Netgear WGR614 Wireless-G Router

10 Review to this product

• 

  Michael Maline
  December 26th, 2010 on 12:58 am

  Rating

  I purchased the WGR614 along with a Netgear WG511 54 Mbps wireless PC Card from Amazon. I use it to connect from my High Speed 2-Way DirecWay Satellite connection wirelessly to my Dell 8000 and Dell 8200 laptops, and my old Gateway desktop in my home. I purchased it primarily because I was told that some other 54 Mbps brands did not allow both b and g cards to be accessed at the same time on the same system. I installed the new g card on my 8200 with no problems at all but then when the entire system was up after about an hour I found that when using the g card on either of the laptops the other with a b card would not work. After a great deal of help from tech support we found that there is a conflict between the DirecWay DW6000 and the router. Both are addressed by http://192.168.0.1. We solved this by changing the address code for the router to 10.0.0.1 and BINGO everything was perfect. I highly recommend these products and the NETGEAR tech support system. They are the best money can buy at this time. I also found Amazon’s service very good and responsive, and besides, they offered the lowest price (after rebates) I could find on the Web.
• 

  Mannina Magha
  December 26th, 2010 on 6:57 pm

  Rating

  I bought this modem in Feb’05 and it has been working flawlessly for the last year, always switched on, used for atleast 2-3 hours a day. (Sorry about being late in writing this review, but I beleive in fully using the product before writing a review)

  The installation was very smooth, the installer CD comes with a auto-installer which will communicate with your DSL modem and does almost 100% of the things by itself.

  Before you start configuring your wireless router, do make sure that you have the correct DSL internet username and password on hand and you have tested the internet connection with the Model ALONE before you test with the wireless router.

  I am surprised that there are so many negative reviews on this wireless router. If there are installation problems with the netgear wireless router, there are very few reasons why it could be:
  
  * Your DSL modem is not configured property
  
  – DSL modem settings are pretty complex, if you mess it up, press the ‘Reset’ button to get it loaded with factory defaults
  
  – Did you check if the default IP Address of your DSL model does not conflict with the IP address of the wireless router(http://192.168.1.1) – if it does, you can always change the IP address of your DSL modem
  
  * Did you verify that you have provided your internet username and password correctly ?

  I tried using this wireless router with two modems –
  
  (1) Speedstream 5100 : Works like a charm
  
  (2) Huawei SMARTAX-MT-800 : I tried using this modem with the Netgear wireless in India, but for some reason, I could never get the wirelss router married to the Huawei DSL modem. I finally had to throw away the Huawei SmartAX and swith over to the Speedstream.

  After switching to speedstream 5100, the combo of netgear wireless with the speedstream has been working 24×7, without any issues.
• 

  Anonymous
  December 27th, 2010 on 3:33 am

  Rating

  I have both Netgear WG614 router/access point and WG511 notebook adapter. Replaced wired network with wireless in ~ 5 minutes. Setup and configuration process is intuitive and is very easy. Router’s web interface contains great context-sensitive help; connection wizard is awesome. This router looks great too. Within 50 metres get 90-95% signal strength, with 54Mbps conection. Buy it!
• 

  D. Bassett
  December 27th, 2010 on 9:17 pm

  Rating

  Having dealt with some of the early generation wireless-B products from Linksys and others, this router was am amazing breath of fresh air.

  Flawless installation and a set of wizards to walk you through. The capability to restrict websites and log what your children are browsing is a big plus.

  Saving the best for last, the range on this router (combined with the companion wireless G pc card from Netgear) has been nothing short of astounding. Rooms that before had little to no signal are coming in around 65% signal strength with this router. I also really liked the driver’s ability to scan for networks and then you can simply select yours.

  Don’t hesitate. Buy this router.
• 

  AA
  December 28th, 2010 on 10:02 pm

  Rating

  I started my quest to set up a wireless network at home with my Dell laptop and a Belkin F5D7230-4 router. The experience was painful and time consuming and ended up with me throwing the Belkin router into trash (Belkin’s tech support told me that their routers are incompatible with Intel Centrino chips! I wonder what they are doing in wireless market then).
  
  This is when I talked to my friends and almost everybody suggested Linksys or Netgear. A local Fry’s store was selling Netgear WGR614 at discounted prices during a sale. I jumped on it.
  
  To rate any router, one has to comment on its 3 “S”, setup, specs and security. I have done quite a bit of research and below is my report on these.

