Netgear's RP114 cable/DSL Web-safe router with four-port switch gives parents and network administrators complete control over network contact with the Internet. Assign restricted access policies based on time of day, Web address, or Web address keywords--the RP114 enforces these policies and sends you e-mail reports on all browsing activity, plus instant alerts to notify you of unauthorized Web page access attempts. Rest assured that your network is protected against hackers, thanks to the RP114's Network Address Translation (NAT) firewall. You can share your high-speed cable/DSL Internet access with as many as 253 personal computers. Constructed of sturdy metal, this compact router is designed for durability and easy setup. Web-based instructions guide you through the installation process, so your network, including Windows, Macintosh, and Linux operating systems, can be up and running in less than an hour.
NETGEAR's RP114 Cable/DSL Web Safe Router with 4-port switch gives parents and network administrators complete control over network contact with the Internet. Assign restricted access policies based on time-of-day, web address, or web address keywords - the RP114 enforces these policies and sends you e-mail reports on all browsing activity, plus instant alerts to notify you of unauthorized web page access attempts. Rest assured that your network is protected against hackers thanks to Network Address Translation (NAT) firewall. You can share your high-speed cable/DSL Internet access with as many as 253 personal computers. Constructed of sturdy metal, this compact router is designed for durability. And easy to set up! Web-based instructions guide you through the installation process so your network, including Windows, Macintosh and Linux operating systems, can be up and running in less than an hour.
1 DNS problem like everyone else
I bought mine exactly 1 year ago, and I have the same DNS complaints as everyone else. And it seemed to have cropped up after upgrading FIRMware to 1.5 from 1.2 or 1.3 half a year ago. If I am downloading or sharing something large at my max ADSL downspeed/upload, 96/640kbps, DNS failures are very common. And I frequently download from newsgroups, so this is a real issue. I imagine users realtime videa and audio will have the same problem.
It is easy to setup and use, and seems to work fine as a LAN router and print server, though I haven't used it much as one. It works fine if I am not maxing my net connection.
From the other reports of terrible customer service, I advise anyone to avoid this company if you have a similiarly priced alternative.
It is still much than using PPPoeT dialer software that the telco gives you to access DSL without a ADSL router.
2 If this router stops working for you ...
Several reviewers have posted and said that after a certain period of time, the router starts dropping their Internet connection randomly. I too have had the same thing happen, but have traced it to a DNS problem, not a connection issue. What this means is that the router (for whatever reason) loses its ability to translate numeric Innternet IP addresses (such as 216.109.117.10) to names (www.yahoo.com). So, if your Internet connection appears to have died, bring up a command prompt and try pinging 216.109.117.106 (or any other IP address). If that works, then you have a DNS problem.
To resolve this issue, contact your ISP and find out what their DNS server IP addresses are, and then plug that information into the router's configuration or into the TCP/IP network settings for each machine connected to the Internet.
I don't know why this problem occurs, but once I manually entered the DNS settings, everything worked fine. I have had no other issues with this router, other than the network connections being in the front of the device instead of the back (as others have commented on already).
If you are reading this review trying to decide whether to get this router, I wold advise against buying anything from Netgear or Linksys. If you read the reviews for pretty much any Netgear or Linksys router on this site, you will see that most of them get horrible reviews for reliability issues. Plus, many have stated that Netgear customer support is horrible, and I can attest to that. I sent them an email once and it took weeks before they responded back.
You may want to consider something like the Zyxel Prestige 324 instead. It may cost a little more, but word on the street is that its a better product, and more secure also. I plan on buying one to replace my Netgear PR114.
3 Horrible router
I have similar problems as described by someone here. I have to disconnect the router often to get on the internet. It would stop working suddenly. Also Netgears' customer service is pathetic. I have been using this router for 2 years now.
4 It's Horrible
I don't know how to begin... This router randomly decides sometimes that it doesn't want to work. The internet will stop working. Completely. When I unplug my computer and try plugging in directly to the DSL modem, everything works fine. For some reason, this router messes with me every single day, and I'm on amazon now looking to buy a new one.
'Nuff Said.
5 Very easy setup
I used this router to connect 3 computers to the internet, one computer running XP, one NT and another one Win95. Since my cable company, Comcast, does not require username or password, setup was basically 'plug-and-play', 15 minutes max (mostly becaues of rebooting all the computers throughout the house).
