Netgear WGR614L Open Source Wireless-G Router (Compatible with Linux)

10 Review to this product

• 

  Mannina Magha
  December 5th, 2010 on 4:06 pm

  Rating

  This router targets people who want custom firware on their router, even if you are a general user – you can still use and configure this router with free downloadable firmware and enjoy a few benefits of having a opensource wireless router.

  Scroll down for a detailed review of the general user.

  Why would anyone want custom firmware?
  
  – easy to use, customizable UI
  
  – Raises limits of P2P softwares (bittorrent …)
  
  – enable to try new wireless standards and features
  
  – and a lot more

  For custom firmware, try the tomato firmware:
  
  [...]

  For the general home user – the WGR614L is pretty much the same as the WGR614G, which has been around for a while and I have had one for 3+ years and it has been working pretty well with no issues so far. Great speeds, highly reliable and good range.

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

  Where most users face issues is not in just setting up the wireless, but in setting up the security part of it.

  To set up the security on your wireless network it is 2 part:
  
  Part 1: On your router – connect your router to your laptop using a network cable and visit the router login page (printed on the back of the router) and go to wireless settings where you can configure a password for the wireless network – depending on the wireless encryption, the password you need to configure on your laptop is going to be either the exact key you typed in or a hexadecimal key.

  For example, if you typed in your password as ‘mypass’, as you type in the password, you will see 4 other fields (key1 to key4) being filled up with some hexadecimal values. What you need to do is to make a note of the password you typed in ‘mypass’ in this case and ONLY one of the hexadecimal words ie. the value in the Key1, key2, key3 or key4.

  Part 2: On your laptop, unplug the network cable and try to look for the wireless networks and select and click on ‘Connect’ for your wireless network – a window is going to prompt asking you to enter your password. now, try entering either the ‘mypass’ or any of the hexadecimal values – this should take care of connecting your laptop to your wireless network.
• 

  Bryan Newman
  December 6th, 2010 on 12:00 pm

  Rating

  I have been using B for way too long now, so I was looking forward to upgrading to G. The instructions and setup were straight forward and clear so set up went very well. Although I should point out that I am an IT worker. Setup took literally less than five minutes including plugging in the hardware, setting up WEP protection, configuring… Once up and running, I have been very happy with the speed boost. My old Linksys B router was more of a bottleneck than I had thought.

  My hopes and expectations were pretty limited, I just wanted a device that worked. The elegant design was just a plus. Set up in it’s vertical orientation, it has a much smaller footprint than the Linksys it is replacing as well as a classier look.

  Now that wireless routers have become a basic home appliance, perhaps the best feedback to give on this one is to say that it just plain works. With the ease of set up and the reliability I have seen, I would recommend this to anyone (not sure that I would have done the same with my Linksys.) Solid product.
• 

  UES
  December 7th, 2010 on 2:02 am

  Rating

  When it comes to technology, I’m pretty useless: I like my computer, the Internet and email, but don’t ask me to set anything up. So I was a little freaked out when I had to set this up while my husband was away on business, but it was surprisingly easy. You plug the cable, inset a CD, and follow the instructions (which, unlike many instructions for technical issues, were clear and easy to follow).

  We’ve been using the wireless connection for a few days, and the signal is strong. Thank you, Neargear! This product is fabulous.
• 

  MickeyJoe .com
  December 8th, 2010 on 2:41 am

  Rating

  A great router that lets you set up a wireless network in your home and share a single internet connection with everyone in your house or office at speeds up to 54 Mbps. Now even Grandma can set up a wireless network. I had it up and running in a few minutes. Just plug the included Ethernet cable from your internet connection into the router and insert the included CD into any computer on the network, which shows step-by-step instructions. It uses a website style interface for configuration, and will automatically do the initial setup by getting your DNS settings and determining your IP address. The firmware is also upgradeable via the web interface so you will always be up-to-date. Supporting the 802.11g standard, this router offers wireless data speeds of up to 54 Mbps, making it possible to share a broadband internet connection, stream music without hiccups, watch videos with less load time, and videoconference without problems. Downloading files is up to five times faster than it was with 802.11b. There are also four 10/100 Mbps RJ-45 Ethernet ports in the back for connecting computers to the network via a faster, wired connection. Many security options to ensure your data is private. Double firewall protection keeps your network shielded from outside attacks. Both 40/64-bit, 128-bit, and 152-bit (802.11g only) WEP encryption is available, as well as WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access). You can also use MAC address authentication to allow only authorized users onto the network.