  SETUP: Took me less than 5 minutes to complete the setup. Only thing I had to do was to connect all the cables and turn the power on. Then choose a SSID, password, provide your connection information (depending upon what type of internet connection you have) and voila! I had a wireless network up and running.

  SPECIFICATIONS: It supports both 108.11b and g networking. Weighs about half a lb. and is small (7″x1″x4.5″) Mine is silver and looks so cool that I don’t mind putting it on my tv!

  SECURITY: Netgear router not only provides wireless network for your home but also protects it. It has a strong firewall to insulate your home machines for malicious hacker attacks like Denial Of Service, or attempts to access your machine from internet. It can also help you manage the content being accessed (if you have kids, this is a great feature). It allows remote management too and you can get the logs emailed to you.

  I had to do almost no other maintenance in last 6 months that I have owned this router. It has a decent range. I can go to a park across the street and still access my network.
  
  For 95% of us, this is enough.
  
  I cannot comment on Netgear’s customer service since I have never used it and I hope I won’t have too!

  In conclusion, I believe most known brands like Linksys and D-Link may also have some good routers. But you still have to make sure that the one you buy works for your laptop and your home (for example, according to Belkin’s customer service their wireless routers are incompatible with Centrino chips.)
  
  Netgear has worked great for me and I am sure it will work well for you too.
  
  It is being sold for a great price right now, so go and grab yours. You won’t be disappointed.
• 

  J. Sundquist
  December 29th, 2010 on 3:07 am

  Rating

  I read all the reviews here and elsewhere prior to deciding to buy this router. I have to say I am very impressed! I upgraded to this router from the MR814 802.11B router. This router is identical to the MR814 except that it’s about 1/3rd the size! It literally fits in the palm of my very large hand!

  When I took it out and connected it, I found that I didn’t need the software Cd that came with it as it is mostly just help files anyway and I was able to figure it out on my own.

  Setup was a snap and I was done within 10 minutes.

  Nice Features:

  - 10/100mb WAN port! Most routers only have a 10mb WAN port. Odds are that your cable modem or DSL isn’t faster than 10mb right now, but this router will support 100mb if you ever upgrade your connection! One thing to watch out for with this: The WAN port is set to Speed: Auto by default and some cable modems don’t like that (mine didn’t), so you go into the setup page and change the WAN port speed to 10mb on a simple drop down menu. This is documented in a separate notice in the box that you can’t miss (good work Netgear).

  - Tiny!! This thing literally takes a fraction of the desk real estate my old one did!

  - FAST! I use this with a Netgear WG511 802.11G wireless laptop card and it is FAST! Connection speed is great even through 5 sheetrock walls (one floor Ranch style house).

  If you’re not a very technology saavy person (your kid has to program the VCR) then use common sense: READ THE HELP FILES ON THE CD!!! Netgear put quite a bit of info on the help files on the CD (which you can also get from their website). This router is not complicated to get going. All you have to do is follow directions.

  Here is the general rule when setting up and troubleshooting router/broadband connections:

  - Setup your router using the wizard in the setup web page

  - once setup is done turn off EVERYTHING! That means that your Cable modem, router, and ALL pc’s connected to the router should be turned off!

  - Turn things back on in the following order waiting 30 to 60 seconds between each:
  -Cable Modem
  -Router
  -PC

  This will fix 99% of lost connection problems.

  Overall, I’m thrilled with this router (did I mention it’s tiny?).
• 

  Lihkin
  December 30th, 2010 on 9:34 am

  Rating

  This is an exceptional router and at this price you can’t find a better choice. I see a lot of disgruntled people here who can’t connect to the router wirelessly after changing settings. I would like to give a couple of tips. First of all, make sure you configure the router when you are hard wired. You have to ensure that you are connected to the router via a LAN cable whenever you are making any changes to the router’s configuration. This way when the router restarts etc. you will still be connected to it. If you are carrying out any changes to the router through your wireless card, for example if you have changed the WEP encryption code in the router, then once you submit those changes, the router will not let your wireless card connect until your laptop’s card is configured for the same WEP key. So once again, please ensure you carry out changes to the router only when hard wired. The moment you get your router, I suggest you carry out a firmware upgrade (go to netgear’s support site and download the latest firmware for your model from there). Once again follow instructions and make sure you are connected through a cable to carry out the same. Now log onto the router and then do a couple of things.

