** There is a glossary at the end of the review for the minor jargon used within**
APPEARANCE --------------------- The DG834GT is sleak, lightweight, minimalist and versatile. Its silver casing makes the box reasonably stylish and it's designed so that you can affix it to the wall or sit it in a cabinet.
SETUP --------------------- It truly is a case of plug and play. You simply attach the device to your phone socket with a normal modem wire via an ADSL filter and the rest is childsplay. Provided you have a wireless card in your laptop/PC (often included as a special offer in sales package), your computer should recognise the box and you'll be surfing the net in a matter of seconds. Just go into your browser and type 192.168.0.1 in the address bar and you'll be sent straight to the setup wizard, which asks a few basic questions and then you're done.
FUNCTIONALITY ------------------------ Once you've set up the box, you're ready to surf the internet. There is nothing else to do. The speed of the internet connection depends on your broadband provider and wireless card, but this box allows for up to 54Mbps, which for those of us who aren't techies, is maybe 1.5 seconds to load a full web page. If you are using its wireless function, then you can carry your laptop around the house and the internet connection is constantly available. If you live in a reasonably sized house, you should be able to use it anywhere, including the garden! The box also has sockets in the back for you to plug directly into the box with a cable, rather than using wireless.
SUMMARY -------------- Its a very cool gadget that allows you to surf the internet from anywhere without having to worry about tripping over cables. The DG834G combines a router and a modem, which means that it does the whole job, without the need for connecting up more hardware. I highly recommend it to anyone. However, Netgear have recently released a new model, the DG834GT which has a speed of 108Mbps, so if you want even faster Broadband, that's the one to get!
GLOSSARY ----------------- -ADSL Filter: ADSL is the technical name for broadband; it stands for Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line. Basically it involves sending a little information and receiving lots back in the form of web pages etc. The filter is a white gadget about the size of a small box of matches which turns your telephone socket into a double socket, dividing voice calls from data (internet) calls. It allows you to talk on the phone at the SAME TIME as using the internet!
-Broadband Provider: In order to use broadband internet, you need to sign up to a provider, who will usually charge you a monthly fee to access broadband. The details of your account with the provider are needed in the setup wizard, but after that, there's no logging on, no dialup and no charges on your phone bill!
-Browser: The means by which you look at the internet. You might use Netscape or Internet Explorer etc. The address bar is where you type in intenet addresses (eg. www.ciao.co.uk) to visit websites.
-Modem: The device that provides the internet itself.
-Router: The device to send information from the modem to computers/laptops around the house wirelessly.
-Wireless Card: You can either get a wireless card that plugs into the back of your computer/laptop via the USB port or into the side of your laptop. This acts as an antenna to communicate with the DG834G box. You can get various cards at varying prices, but they need to be 802.11g or 802.11b compatible (it will say on the packaging). I have a BT branded card that is 11Mbps, so it doesn't use the full speed of the box, but its still pretty fast.
54Mbps: The speed of the internet connection is given in Megabites per second (Mbps), which basically means how much information can be sent/received by the box. Needless to say, the higher the number, the faster the connection.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Advantages: stylish, robust, wide range of features, WiFi and wired connectivity Disadvantages: drops connection during lightning storms, manual slim on advanced features
Mar 24th, 2005
very helpful by (100%):