  It’s priced lower than it’s competition, the Linksys WRT54GL and yet more powerful hardware for Open source firmwares. Linux Open Source Compatible hardware, WPS PIN Support and easy Secure Wireless Configuration, Secure WPA2 standards, Stable and reliable performance, a helpful open source community at http://www.myopenrouter.com and DD-WRT and Tomato firmware compatible. It’s as complex as you would like it to be, or ready to use out of the box.
• 

  Andrew Nathan
  December 8th, 2010 on 3:51 am

  Rating

  I have a lot of walls to go through between my base unit and remote unit. The netgear series has done a great job in delivering high speed wireless connection. Originally, I got the linksys series which just proved to be worthless for my situation.
• 

  J. Haggerty
  December 8th, 2010 on 4:37 am

  Rating

  After a typical guy approach to setting this product up…in other words I skimmed through the directions and then spent about 12 hours trying to figure the error of my ways…. Please Please…follow the instructions carefully and you will be so happy with the final outcome. This product replaced my 5 year old Netgear router.
• 

  Patrick McKenna
  December 8th, 2010 on 7:38 pm

  Rating

  Start with everything powered off and unplugged and you will be ahead of the game. I couldn’t get the router to recognize the modem since I didn’t do a full power down at first. Once I powered down everything and followed the sequence of powering up the modem for 2 minutes, the router for 1 minute and then the computer, it was super easy.
• 

  Paul Moskowitz
  December 9th, 2010 on 6:02 pm

  Rating

  I popped the CD into my PC and followed the instructions. It took a while, perhaps 1/2 hour to complete the installation, but in the end it did work. The only problem was indicating the type of wireless card in my PC. I guessed wrong the first time, but got it right the second time. Better software might have found the answer for itself.

  The router works well. I have a Thinkpad T41p running Windows XP and am using the router with a cable modem. The wireless signal is “excellent” everywhere inside my house, and even “good” on my outside porch. The signal goes to “poor” about 75 feet down my driveway. The router has a 12 watt power supply, so does not use a lot of energy. I am happy with the system. This review is being written on the couch with the TP and two cats sitting on my lap. The cats appreciate the wireless communication mode.

  P.S. Since this review was written over two years ago, I have obtained a Dell for use at home, and a ThinkPad T400 for the office. Both the Dell and the T400 work well with the router.
• 

  dieburnbot
  December 10th, 2010 on 11:46 am

  Rating

  I bought this router in order to run custom firmware because I was sick of dealing with featureless and for the most part unstable firmware that is provided by router manufacturers. I loaded up DD:WRT v24SP2 on this and it is completely stable. Webpages seem to start loading faster than they did when I was on the stock firmware and my WiFi signal is stronger running at 70 mW instead of the default of 28 (DD:WRT lets you adjust it higher or lower). When I was on the stock firmware it used to sometimes drop the wireless connection and since installing DD:WRT it is rock solid.

  I will be buying Linux compatible routers from now on. If you’re not a Netgear fan then I would look into Linksys. I like Netgear better because the previous 2 Linksys routers I owned developed major problems that were unfixable with firmware upgrades. Netgear has always been good to me. I wouldn’t recommend this router unless you are savvy with computers, as you can “brick” (destroy) your router if you don’t know what you are doing when flashing it with custom firmware. There are ways to de-brick, but they are involved processes (involves soldering and tftp). So, if you have no need to run Linux based firmware then buy a different model, they can normally be had for cheaper as well.
• 

  The Shrike
  December 10th, 2010 on 3:35 pm

  Rating

  All I need is a router that will easily connect to my computer and Xbox 360, and this product does that. Took about 5 minutes to set up.