely no frustration. However, as I have read a lot of places, and I'm going to warn again, wireless distance is unpredictable, depending on where you are. I'm in an old building with concrete inner walls and lots of metal, and the signal barely makes it 60 feet, which happens to be JUST enough.
45 Netgear makes a wonderful product
An IT person at work recommended Netgear wireless routers, so I decided to give this one a try. I should mention that I know nothing about networking and not a whole lot about computers. I ordered this router and two of the Netgear wireless cards (401s), one for my laptop and one for my wife's. In no time I had both cards and the router installed and running on our cable modem. The router is in our pantry on the first floor of our home and I can use my laptop in any room in our 2500 square foot house. The signal strength is great and the connection has been flawless. I did need to call Netgear support for help setting up the 128 bit encryption but that was easy and the technician was very helpful. I have friends with other wireless routers and they are not nearly as pleased.
46 Great alternative to Airport
I set up an Apple Airport Base Station for a client 2 weeks ago, and it was incredibly easy; if you're a mac user and not at all technically inclined, go with the Apple product. However, if you have moderate computer skills, the Netgear MR314 is a great alternative...I had it up and running in about 5 minutes. It's working wonderfully with my Apple Powerbook G4's Airport card; I have full signal strength throughout my apartment. It's also handy to have the switched ethernet ports on the unit - we've got another computer plugged in directly...
47 Easy setup, easy installation - excellent product
I have never setup a wireless access point before, so I was afraid that it would take me much time to get everything working as I wanted. I am a tech professional, and I know how things are supposed to work in theory. By following the setup instructions, I managed to setup my PC and DSL modem to work with this router in less than 10 minutes. The PC is connected through the Ethernet port of the router. This was the easy part.
I have a laptop with a wireless network card and I wanted the laptop to be able to access the Internet and share files with my PC as well. I tried all possible settings in both the Netgear's administration interface and in the laptop's wireless card management software, but it did not seem to come together. Some hours later I noticed the wireless network switch on the front of the laptop. :-) After moving that little switch to the right position, everything worked just fine.
The router's management interface is very well organized, it is very easy to use. The wireless communication is excellent, but it is not surprising since I live in an apartment, so the maximum distance between the router and the laptop is 30 feet.
Two advices for new users: change the default administrator password, turn on encryption (128-bit) for the wireless communication.
All in all, this product has great features (firewall with network address translation, 4-port 10/100 Ethernet switch + wireless access point, content filtering, DMZ support) for a very reasonable price.
48 Great product! So-so support
I am extremely pleased with my MR314. I was able to use it as a wireless access point and connect it to an existing router. This was a nice surprise for me. I wanted to keep my existing SMC router because it has a print server. I just pluged the MR314 modem connection into an existing rj45 port on the SMC router and it worked great! (unfortunately I have 2 routers on my desk for the sake of wireless capability and ease of printing from my machines)...
49 Easy to set up with a strong signal
This switch is perfect if you have a couple computers and want an easy wireless network. The switch doesn't allow you to get down to the nitty gritty of working with networks but as most people don't need that I would highly recommend this product. Netgear is a great company and has good technical support if you run into any problems (unlike linksys whose products are almost as bad as their customer service).
50 range is horrible
the range on this product is horrible. i bought it thinking i was getting a good deal because it was [failry inexpensive] after rebate but its not worth the headache. i can hardly keep a connection with the router at the bottom of the stairs and the usb adapter at the top (40 feet, tops) and only one wall in between. if you're planning on staying in the same room as your router, its probably a good deal.
51 Not AOL DSL Compatible
I just bought this product and found out that it is not compatible with AOL DSL. I wish this fact was put on the product tech specs. It would have saved me a lot of headache.