  First of all, rename the SSID to anything you want (eg. Joan’s Arc). Then go to the wireless settings, then to wireless access, and click on ‘Disable SSID broadcast’. This ensures that the SSID is not broadcast to others around you who have a wireless machine. So when their software searches for a wireless access point all they will see is a blank name. To be able to connect to your network they would have to know the name of your SSID (Joan’s Arc in this case) and manually type it in their machines (Highly unlikely that they will be able to think of the same name as you do. You can make your name even harder to obtain by simply using numeric characters in it.. for example Joan’s Arc2004). Secondly, to make it secure use a 128 bit WEP key (this has to be a 26 digit key consisting of alphanumeric and numeric characters. You can use only certain alphabets in small and large case so you need to check that out. Also remember that you have to feed the same WEP key number in your laptop wireless card software (or the windows wireless settings if you are not using your wireless card’s software). Finally you can ensure that only the wireless devices you specify can logon to your router. Go to the Wireless settings, then to wireless access setup and then click on ‘enable wireless access’… Thereafter click on ‘Setup access list’. Once there add your wireless device by using its mac address (the mac address is a unique number given to a wireless device, very much like a phone number- this enables the router to identify the device trying to connect to it). The mac address will be listed on your wireless device and you can also see all the devices that you can allow to connect to your router in the router’s configuration window. (One important note to remember is that if you have already enabled WEP then you will have to first feed in the same key into your wireless device software settings before the router will display it in it’s list of devices). Select the device that you want to allow to connect to your router and apply.

  Hope this helps to a certain extent to configure your routers. Trust me, this is an amazing router and if you are having connection problems, it most likely is due to the settings in the router- not because the router is faulty.
• 

  nokia6230
  December 31st, 2010 on 1:30 am

  Rating

  I was torn between this and the Linksys WRT54G. I read some of the reviews and the Linksys seemed unstable and had a lot of complaints (having to download a patch wasn’t in my agenda). Also, the linksys seemed too big and bulky. I was going to go for the Link because I thought bigger was better and since it was more expensive, would perform better.

  I finally settled for this and the Netgear WG511 Wireless 54g PC Card because it was cheaper and had lesser complaints. Plus, it was a lot smaller.

  Installation with WinME was a breeze and I couldn’t be happier. (Took no more than 15 minutes) I thought it was going to be a hassle but it wasn’t. I think having optimum online was part of it (no need to configure ISPs and domain names). The bulk of the 15 mins was the restart and plugging all the cables in.

  The range for my laptop is excellent. 78% signal strength and the wireless router base is upstairs (I’m in the basement) and two rooms to the right.

  Now I can surf anywhere in the house!

  Oh, and here’s the kicker… you know how big and bulky that linksys looks? This one has a stand so you can stand it up. If I had seen that, I would’ve bought this the first day that I had looked at it.

  First electronic purchase that I didn’t regret.
• 

  David McCulloch
  December 31st, 2010 on 6:41 am

  Rating

  EASY TO INSTALL… This was my first router installation, but it was easy! The router comes with short, easy-to-follow installation directions. It took me 10-minutes to open the box, read the directions, connect the hardware (it includes a power cord and a network cable), power-up my PC, boot into Windows XP and access the router through Internet Explorer. Netgear’s interface is wonderful. Modifying security settings, an optional step, was a breeze. I never even looked at the CD that was included.

  WORKS GREAT… As soon as my desktop PC booted into Windows XP, I was connected to the Internet through my Road Runner cable connection (my PC was connected to the router via cable; the router, of course, was connected to the cable modem). Laptop connection was almost as easy. I did download the most recent firmware (1102) from Netgear’s web site to make the router 100% compatible with the 802.11g specs and to be able to block broadcast of SSID (the upgrade also fixed some minor problems): http://www.netgear.com/support/support_dnld.asp?prodNum=WGR614

  LOOKS GREAT… The picture doesn’t do it justice, nor will anything I can say. I have the router sitting vertically in its stand. The side LEDs face me. They are clearly marked, lit (or blinking) icons. Thin and elegant.

  I was torn between Linksys and Netgear. I still respect Linksys, but I am glad that I bought Netgear.
• 

  Anonymous
  December 31st, 2010 on 8:33 am

  Rating

  I bought this router so that I could make use of my high-speed access (DSL) throughout the house. Set-up and configuration were a snap, although the default configuration is not very secure, and you will definitely want to do things like change the admin password, enable MAC authentication and WPA encryption, and so on. With my Ti Powerbook G4 I get great reception throughout my house (which is old and has thick walls). I also have a first-generation iMac and an old Laserwriter connected to the router by Ethernet, so both computers can reach the internet and I can print wirelessly from the Powerbook. Very nice, and much, much cheaper than Apple’s Airport Extreme base station. Highly recommended.