6 Excellent, easy to install Router
This router is an excellent choice for establishing a home or small business network. I have extensive experience with computer hardware, but this was my first experience with setting up a home network. I looked at this router and the Linksys BEFSR41, and ended up going with the Netgear. I'm very glad that I did. Reviews of both routers complain about customer service. I wouldn't know how Netgear's customer service is because I never had to call them. I was setting up a network with three computers, all running XP. Withing fifteen minutes of taking the router out of the box, all three machines were hooked to the network and working flawlessly. I used the setup instructions that came with the router, which told me everything I needed to do. Installation was a breeze, it quite simply couldn't have been any easier. I have been running it now as an "always on" network for over a month, and it has never frozen or locked up; I have not had to reboot or reset it a single time.
My only complaint is the orientation of the plugs. All the network connections are on the front of the box, while the power jack is on the back, which makes it hard to put anywhere on a desk. But this objection is cosmetic and nit-picky. However, the outside of the unit is made of metal and is very sturdy. Overall, it is a very competitively priced router that doesn't necessarily have all the bells of whistles of other models, but it is very dependable and good at what it does. If you're looking for a nice priced, very dependable router for home or small business networks, pick this little guy up today.
7 Easy as cake!
So I got DSL through SBC (wonderful service, BTW) and since there's 3 computers in my home we decided to pick up a router. I mostly grabbed the Netgear over Linksys due to the name and the not so great history Linksys has compared to Netgear's historically stellar quality. This thing is great, works right out of the box (if you have Cable, DSL you need to give it your username and password for DSL) and should take you less than 3 minutes to set up including waiting for it to boot up. I haven't reset it in months and she's been doing great... highly recommended.
8 clearly superior to the LinkSYS BEFSR41
Let me just begin by saying that I had no network experience prior to installing my first router, although I am fairly comfortable with computers in general.
Firstly, I had this product (the RP 114) up and running within 5 minutes of opening the box. I had not even finished configuring the web-based setup page and already had an internet connection through it. It was clear from the beginning that this product excelled in its ease of use and compatibility (running XP pro on my comp.), but I was a bit concerned about security and accessing the advanced features of the router. The web-based setup utility is admittedly a little lean on the options, and it would have been nicer to have everything available there. Upon opening and reading the documentation on the enclosed cd and opening the telnet session however, I found the extra configurabiity available on the telnet session (as opposed to the LynkSIS BEFSR41's web-based setup utility, for example) to be worth the extra effort (come on, telnet isn't THAT bad).
Speaking of the LinkSYS BEFSR41, I'd just like to say that my brief experience with that router was not a pleasant one. I've since read quite a few reviews about people receiving multiple defective units. I can't speak for everyone, but this to me indicates poor construction. People depend on the net for a lot of things these days, and it just seems like a router is the wrong to cut corners. I spent hours and hours trying to get the LinkSYS BEFSR41 to work to no avail. After calling tech support (with a painfully long wait), I was told that the unit was defective. I really hope LinkSYS isn't paying these guys more than minimum wage, as they are poorly trained and unprofessional at best. Anyway, I returned the LinkSYS product, opted for the NetGear RP114, and have been totally pleased with this product. I have heard a few bad reviews about the tech support - but trust me it can't be worse than LinkSYS's. So while both companies' tech support may leave something to be desired, the NetGear RP114 is clearly the superior product.
Don't be fooled by the LinkSYS product's pretty exterior - the beauty is only skin deep!
9 RP114 is really a good piece of hardware
I was able to connect my Windows98 PC and a Sun Ultra 5 running Solaris 8 in about 2 minutes and 15 minutes respectively.
Remember to telnet to the modem: telnet 192.168.0.1 and change the default password, once you've got all you comps. up and running. Various models of Netgear routers have the same USername and password combos.
For Sun Ultra series - if you're having config issues - on Solaris 8:
go to: /usr/sbin
execute: sys-unconfig
Reboot.
The system will ask you a bunch of questions. Just keep the IP address of your router handy. That's all you need. Keep answering the questions and you'll be networked in no time.
Give your Sun box an IP like 192.168.0.2 or .3 or whatever is unused. For example if you have a Windows box on the network already hooked up - give the Solaris box a +1 IP addy.
The CD that comes along with it is junk and the 'foldable' manual page is not too great either. The Netgear site FAQ will tell you to refer to the User Manual on many occasions. It does not EXIST... So don't waste your time. But the product itself is super simple to use.