52 The Straight Truth
I have been doing networking administration and security for several years now. I saw that this was a good price, so I bought it. I must say that it does everything I paid for and more. The built-in 100 Mbs switch is very nice because it allows for fast file transfers within an internal or home network. The range is surprisingly good for such a well priced unit. I was able to use wireless at a good speed from 70 feet away through several walls (much farther without walls blocking signal). As far as security goes, I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of wireless security; which was my main concern. Not only does this unit have 128-bit WEP keys, but it also has the ability to match MAC addresses and limit the computers allowed to connect to the network. I don't know if this feature is standard on all wireless routers, but I wasn't expecting it. I feel much more comfortable using wireless now. One thing that did slightly bother me was the lack of a built-in firewall. It advertises a NAT'ing table, and this is true. It has the ability to port forward. And I think it has stateful packet matching as well. But it doesn't seem (at least I haven't found it yet, and it isn't mentioned in the instructions) to have an actual firewall. This isn't a problem because I just use a linux firewall anyway, but it might be a concern to someone who doesn't have a preexisting firewall, and worries about security.
53 Excellent Product, especially for the price!!!
In my experience, both Linksys and Netgear provide terrific value for your money in the home networking arena. However, Netgear's products are usually of higher quality... ie, metal cases, fall-back access to try re-uploading firmware updates if they fail (instead of just having to send the router back for a replacement), more onboard memory, etc. Don't get me wrong though... Linksys is also very good, however, in the quality of their hardware, I'd have to give Netgear the edge, at least in most of their routers. Anyway, I've had my Netgear MR314 for about 4 months, and couldn't be happier with it! Often people without at least SOME networking, etc. background knowledge fault the router for a myriad of problems... that probably accounts for at least half the negative reviews here.
54 A great fault
I have a little network with 4 Computers. So I bought 3 MA101 Wireless USB adapters. Besides that the range of the router is only 20 meters and not the 153 m from the desription, I had to spend several days until I could access the internet, from one computer. I know much about networking so dont think I would be a dope. Nevertheless the nightmare continues. After some books and 5 months I am still not able to build up a network between the different computer which are all running with WinXp Pro (clearly with all new drivers, some of them for the USB adapter didnt work and I couldnt activate the adapter no more). So I read various documetations, the ones on the internet too, but there was written nothing that helped me succeed. After I thought about contacting the official support. I already wrote 3 times to them, the last time it were more than 300 words as description and I never saw any answer. My verdict is clear: A miserably working and extremely difficult configurable product without any kind of support or not useful help functions.
55 Excellent product. Easy installation.
Installed the wireless router and configured three
computers at home, all in twenty minutes. Had
problem upgrading the firmware using the web iterface,
but solved it by using ftp method as explained in
the user guide. Connection is very stable, worked
for hours on a connection to the UNIX workstation at
school without any disconnection. The signal is
still excellent with two walls seperating my living
room and bedroom. I use verizon DSL service and
have a Linksys router (which provides firewall protection)
between my DSL modem and this wireless router.
Did I mention that the product looks cool too!?
56 To easy
I read a lot of reviews and it seems that about 20% of the people that buy this product have issues with it. So i was a little skeptical about buying it. I dont know whats up with 20% of the people out there; It took me about 10 min to get my 2 computers and laptop working. When i say 10 minutes i mean it. It was about the easiest thing i have ever done. I didn't even have to upgrade the firmware although i intend to in the near future. Sooooo Easy! HIGHLY RECCOMEND!
57 Apple users take note!
After a fairly extensive search for a wireless basestation/router I realized that almost all the reviews that were out there were for using wintel machines, or did not state what equipment was being used . Unfortunatley I own exclusively Apple products and the few reviews I did find, for mac, were not very specific (as far as equipment used, etc..). So, with that in mind I write this review for all you Mac folk.
800mhz iMac G4 running Mac OS 10.2
366mhz iBook (firewire) G3 running Mac os 10.2 w/apple airport card
Doscis 1.1 cable modem
I was up and running in 5 minutes! After shutting both computers down, swapping the neccessary wires and rebooting, all was said and done. The iBook saw the wireless network and both machines were able to access the internet. Configuration is a snap. All I had to do is set the network control panel to configure using DHCP (which it already was) and I was up and running.
