Divide & Rule!
 Aug 6th, 2005
Advantages:
Inexpensive, easy setup, fast and reliable
Disadvantages:
More wires, no mobility (but upgradable)
Recommendable:
Yes
Detailed rating:
Speed
Reliability
Ease of Installation
Ease of use
Value For Money
more
  mo79
About me:
You talkin' 'a me?
Member since:18.10.2002
Reviews:32
Members who trust:11
Review rated by 20 Ciao members on average: very helpful 
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With 1 computer, a single user ADSL modem is all you need to get connected to broadband. Hell, nearly all ISP's give 'em away! But if you want more than one computer to share that connection you will likely have to approach a shop and open your wallet. One product you can swap your cash for is the well regarded multi feature, wired-solution DG834 from Netgear.
This little white box (like many of their of their little boxes) packs in it's case an ADSL modem (so go and put your existing one up on eBay!), a router, a switch, and firewall (for business strength style protection from hackers).
This is all you need to network and efficiently share a broadband connection between any combo of PC's (Windows/Linux), Macs, and even share one printer between all machines (via an optional extra). Only one short Cat5 (you will find current cables are marked as Cat5e, the 'e' being a feature extension) is included, so you will need more according to how many machines you wish to connect (a max of 4). Cables are available in a variety of sizes - so expect a little spaghetti trail when you're done connecting!
Each
Cat5 cable will connect to one of the 4 ports in the DG834, to an Ethernet connector on each computer. Many computers do have these, but if not you can find 10/100 LAN cards for a very reasonable price.
You can also share your connection with games consoles, but as I merely shared a connection between a desktop and laptop I'm not knowledgable enough on that area to discuss it.
Once you've plugged in your machines to the router, you simply connect it to your phone line via (supplied) microfilter and cable, plug it into the power supply via supplied AC adaptor and that's the physical part done!
Now turn on any machine and read the leaflet (yes leaflet, not a big book of technical panic) to configure your connection. All you need to configure is a web browser and enter an address (this is a series of numbers that points to your router) to setup what connection you have, username and password. And other cool settings like firewall configuration (which can work in tandem with software firewalls), creation of logs, parental controls etc. The majority of users won't need to poke with these things but if you do need help, I'd recommend you try Netgear's forums as they're more on the ball than their tech support.
I needed to 'open' some firewall ports to allow one particular game to be played succesfully online. It was only the one game and I was confused for a bit, but there are some things you'll learn as you go. It was the only problem, and the title in question was rather old too. Once you're setup you're online (hoping nothing went wrong - it didn't for me!); no need to click 'dial' as because your router is on, you're already on! Any other computers don't have to setup, they can just turn on and go on (assuming that your net has been set up through local area connection - which is not a hard thing).
A router consumes very little power as it's a low voltage device. Despite the flashing lights on the unit (to acknowledge all the various states of usage), it'll consume around £7 per year. You can keep it on all day and night. It'll maintain and protect your connection! The advantage of a wired router is price and speed. Wireless units are a little more expensive, and though they do away with trails of unsightly cables that can cause people to trip (though you can also add wired connections to them, so as to mix and match) they slightly pale in speed to a Fast wired Ethernet connection. Also obstacles, other radio frequencies are capable of affecting or dropping the wireless signal. And there's a slight security risk as if you don't password protect a wireless router, people nearby can theoretically tap into your connection! Though continually advancing, wireless is still a new technology, while Ethernets are nearly 20yrs old!
Wired routers are also faster than USB modems and more or less comparable to PCI modems.
That said, the D384G is the wireless version of the model and if you really wanted mobility (laptops!) that's the version to go for (you could have a desktop wired and a laptop wireless from it!). Instead of a cable you'd need WiFi capability for each computer (available as addon cards/keys) you want unwired. One other note is any health concerns...WiFi devices operate on the same frequency as cordless telephones, not mobiles, and there has been no reports of any health concerns regarding it. Even if it did, you're not going to be holding your machine against your head!
The DG834 can also have a wireless access point attached to it, but this is a more pricey and tangly affair than getting a DG834G at the start. If like me you prefer speed and reliability and a nicer price tag, and can deftly conceal wires (I live in a flat with no stairs), then the DG834 is very lovable. Our laptop only has a 2hr battery life and isn't really used out of the home so it's no problem to plug the cable into the designated spot when some surfing wants to be done. We have to charge the laptop's battery every few days. The router is also future proof. The firmware of the unit can be easily upgraded via updates from Netgear's site. Not only do these iron out successive problems, the current firmware as I write has support for ADSL2+, that is that it supports speeds up to 24Mbps, while common ADSL modems only support the current max of 8.
Overall I found this Netgear product brilliant. I chose this based on the brand being well known and praise elsewhere. It's very easy to use, good looking and has caused me no problems in what I wanted to acheive: succesfully sharing 2Mb between two computers. Highly recommended!
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03.04.2007 19:49
Thanks for that - I know this was written a while ago now, but I'm setting one of these up for a friend and I wondered if it needed a PC at the router end - or if it can be used as a stand-alone router just plugged into a BT socket, transmitting broadband to your only PC in the house? Thanks for any help you can give. All the best, Sal x
03.03.2007 19:44
The only thing I would like to know is what the outcome on speed was to the sharing of the connection - ie, did each computer get 2mbps or was it split to 1mbps each?
26.08.2005 15:48
sounds really good - em x