10 Good value, comparable to RT314 but dissapointing enhancemts
I used it for less than a month. It replaced an Netgear RT-314 I had before. I was happy with the basic functionality of the RT-314, and I wanted to add some kind of parental control (essentially limit the hours my children could use the Internet).
The RP114 is advertised as having that capability, but it is quite limited. You can only set global access hours, there is no way to target different users. I also found that both the RT-314 and RP-114 would not allow multiple VPN sessions simultaneously, and I had to reboot the router to be able to connect to ATT Net Client after my wife had connected to her company. This was a great annoyance, and I finally returned the RP114 and bought an SMC Barricade 7004-ABR. That solved the problem with VPN. And to my surprise, the Barricade has the parental controls I needed, but they are not trumpeted on the box like netgear does, plus it has a print server. All for about [price] more....
11 Good Product -- Wonderful Technical Support
I bought the Netgear RP114 in early December. I already had a Netgear DS104 and a hard-wired network in my house. There were problems with getting the new device up and running, but the technical support people (based in India) were wonderful. I had a little trouble understanding sometimes but we conducted about half of the interaction via E-mail (no problems understanding their writing). It was obvious very early on that the problem had nothing to do with the device -- all about firewalls, etc. but they gave me lots of things to look at (OS settings, interoperability among OS's, etc.) and finally recommended that I look for a firewall, etc. that might be mucking up the works. Since I cleared the obstructions I (and my family) have been thoroughly enjoying shared broad-band connection to the internet. It has been working as advertized. It was well worth the additional expense to have had the wonderful technical support.
12 NetGear RP-114 over D-Link DI-704
I bought the D-Link DI-704 for my home network, to share my DSL connection to four computers running Linux, Mac OS-X and Windows 2000 and XP. The DI-704 seemed to have all the features needed (NAT for my server, web-based configuration) for the task.
Unfortunately, it wouldn't run for more than about 6 hours before freezing the network. Sometimes the subnet (inside the firewall) would remain working, sometimes not. I upgraded the firmware, tried several different configurations, reset the thing repeatedly, and always had the same problem: when network traffic got heavy (say, when my web server got several requests or when several of us were using the network), the thing would freeze, requiring a hardware reset.
I ended up buying ther NetGear equivalent product (the RP-114), plugged it in, configured it and haven't had a single problem with it. It's worth the extra cash.
13 a computing fan
This is the road I took to finally being able to stay with this router. I have a tendency of being really indecisive when buying things. I bought the RP114 and returned it and got the Linsys BEFSR41, then returned it and got the RP114 again. If you have a choice of between RT114, RT314, RP114 then get the RP114 because it's the newer model and is functionally the same as the RT114 plus more. RT314 will likely be discontinued.
What I like:
The RP114 has a solid construction made of metal. It feels solid and durable in my hands, unlike the Linksys model, which is made of plastic. Of course, this doesn't really say much, but I like my hardware to have some weight to it. Plus, the 4 little rubber feet (?) at the base of the router is well balanced and helps it from moving around too much. The Linksys wasn't balanced at all. It kept rocking back and forth because one of the rubber feets were higher than the other. What I also like about this router is that it's got little holes on the bottom of the router so that you can mount it on the wall. My desk is really cluttered from zip drive to palm docking station to left over food to you name it. And the wall mounting feature really saves me valuable space and helps keep it in place without much movement.
It has a Link/Activity indicator, for each of four LAN ports and the WAN port. It also has a 100 BaseT indicator to show whether the NIC is connected at 100 Mbps to the router (of course, they are auto-sensing 10/100 BaseT). The unit is firmware upgradable.
It also has Content Filtering where you can enter up to 255 keywords. If someone tries to bring up a web page or url contain these keywords it'll display a message saying that this page is blocked. Albeit it seems a very simple thing, I really like that it displays a message saying that it's blocked instead of the web page just hanging and not showing anything, making the user think that something is wrong with the router. It's very useful if you have children and want to control what they can and can't view! You can also log these access and have it scheduled to send an email to a user.
The following two were the deciding factors for me. I used to share my internet connection through a regular dial up connection with ICS before I got my cable modem connection. Thus, I bought myself a 50 ft cross-over cable. I was delighted to find out that the LAN ports on the RP114 are able to distinguish between the two different types of cables (MDI/MDI-X)! So I just used my old cross-over cables and didn't have to hand over another $30 or so on a new 50 ft cable.