Example: $123456789a
Example: "magic"
58 Not so sure..
Unfortunately this router loses the connection to my cable modem quite often. I need to reboot the router for it to renew the upstream internet connection - though the downstream connection to my wireless laptop(Netgear MA401) is always excellent.
59 Easy to setup, reliable connection
Not sure of what to check in Wireless Routers, I read reviews on Amazon and other sites and almost all of them said the same things about all the router brands -- very reliable, easy to setup etc etc. So I used price to be the deciding factor.
60 Okay
I have to restart the router at least once a day to get my internet connection. I had this problem more with DSL, but now that I have cable it's less of a headache. The range is great for my three bedroom apartment. I have three computers on the WLAN and it seems to be ok. I don't use any networking, I use it strictly for internet access. The furthest computer is about thirty feet from the router and has a wall between it and the signal strength is "Very Good".
61 Excellent - After Firmware Upgrade
I bought this Netgear wireless router after hearing a lot of positive feedback about their products overall. I bought the MR314 router and a MA401 wireless card and had no problems installing either for use with a HP XP Laptop. The card was running in about a minute and the router seemed to be work quite well with my Time Warner / Road Runner Cable Modem connection. The instructions were a little confusing but I worked around this fairly easily
62 Easy? Yes Capable? Well...
Like other users, I got this wireless router talking to both my wired MacOS G3 and wireless PC laptop (using the companion MA401 wireless PC card) within 1/2 hour. The web-based wizard served by the router worked well.
However, I had to bring it home and set it up to find out there's no built-in firewall in this router. You have to rely on NAT and the wireless encryption for security. Strike one.
Also, I couldn't find any documentation on the CD or NetGear's site for the unit's telnet command line interpreter, and whether it might offer more configuration options than the web-based interface. Strike two.
Finally, the wireless range inside my wood and plaster house was much more limited than spec'd. Transfer rate dropped to 2Mbit when I got a couple of rooms away and disconnected in the back yard. Strike three - return to vendor.
63 Bad reception
So much for the miracles of wireless. In order to get reception on my laptop, you basically have to be in the same room as the router. In my bedroom (only 40 feet away from the router), reception is poor or non-existent. According to tech support (nearly impossible to understand through a thick accent), I should be happy to get at least 30 feet inside a house. The great range advertised by this product only occurs in a laboratory. In a real house, you'll be cursing yourself for buying this product.
64 The best there is
Folks, this is the best wireless router I have come accross. It works amazingly. It took me little over 5 minutes to setup and working. 4 of those minutes was trying to figure out how to open the box's plastic cover.
65 Not able to add a booster antenna
Great router. Great price. That is if you plan to use your notebook in the same dwelling as your MR314. Once you go outside, the frequency is dispersed. Netgear really needs to allow a user to attach an external antenna. This would really help performance so you can "stay connected" especially with a lot of radio interferrence we have around us (microwaves, 2.4 ghz cordless phones, etc.) To my knowledge, Netgear is planning to come out with a unit where you can plug in an external antenna. This would be ideal. For now I think Lucent and Cisco are the only wireless routers that allow you to connect a booster antenna. Otherwise a good value if you do not need the extra coverage. Location: residential neighborhood.
66 Okay, I had to call my ISP but otherwise easy install...
Must confess, I got this unit instead of the Linksys because I like the Netgear (lack of) styling. Also, PC Magazine readers said that Netgear and Linksys (and SMC) had high levels of customer support, so that did it for me.
67 Very Poor Reception
After two hours on hold, one hour each time and two hours on the phone I finally returned the unit for full refund. Why don't they tell you in the literature that the router must be in the highest room and the satellite down one floor. I never found that out until the end of my talk with one of the technicians about 1AM in the morning. If I had known this I would not have bothered to try and go wireless as I would have had to reinstall my dsl modem. Some of the techs seemed knowlegable but the wait time is as bad as I have ever experienced trying to get a tech. I'm going hardwire but not with Netgear because of the frustration of contacting tech support.
