NETGEAR WNR834B-100NAS Wireless N Router
by Netgear
|
List Price: Our Price: $69.95 You Save: $15.04 (18%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $19.98 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
|---|
Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of NETGEAR WNR834B-100NAS Wireless N Router
Customer Review: So far, so great (running DD-WRT)
Summary: 5 Stars
I was really skeptical of this router (given the bad reviews), but I picked this router up today at Fry's as a refurbished/open box special for $42. I planned on putting DD-WRT onto the router. DD-WRT is a 3rd party firmware that changes how this (and many other routers) run. I wanted this router to run as a repeater, ie to boost the signal of another router.
I brought it home, plugged it in, spent 2 minutes putting the new firmware on. I followed the instructions on DD-WRT's website to get it up and running as a repeater. It was much easier than cracking my old Linksys WRT54G v5 for DD-WRT.
It's been running for around 4 hours now perfectly. It repeats the signal of the other router beautifully, even though the other router only has 25% signal strength where I have this router installed. My whole house is now blanketed without any problems.
Putting DD-WRT on this was a breeze, and with DD-WRT, this router works wonderfully so far. Highly recommend it, especially with DD-WRT. I bought another one for my parents, who are in need of a new router. I'm not sure why others were having so many problems, but perhaps Netgear has shoddy quality control.
Customer Review: So freakin easy
Summary: 5 Stars
I have only had this router for two days now, with no problems. Its fast, and consitent so far. The biggest thing that excited me was the ease of setup.
I have macs, so maybe it worked easier than with PC, not a knock on pc, but in my experience thats usually the case.
Anyhow, all I did was plug my macbook into the first ethernet port on the router and plugged the router into my Comcast modem. On the back of the router it actually says where to go to log in to the admin setup for the router, which is great if you are new to this, you dont have to type in a long ip address, just a web address, admin for user name, password for password, easy.
The router downloaded the latest firm ware,then i went to basic set up, i fill in the name of my network, click on wpa encryption, type in my pass key, save settings.
Disconnect my laptop from the ethernet port, connect to my new network, enter wpa access key....done.
I have set up many a wireless network, this was the easiest...I have yet to check if my brother's pc laptop has connected, but i know my macs have...the refurbished router was a great buy in my book thus far.
Customer Review: Thus far, a vast improvement for my network.
Summary: 4 Stars
I have had this unit around a week now, and it replaced a 4 year old zyexel g router that I had. Thus far, flawless. My old router used to drop signals about every other day requiring me to reboot my modem and router. It was worse when I was in the big city, but was better here with my rural cable service. Thus far, not a single issue, I turn on my computer, and there is the internet. I leave the computer on for 2 days, no issues. I have a handheld computer, a notebook, and my PS3 all connected via wireless, not a single issue with those units either. The Zyexel was forcing me to unlock security settings to connect here at the end (despite re-installing it several times). Finally, the signal strength/range boost is phenomenal. From My second floor to my first floor on opposite sides of the house I now have 87% pick up by my PS3, compared to 21% with the G type router. Overall, I could not be happier, the setup was a snap, less than 10 minutes with my Athlon unit running XP (around 5 years old). I hope this unit works well for you also. The only reason I do not give it 5 stars right now is I want to see durability. I'll try and update this in a few months.Customer Review: Good for PC, Bad for MacBook Pro
Summary: 2 Stars
I bought this router without research (last time I do that). I tried to use the setup software on the cd provided with the router, but could not get it to work through the PC or MAC. So I went through the router's IP interface to setup the security. My PCs had no trouble connecting to the wireless G. My PS3 connected with no issues through the ethernet. However, my MacBook Pro (Airport Extreme N) would connect and disconnect through the wireless N connection.
I am not sure who to blame. I suppose this is the risk you take for buying something called 802.11N draft. I tried a variety of settings on the router and could not resolve the connect/disconnect on the MacBook Pro. This is speculation, but I think it is a matter of each company has an interpretation of the N draft and they do not match.
I am returning this router and getting the Airport Extreme N router from Apple. It is more expensive, but if I can maintain N speed connection without issue, then great. Plus there are features in the Apple router I will use that do not come with the Netgear or other routers in the price range. Such as printing wirelessly...
Customer Review: Great device for home networks
Summary: 5 Stars
I have installed dozens of home and small business networks (wireless and wired) and have recently started using this router as my 'standard install' for homes. I have been very happy with the setup (the netgear wizard in the web-based interface is dead-easy and makes life much simpler than it used to be). The rest of the web-based interface is very familiar to anyone that has set up a Netgear device in the last few years.
I have had no problems getting UPnP (for game consoles), WPA security, and custom DHCP ranges working (some of the things that a few of the reviews mention problems with).
The most complex network I set up with this guy consists of him, 3 additional WPN802s to fill out coverage throughout the (large) house, a combination of 5 wireless and 6 wired devices (laptops, desktops, game consoles and network printers), PLUS a separate industrial-strength router providing a separate secure subnet for a home office. This setup has been running very well for weeks now with no problems.
For the price, this is the best router out there for pretty much any home setup in my opinion.