The second deciding factor was the high configurability of the router. I like the web interface to configure the system, but you can also telnet into the router and do so much more!
What I don't like & Wish list:
The only reason it doesn't deserve 5 stars are as follows. I don't know if it's just me or not, but I really like having a printed manual. The unit ships with practically no printed manual. It comes with a one page Installation Guide. All the other manuals are on the CD in PDF or HTML.
This shortcoming probably isn't something I can blame Netgear for, because this is the nature of the beast -- NAT routers work by allowing multiple computers to share a single IP address. When I use IRC, the server checks my IDENTD server. I can use port forwarding on port 113 (?) to make it connect to the built in IDENTD server in MIRC, which is fine and dandy, but I have to always have either MIRC with IDENTD server running, or run a separate IDENTD server on my machine. This is fine, too, except I share my connection with my brother and he gets the same user@host as me, because port forwarding only fetches the first entry in its list and uses that for all the computers. This can be problematic because some servers don't let multiple instances on their servers. This means a specific port number can only be assigned to one machine. If me and my brother both run a FTP server on port 21, it will ALWAYS be forwarded to the first entry in the port mapping. This is okay when we are in control of what port number to use, but in cases like IRC and IDENT, all the server seems to connect to port 113, so this is out of the clients' control. I think this would also be a problem with sending files over Instant Messenging programs and DCC in IRC. I remember Linksys had something to overcome this (not entirely sure?), but it wasn't working correctly for some reason. It would have been nice to have a work around for this.
Bottom line:
From practical use, I've had no problems whatsoever save for the minor annoyance with the port mapping and server port sharing. I haven't had to reset the router yet for any reason, and my status page shows my uptime to be 1104 hours (46 days). I'd highly recommend this router to anyone looking for a home router to share broadband.
14 Netgear Still Works The Best (Over D-Link, Linksys, & SMC)
Take it from a guy who tried all 4 brands of network routers: Netgear, D-Link, Linksys, & SMC, and guess what... Netgear still works the best!
You might pay a little more for Netgear's components, but its well worth the money:
First, I've had the product over 2 months now, on 24/7 and I never had to turn off or power-cycle the router. D-Link, Linksys, and SMC all froze after 2 week's of continuous use. And every week I had to repeat the power-cycle process.
Second, I never had to reboot to access the Internet whenever I reconfigure the router
And last, simple to use (no Fuss)!
15 Great Customer Service
I purchased the RP114 router in Sept. 2001 and had problems setting it up. I called customer service and was talking with a rep. in minutes. She took me step by step thru the whole process of setting up the router. I'm not a computer expert by any means and she knew it by her easy to follow instruction. Was this great service a fluke? In Dec. 2001 we got a new cable system provider. While trying to access 192.168.0.1 I got an error message, so it was off to customer service again. This time the rep. had me going in no time flat. I've read reviews about Netgears customer service being bad but have not seen it. A great product with great customer service.
16 Best thing since sliced bread!
For a small, in-home network, this is great. It is trivial to set up, and I have never had any problems with it once I got my ISP to clear my modem's MAC address it worked great. I have two PC's connected to it and sharing is NOT a problem.
17 Neither Interface (HTTP or Telnet) is complete
I bought this little unit because I've purchased netgear products before (a 4-port hub, and a 56K Modem/Router combo). The biggest thing I hated about the RP411 was the interface. The HTTP interface only allowed you to configure SOME of the routers settings. The Telnet interface, while more complete, didn't have the content filtering section or the DHCP listing that the HTTP interface had. (Maybe I just didn't see in the Telnet interface... this is entirely possible). I was used to using WinRoute Pro, a software router, which is so easy to setup that going from it to the netgear router was a step backwards.
Even more than having to go into two different interfaces to configure the router, the filtering and port forwarding setup was so confusing. It took me days to figure out how to open the web and ftp ports. In my research for help in this area, the netgear site was unuseful. I did find many other people with the same questions and finally found one answer on someone personal website on how to do things properly. (Keep in mind I didn't read the router manual and as far as I'm concerned I shouldn't have to.)
I do believe the router can do anything you want it to do, which is why I gave it 3 stars. I also believe you'll have a hard time configuring the router to do what you want it to do, which is why it didn't get 5 stars.