68 Fantastic product
After having an awful experience with the Linksys counterpart to this product, I gave up and bought this after hearing that a friend had a good experience with one. I ordered it and had it out of the box and humming along nicely within 15 minutes. The instructions are very clear and make installation a breeze. The wireless range appears to be a little short, but I'm writing this from my living room couch through a couple of walls, about 30-40 feet from the router, and I'm downloading a file at 100k/sec.
69 Do not use with Verizon DSL or Stormport DSL modem
I bought the Netgear MR314 on the recommendation of my company's IT manager, who uses it at home with a cable modem through Time Warner. We use ORiNOCO (Agere) network cards and Lucent (Agere) access points at the office, which work great.
- upgrade to 3.28 firmware
- upgrade to 3.29 firmware
- downgrade back to 3.28 firmware
- reset router configuration (with little button on back)
- different turn-on sequences (modem first, then router & vice versa)
- static IP addressing instead of DHCP
- replacing the router (RMA)
70 Great Product
No bad words, installation was much easier than I expected.
No problems what so ever (even with non Netgear NICs).
71 Poor Reception
with no hookup for a Wifi Antenna - Very dissapointed with the technical support reps (and the long hold times!)
72 nice unit
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.
73 Great product, easy setup, no hassles yet
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.
74 Unbelievably easy
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.
75 Can't really go wrong for sharing broadband access
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).
76 Super easy setup!
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.
77 doesn't get much easier
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.
78 Up and Running in 1 hour
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.
79 One of the better DSL/Cable routers I've used
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.
80 Solid product with sparse documentation.
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.
81 Very Poor Range
Purchased the MR 314 and the PCI adapter/PC Card ( 301/401)and noticed that the signal strength is usually in the POOR to FAIR range when the computer was 50 - 60 feet away from the router.
82 Very Poor Range
Purchased the MR 314 and the PCI adapter/PC Card ( 301/401)and noticed that the signal strength is usually in the POOR to FAIR range when the computer was 50 - 60 feet away from the router.
83 Long range and a breeze to set up
After doing a bit of research, I decided on this model as opposed to the more popular Linksys model. Setup was a snap: I pulled the unit out of the box at about 11:00, and by 11:30 I was surfing the web from the comfort of my bed.
84 Changed my life
The Netgear MR314 is an excellent piece of equipment. Setup of a network with my iBook 500MHz and my Macintosh G4 400MHz was easy, almost automatic. Now I cruise the Net from all over my home, making me much more productive and much more comfortable. Backup from one computer to the next is quick and easy, and my wife and I can use the Net at the same time. The router works flawlessly. Change your life, go wireless.
85 Worst support ever
They say that they have 24x7 support.
86 Relatively easy to install
I installed this router with a Netgear MA401 card. Setup was very easy. Using Windows 98 on a Dell Pentium III. I needed to call customer service once bc an IP adapter needed to be changed in my system setting which was not in the setup instructions. Speed was very good on the desktop which wired into this router. Customer service was polite and the guy (in India) knew what he was talking about.
I gave 4 stars bc I had to call customer service. I would recommend this product.
I had more difficulty with the MA401 but once I got it working everything worked smoothly. Basically my neighbour's 2.5 GHZ cordless phone interfered with the connection. Customer service did not know how to fix it. I chnaged the channel from 01 to 04 in the Wizard setup of the Wireless router and that fixed the problem...
