Advantages: All-in-one package, ease of use, advanced features.
Disadvantages: Price

...wireless technology, and my research around the internet led me to the Netgear 54Mbps Wireless ADSL Firewall Router (with 4 port switch). Phew, what a mouthful, eh? This set up would mean that the PC beside the phone point would be physically connected to the router whilst the PC at the top of the house would be connected wirelessly which solves all my problems! I can hear you all running away in terror at the horrible jargon, so stop! Return! I shall try to explain to you what this is all about. I suppose the best place to start is the ADSL part. You probably know ADSL better as Broadband. Broadband is a fast internet connection (depending on the speed of the most common broadband connections it can be between 4 and 10 times faster than your ordinary modem connection). ADSL is generally associated with BT telephone lines. If you... Read review

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Advantages: When it works it works
Disadvantages: Unreliable, slow, low range, ugly as a killer whale's backside

...One day, the father of networks wanted his progeny to evolve their wireless routers and hubs further. He gathered his four apprentices and told them to do so with strict instructions. The first was Belkin. Belkin learnt from his old ways and became faster and more reliable than ever before. The second was Netgear. It decided to take the reliable route as reliability was a better cause, and speed should take secondary priority, although is is rather fast. The third was Buffalo. Contrary to Netgear, Buffalo took the speed path and have reliable as a secondary priority, although it is very reliable. The last was Linksys. Seeing that his classmates have all taken the routes that he might have undergone, Linksys goes 'I know! I wont change at all! I will just add the word Wireless-G 54Mbps on my chest and paint it green... Read review

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Advantages: Ease of set up, firewall, speed
Disadvantages: Needs some IT confidence

...computers to each other allowing file sharing and providing a fairly robust firewall to stop hackers accessing your system. Finally, it does all this independently of your computers meaning that it is not necessary to keep one computer switched on for your other computers to be able to use broadband (unlike server based networks). As with anything to do with IT there are differing wireless formats that relate to the radio frequency which is used. The DG834G uses the much commoner and near standard 802.11 format. It is actually 802.11g which relates to its 54mbps speed but is compatible with 802.11b devices using the slower 11mbps (typical of wi-fi enabled laptops). The essential point here is that all the wireless devices you use on your network must use this standard. It also means that the DG834G is pleasingly quick for a wireless... Read review

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Advantages: Works great
Disadvantages: Beware it has only Ehternet port, there is no USB port

...to figure out that the first time I had to connect the ethernet cable also from the router to my laptop and that would fix the configuration for me automatically. I had my WGR511 wireless card also inserted in the provided slot in my laptop. After the settings, I removed the ethernet cable from the router to the laptop and checked that it was working. The Installation guide and the user guide which comes along with the router is good and has the detailed desription of everything in it. Range & Speed ****************** The first thing which I did was checking the speed. My broadband speed is only 1mb speed, whereas the capacity of this is 54 mbps, much much more than my broadband speed. So it never made any difference on the speed, whether i am using wireless or connected through wires. The router is installed in my living room... Read review

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Advantages: Easy setup, great customer support, good price
Disadvantages: None

...In short: Excellent router, easy to set up and good support from Netgear. I bought this modem router from Ebay to set up a wireless home network. Depsite paying AOL money each month and seeing new customers getting this router for free we were told that we would still have to purchase it separately. As this was one of the AOL compatible routers I plumped for it due to Netgear's good name. The router was installed easyily and using AOL software from their site my main computer was up and running using an ethernet cable. We did have a couple of problems setting up our two laptops to work wirelessly but one short call to Netgear and that was all sorted out. If you don't have laptops with built in wireless capability I would recommend getting the compatible wireless adapters from Netgear, these also are installed very easily. Even... Read review

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Advantages: speed, size, looks, ease of use, router AND modem in one
Disadvantages: The launch of the DG834GT 108Mbps

...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... Read review

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Advantages: Very Small, wall mountable, good setup wizard
Disadvantages: Some technical jargon in initial setup

...not want to turn this review into a Hi-Fi manual! The network name can be hidden and you can restrict router access to computers listed in the wireless client list. The ability to specify either an open system or shared key for authentication. These are the options I have tweaked and I believe this should prevent basic hacking of my wireless broadband router. The initial setup was easy once the brain was engaged. Do not do anything other than insert the CD, all the setting up is covered from connecting the power to the ethernet cables. One tip though is to go online via your broadband modem prior to starting the setup. This will ensure that any snags that may arise are due to the subsequent installation. Anyhow the only problem I had was in terminology, my previous router had said 'cable users click here'. This one offers up... Read review

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Advantages: Powerful Cheap router
Disadvantages: Connection drops are a known issue amongst some users

...[ Introduction ] "The Linksys Wireless-G Broadband Router is really three devices in one box." As adverticed the router indeed is 3 in 1, it acts as a wireless access point (Wireless G and B) which can be encoded with 128bit WEP and also supports WPA. It acts as a wired router with 4 switched 10/100 auto sensing ethernet ports providing users with both the option for quality wireless and quality wired networking in their home. Finaly it also allows you to share a high speed connection such as DSL or Cable amongst the network without the need for a computer to be switched on. [Features] - Wireless data rates up to 54Mbps (11Mbs when using Wireless-B) - Wi-Fi Protected Access™ (WPA) - Wireless MAC adress filtering enabling you to only allow certain wireless devices to connect to your network making it more secure - SPI... Read review

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Advantages: Good quality, easy to configure, plenty of features
Disadvantages: Did not get the speeds expected

.... As I said you get one cable so you may need to buy more if required. The second and arguably better option would be to use wireless. Again you would also need wireless adaptors on your client machines. Now lets take a quick look at the Wireless options of this product. One of the greatest confusions when looking at the different models of routers are the different (theoretically fastest) speeds the routers can run at, often signified by standards. The main ones are as follows. 802.11b - runs at a maximum of 11 Mbps 802.11g - runs at a maximum of 54 Mbps "Super G" - runs at a maximum of 108 Mbps Now the first point is you wont see many routers on sale that only run 802.11b anymore anyway. The second point is the speeds. If you are running Broadband/ASDL you are more than likely getting a maximum download speed of 2Mbps on your... Read review

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Advantages: Affordable and reliable
Disadvantages: Difficult to set up

...and checking my emails. For this reason I was not prepared to pay a large amount for the router. 2) Speed Whilst I wanted a cheap router, I expected a certain amount of quality of speed of internet from it. Whilst 54mps is I believe the slowest speed you can get nowadays, I had heard from a friend that it was perfectly sufficient for the everyday tasks mentioned above. 3) Ease of setup Whilst I know a little about computers, I did not want the hassle of having to go through complicated procedures just to get my computer onto the internet. My purchase was the "starter kit" Netgear WGR614 Cable/DSL 54 Mbps Wireless Router, from Argos. I paid £56.99 for it as of early August 2008. Note that I did not buy the router on its own; Argos offered in this starter kit a USB adapter or "dongle" as I shall refer to it from now on. This is essential... Read review

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