I ended up returning the RP411 router and replacing it with the Siemens SpeedStream 2-Port DSL/Cable Router. It was cheaper and the interface was incredibly easy. It only comes with two ports, but I have hubs so no big deal. And to top it off the internet connection was faster using the SpeedStream rather than the RP411. I did notice when I was trying to fix my open port problem with the RP411 that many commented that the router slowed their internet access speed.
18 Nice little DSL router/firewall/DHCP server combo
For a small, in-home network, this thing is great. It is trivial to set up, and I have never had any problems with it. As someone else noted, the power cord plugs into the wrong side which is annoying, but at the point where you are complaining about things like that, it must be a good product.
19 Locks Up Several Times a Day, with Moderate Use
There are several other choices in this market, and if I were buying a router again (which I may have to do), I would stay far away from the RP 114. Ours locks up several times a day, with three people using it. Typically, if one of us is connecting to a web server that is down, it hangs the entire router for a few minutes, or longer. We then have to continually reset it. REALLY annoying. I don't want to have to think about a router several times a day; it should work in the background, but this one doesn't.
20 GLR - great little router
This little box did just what I wanted. I needed to create a home dsl lan for my pc's and macs. The installation took just minutes, and even a tech five thumbs like myself could get it connected to my ISP with no problem. I had the dsl lan up and working within 30 mins of breaking open the box.
The only problem is that the ac power lead and port connections are on OPPOSITE sides of the box - duh not too convenient. Oh well a small price to pay for something that actually works out of the box first time!
21 Small and awkward lil box!
Okay, this thing works as advertised and if you follow instructions can be easy to setup. I had a tough time but grant it I was so excited to hook it up I skipped steps along the way. Tech support is a joke like others have noted. After holding for 1 hour you are disconnected. I called later in the evening and finally talked to someone after a 20 minute wait. He was helpful and professional. My only complaint with this thing is it's dimensions and design. It's small but the problem is it has the ports and the AC outlet on opposite sides which means with cables coming from either side it's not something you can place on a desk. It must be out of site. I have mine under a desk and if you want to check the status lights which are located on the ports you have to go under! I think they should have the ports and AC come out all on one end so the status lights can be on the opposite end so you could logically place this somewhere you can see it in case you need to troubleshoot. It does have holes on the bottom so I guess you could rack it on a closet wall or something. Awkward!
22 Great Tool and Easy to Setup
I am a telecomuter and needed something to route all my computers in the home. A great tool. Took me 2 minutes to set up and I get to my company's extranet...No Problem. Interface was extremely easy to use and interpret. I like my NetGear Router. I set up a network for my folks with a NetGear RT314. This one was equally easy to setup and has a few features such as port forwarding and parental controls that I thought were fairly user friendly to set up. A good buy.
23 BE AWARE: Netgear Customer Support is Non-Existent
Think twice or three times before buying NetGear products. If you have any problems at all, you are simply on your own. You cannot get a live technician on the line, they automatically disconnect you after being on hold for an hour. The web support is equally bad, after a week I still have not received an answer to my "case". Only correspondence I got from them was a survey to see how "satisfied" I was with the customer service. All in all, customer support is a disaster. In this day and age, that is inexcusable.
24 No Customer Service
I've tried to get his up under 2000 and had a lot of problems. Called customer service. 4 times I got a message saying they will call me back and they didn't. Got thru on the fifth call and the guy refused to talk to me until he "got coffee". Never called me back. If you think you may need customer servied then DON'T BUY THIS.
25 So far so good ...
I have used my RP114 for about a month and it has been fast and stable so far. I bought RP114 largely because I like RT314 very much. I have upgraded the firmware from v3.24 to v3.25 for improved management functionality and extra features (e.g. port range forwarding).
Strength : - once you set it up, it's maintenance-free - Small footprint - All 4 ports are autosensing MDI/MDIX - Keyword-based filtering and URL logging are great additions to already-good RT314.
Weakness : - Forward-facing ethernet ports (may be a strength) - The power tranformer block is too big. - Management functions are not entirely web-browser-based just yet. Certain management functions are still telnet-based. - It would be nice if it includes a print server.
26 netgear new product
Netgear often makes reliable products. This router has good Parental control of web browsing and Auditing and e-mail reporting of web browsing activities. As usual, it has the RT314 stuffs which are built in 4-port switch enables Cable/DSL Internet sharing, NAT routing security. I think this one is very good for small company does not have admin, but need to have internet access. In addition, this can be used in a big family with control on different age of members.