87 Product is fine, but tech support [stinks] big time.
Bought the MR-314, wireless card for laptop and local port for desktop on Pac-Bell SBC DSL. Everything is great once it is up and running, wireless worked fine on 2nd floor of the house. I had a hard time setting the unit up, it logged on to the DSL, but was loading so slow, took about 3-4 minute to load a page, obviously something was wrong, so I call the tech help, like everyone else had said, I could hardly understand what the tech was saying. Found out later the tech center is located in India (no wonder). After 2 days, tech help keep saying my modem is losing packets, had me bought a cross-over cable, which didn't help, had me call SBC, didn't solve the problem; had me call SpeedStream the modem company, again didn't solve the problem. Netgear tech help keep pointing the finger to everyone else, in fact they were just flat out LOST. I was ready to return the product, then I decided to boot up the system different ways, and all of the sudden it works.
88 This Router has problem w/ Port Forwarding! Poor as router
Hi everyone,
I have the MR314, please note this is not RT314 or RT311. They are diifferent "animals." The reason I said this because I had problem submitted to Netgear customer support and they referred me to the RT314 router's document, which did not help a bit. Seemed like, Netgear Tech/Customer Support guys don't even know their own products and what they really have. Is it ok if someone or people really don't know the names of their children or miscall one of the others?
>sys server access web 0
>sys server port web 80
>sys server save
89 Can I give it 10 stars??
I just set up my new Netgear MR314 and it works GREAT. It was a snap to set up two of my computers on it with Windows XP. I had a few problems setting up my old Windows 98SE computer; those issues were resolved with a call to tech support. During my call with support, the phone line unexplainably disconnected. Much to my surprise, the tech immediately called me back and we continued with the installation.
90 A snap to setup and use
This product was very easy to setup. I was up and running within several minutes. I now have two desktop computers and one wireless laptop sharing my SBC Global DSL account.
91 ok unless using vpn pass-through for 2+ clients
Initial setup was pretty easy. My only issue is I was not able to get more than 1 client to work w/vpn pass-through at the same time. I called their help desk and they gave me a suggestion and said that sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I wasn't really able to try their suggestion because I got an error. (they said to map the ports to both ip's which it didnt like) I just switched to a d-link 614+ and I'm now able to have 2 clients use vpn at the same time. Also I would've liked some more security options on the mr314.
92 Thumbs down on security and customer support
I agree with many of the other customer's comments for this wireless router: it is fairly simple to setup, and it does work as advertised. However, I feel many of the customers have failed to consider one key feature that the MR314 lacks: SECURITY. This brand offers very little in regards to securing your wireless network. There is no way to view a log of successful or failed connections from wireless clients. Almost all other brands have this ability.
93 Up and Wireless in 15 Minutes
Traded up to wireless from the Netgear RT314 I bought from Amazon 18 months ago(Sold it used on Amazon for [price] in 2 days). Followed the set up sheet. Up in 5 minutes on the Cable Modem and RJ45 to my PC. Setup my Netgear wirless PCMCIA card on my laptop and was on-line in 10 minutes. I then walked the parameter of my yard(small) without ever losing connectivity and the signal strength only going down to 30% a few places. I have a 2 story 2600 sq ft stucco house and the router sits on the 2nd floor in the center of the house. I'd say the worst signal strength was traveling through 1 floor and at least 2 interior walls and 1 exterior wall about 120 feet. Indoors I see the strength go down to 60% at worst. I run with full 128 WEP encryption. I've had the router almost 2 months now and love it. I recommend Netgear for best bang for the buck mainly.
94 A good device if you have patience
I bought this device after lots of good experience with NetGear products in the past. Running XP Pro on 2 Dell machines, a PC and a notebook. The wired connection to my PC has been problem free once the XP firewall was disabled. The wireless connection, however, is another story. I kept losing my internet connection on my notebook, but the wireless adapter was connected to the router with no problems. My first phone call to tech support led me to assigning a static IP address to my wireless connection on the notebook. this resolved the problem for about an hour, then I lost the internet connection again. The only way to re-gain it was to unplug and reset the router. My 2nd call to tech support was a disaster as the support "engineer" was rude, and un-intelligible through a thick accent. Not the best combination for a telephone tech-support. The bit that I could understand of his advice was that it was a Windows problem and I needed to contact MS for support. Another great moment in customer service. My 3rd call to Netgear solved the problem. The support guy was helpful, polite and knew what he was talking about. He advised me to upgrade the firmware and if I lost the connection again, to return the unit. No problems since the upgrade. So like I said if you have patience, you won't be sorry you bought this.
