I was a complete novice to computer networking let alone wireless networking so I bought this kit half expecting it to be difficult to set up. Fortunately this proved not to be the case....
My kit was purchased from BT Shop and at the time they were offering a free USB adapter with teh kit as well. I was attracted to the product becuase of its cool design and the prospect of being able to transfer files at 108MBs - twice the speed of ordinary routers! Yippee!
The kit came complete with very clear instructions and a comprehensive set of cable to connect together including:
The main router unit An RJ45 network cable to connect the router to the network port on your PC BT Line Filter Telephone cable to connect the router to your BT line Power Supply Set-up guide
108MB
USB2.0 Wireless adapter USB extension cable Driver disk Wireless adapter mounting kit
Before doing anything you need to set-up your router. The router set-up is best done by connecting the router directly to your PC using the supplied cable - this is in case you lose your wireless connection in the middle of set-up.. Set-up is accessed via your internet browser simply by typing in the address of the router which has been fixed by Netgear.
After giving it your internet provider's username and password e.g. jonsmith@wanadoo.com you'll need to give your wireless network a name e.g. 'Jons network' and choose whether you want to broadcast that network name and whether a password is required to join that network. It's generally recommended to hide your SSID (network name!) and apply a password so that your neighbour can't see your network and try to piggy back your internet connection. All this is easily set-up by ticking a few boxes and entering the required name in the easy to understand set-up page.
All set up I disconnected the router from my PC and plugged the wireless USB adapter (which came with an additional extension lead so that you can position it for best reception) into a spare USB port on the computer. The computer recognised it straight away and prompted me for the driver disk. All quick and easy!
All good so far, but here comes the bad news.....
The USB adapter is sleek but underpowered - my wife's laptop wireless connection can sense 5 networks if we do a search whereas my PC using the adapater can only sense 2. On one ocassion someone walked between the adaptor and the router and we lost the connection for hours - there was a lot of head scratching and swaering at the computer that night!
The supplied smart wizard software seems easy to set up though I personally had difficulty accessing more advanced features such as advanced network encryption and the ability to join a hidden network - not much use if you've decided o hide your SSID! I couldn't figure out how to detect a hidden network so I decided not to use this software and used the inbuilt Windows XP wireless set-up wizard. This was very easy to set-up and it allowed me to hide my network name and also easily use a stronger level of password protected network encryption.
I also connected my wife's sony laptop to the wireless network by inputting the various network credentials in the XP set-up wizard as well. Now we could both surf the web at the same time!
So far the router has been OK but we do experience intermittent problems when the wireless signal suddenly disappears and either one or both computers can connect to the router and therefore the internet (the router connects to the telephone line and acts as a distribution point for computers on your network). It's happened often enough to prompt an upgrade of the software on the router itself (a firmware upgrade) and problems have been slightly less frequent. We've been through three firmware upgrades (all found on Netgear's support website) and feel that the unit is still too flaky to buy again if we had the choice.
In trying to resolve dropped connections we been onto the netgear user forums where other owners of this router have reported similar problems of dropped connections - there is one particular post on this subject which has over 35 pages of people complaining about this problem since this unit was first released in early 2005. Some people have found that not hiding network name, choosing an lower speed, lowering encryption security seems to help but I'm of the opinion that it should work whatever setting you choose! It's disappointing to see that Netgear still have produced a newer firmware upgrade to fix these issues.
The final nail in the coffin for this product is that fact that you cannot easily achieve the 108MB transfer that this router promises. As my wife's laptop is only rated to the 802.11g standard is it only capable of transfer speeds of up to 54MBs. My desktop PC uses the supplied adapter so should be capable of transfer speeds of 108MBs. The router allows you to set it's broadcast speed at Auto108MB meaning that any devices capable of receiving 108 will get 108 and any others (such as my Wife's) will still be able to connect at a lower e.g. 54Mb speed. Unfortunately the auto mode doesn't seem to work very well and every computer seems to connect at 54Mb only - don't by this router for the 108 mode if you have a mix of machines that can't connect at this speed. It's not too much of a problem for me at the moment as I only have a 2Mb broadband connection and by the time it gets those sorts of speed it will probably be time to get a new router anyway.
Looks nice but flawed.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
I have a version 1 DG834G and it's been solid as a rock in the two years I've owned it. I don't have a particulalrly strong signal to work with due to position of my PC in the attic, but the signal is steady. I was so impressed with this that I recommended it to two mates who have bought the second version and have had no issues at all.
mo79 20.01.2006 15:06
Netgear are the biggest brand but you're right in that they've got issues. I'm satisfied with my DG834 plain wired router. =D
mrsmopples 20.01.2006 14:24
we returned ours after one week of not being able to connect. Waste of time. x
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Postage & Packaging: £4.87 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Advantages: Easy to use, good security features, lots of extras for thse who want to use them Disadvantages: Not the cheapest, documentation might not be great in the event of problems
Advantages: Small footprint, 802.11b, g and pre-n supported, easy to use and customise Disadvantages: Control panel can appear daunting at first, help provided could be more concise
Jan 20th, 2006
(Jan 22nd, 2006)
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