I decided to move from a USB DSL modem so that I would be able to use an old desktop as a web server from home. Having previously borrowed a wireless router and having had nothing but grief I decided to go the wired route.
In an effort to keep down costs my mission was to find the cheapest available modem router. In the end convenience won over price and I bought from a supplier just down the road - £44.95, still, not bad...
Another reason for buying a Netgear router is the ridiculously easy set up, the web interface is generally excellent. No problems running the unit with either Windows XP or Ubuntu Linux. Both operating systems are happy to share the internet connection simultaneously.
Interestingly, web pages seem to download significantly faster than they did when using a USB modem. This may be because it connects to the PC via Ethernet instead of USB, but it is definitely faster despite synchronising at exactly the same rate.
Overall I would rate this product very highly, but there is, for me, one very big blot on its record. Periodically the device will drop the internet connection and stubbornly refuse to reconnect unless it and/or the PC are rebooted. Having searched around on the internet this seems to be a notable fault; the device connection status alternately reports "LCP down" "LCP is allowed to come up", seemingly stuck in some endless loop. In many cases a replacement DG834 is reported to solve the problem, in others a poor quality line is blamed. The router will often work flawlessly for hours on end but then go and have repeated episodes one after the other... very annoying.
At the time of writing my router is two weeks old, I will be returning it to the supplier and obtain a replacement from a different manufacturer.
Without the above problem this product is hard to fault and from the number of rave reviews around I guess I am in the minority, but hey ho, thats Life!!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Advantages: a reasonable price would normally cost hundreds of pounds - suitable for any users Disadvantages: You only get one splitter/microflter in the box - very minor
Advantages: stylish, robust, wide range of features, WiFi and wired connectivity Disadvantages: drops connection during lightning storms, manual slim on advanced features
Sep 13th, 2007
very helpful by (38%):
helpful by (63%):