95 Isn't it nice when something works as it's supposed to?
Installing this router/switch/access point and the MA101 USB adapter took me all of 20 minutes, including configuring the MR314 and two PCs. (Windows XP was running on both machines.) The instructions for the MR314 could be a bit clearer, but really it would be very hard to go wrong. And this was my first time ever installing a network! I could not believe my eyes when I instantly had high-speed Internet access on both machines -- no reinstalling anything, no calling tech support. It just works. Some kind of first for me.
96 Nice, but the range is much less than advertised.
Setting up the router and the USB adapter (MA101) was easy. First I tested with the two computers in the same room. It worked great, with "Excellent" signal strength. I then moved computer 1 with the router 40 feet (two rooms) away, in my house. The indicated signal strength dropped to "Poor" (1 or 2 out of 5 bars). Transfer speed was still good though--plenty fast enough for DSL communication. However, when the signal was poor, dropouts could occur. Then when I moved the router downstairs 60 feet away, the adapter was NEVER able to connect. Worst yet, whenever the MA101 was plugged in while no signal or the signal was lost, it hung Windows (XP). And the computer must be reset!
It simply does not have the transmission range that I needed-I returned the products.
97 Works really well, most of the time
I've been using it for about a 3 weeks. From day 1 it would freeze the wireless connection after some heavy throughput. Strangely, the signal stays good though. I am using a Orinoko card on my laptop. I'm returning it this week.
98 a good choice of normal internet use
If you all you really do is surf the net, read e-mail and play a few internet based games, this product will probably give you no trouble. I bought it and setup it relatively quickly. I am fairly experienced with computers and networks but the basic instructions were sufficient to get 3 computers hooked up and running in less than half an hour. I tested a variety of applications and most worked flawlessly. Surfing, checking e-mail, even hosting online games work well. Speed was good, no worse than direct connection.
99 Great, but *NOT* simple if you set it up *RIGHT*
I bought this to replace my D-Link DI-701 router/firewall, which set-up very simply. To be blunt, Netgear's instructions are worthless - in fact it took me several hours to determine that ALMOST ALL of the settings they provided for my ISP were WRONG. On the positive side, the web-based configuration is great and can be done from most platforms.
(2) Don't open more firewall holes than absolutely necessary (you may not need to add ANY and most software companies can tell you what ports they need).
(3) Consider using the site blocking option of the firewall to block access at times when nobody should be on the system.
(4) Block wireless access to all except the MAC ID's of your mobile units.
(5) Change the SPID from "Wireless" to something lengthy and complex - don't forget to put this in your mobile configurations.
(6) Use 128 bit WEP and ensure the key is complex.
(7) For high security, change the WEP (and SPID) periodically.
Overall: 4 stars, solid, secure. (But will Netgear update the firmware to support the new WEP-Plus? Let's hope so.)
100 NETGEAR IS SO SWEET
I debated which router to buy since I heard Dlink and Linksys were also great wireless alternatives. However, I decided to pick up the MR314 router at Best Buy and try it out with the Cisco card I already had. I was up and running within a half an hour because a few of my settings were not correct. I called the Netgear help line and they were very helpful and knowledgable. Its really cool since I can now work on my couch instead of in my office at home (heehee). I was so curious about the range I brought it outside a few hundred feet to my apartments pool and what do you know - worked perfectly! The most amazing thing is that the speed is just as fast as when I was connected directly to my cable modem. A MUST BUY!!
Heavier than air flying machines are impossible.
-- Lord Kelvin, President, Royal Society, c. 1895
Did you hear that there's a group of South American Indians that worship
the number zero?
Is nothing sacred?
