Customer Reviews

NETGEAR WNR834B-100NAS Wireless N Router

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(23)

 

 

I doubt I have ever had as much indecision in arriving at what I consider to be the most appropriate star rating for any item I've reviewed. I do not claim to be a networking savant however I do have enough of a background that I felt confident that I could create a security-enabled network with only a moderate degree of frustration. And, if I thought through the process, I could have, but that blurb on the box about easy setup lured me in. Step one to achieving that objective would have been to dispense with any attempt to find documentation and then setting aside the resource CD. Even if you are acquainted with networking, just call technical support from the outset, endure the requisite hold time and allow the support personnel to walk you through the installation. Yes, telephone support is outsourced to India however my impression is in this instance they are quite helpful, probably from plenty of practice.

The 834B employs 802.11n draft standards and is backwards compatible with 802.11b and 802.11g as well as Ethernet connectivity. My installation utilizes "g" and Ethernet. Marketing documents claims include transmission speeds of up to 270Mbps and accommodation of security protocols WEP, WPA-PSK and WPA2-PSK. For some devices, security may be constrained to the base standard of WEP due to connectivity and wish I had known that before I started. In any event, with the protocol I finally ended up with, a passphrase of between 8-63 characters is required and clear definition of with security key to be used must be designated at Netgear's router configuration site. Obviously, one also has to select a network name, define a channel and hope for the best. And then do it all over again when that channel fails to be recognized and you are locked into local connectivity only. It's likely that you will have to go through search and seek scenario three times before success in realized, assuming the chosen security option is valid, the passphrase is correctly constructed and all of your devices are supported. The "Smart Wizard" interface from the CD will get you the site but from there you're pretty much on your own and the site itself is not very intuitive. So, as mentioned above, unless you are familiar with all of the nuances, sublimate the ego and just make the call. For me, the time I would have saved outweighs the satisfaction of completing the installation without assistance.

My ambiguity on the rating is predicated my experience in getting the network up and running. Thus far (3 months), I couldn't be more pleased with the hardware. I rate it 5 stars. I do not encounter any significant episodes of signal loss, line drops or disconnects. I have two PCs communicating via 3rd party wireless adapters and another linked by Ethernet to a Netgear access point/Bridge. For the same reason, I can't accurately estimate the broadcast range of the router exclusively, but for those who might be interested, the NETGEAR HD/Gaming 5 GHz Wireless-N Networking Kit (WNHDEB111) is impressive AND, easy to install on an existing network. The documentation and support material resident on the CD is near to worthless, I rate it "1" star because "0" is not an option. Customer Technical support rates "3" stars as the technicians seem to know their stuff but you will spend more than a few minutes on hold. So, I end up with an overall rating of "4" since in my view, the reliability of the hardware is the primary concern.

I am using this router for three computers. Desktop Vista Home Premium with integrated wireless LAN 802.11a/b/g, laptop #1 with Vista Home Premium with integrated wireless LAN 802.11n-draft and laptop #2 an ANCIENT Dell running XP with NO built in wireless connection (this one is running with the Rangemax Next Wireless-n USB 2.0 Adapter)

First I will start with the installation, I had to do this 3 times before I got it to run perfect. It came down to during set-up when you enter your IP addresses, if you check these on your system while you are running through a router you will be given "generic" addresses. You need to hook up directly to your servers module to get your addresses first.

After calling tech support (of my server...not Netgear) to get my IP addresses figured out, installation was a breeze! My router is in the basement and my desktop is on the main floor, 4/5 bars with the 802.11 a/b/g wireless LAN.

My new laptop with the 802.11n-draft...nothing but 5+ stars on that connection and signal! Simple and no need to enter IP addresses and no headaches!

My ancient Dell laptop...with the Rangemax Next Wireless-n USB 2.0 Adapter I get full strength signal all the way on the top floor! Nothing but smooth surfing!

I do agree with some of the hassle on the set-up, but my satisfaction with the end results out weighs my qualms with the hassles I had during set-up, this giving it a 5 star rating still...so imagine what it could have been if I had no set-up issues!

The poor reviews on this product might have to do with improper set-up, maybe the types of connections do not match, after all...a Pinto is still a Pinto even if you stick a Ferrari hood emblem on it! Your connection will only run as fast as your lowest connection. If you buy an N-draft router...make sure you have an N-draft connection on your computer as well! This will run with any connection, but don't DIS on the product if you don't have your expectations fulfilled when you might not be using the product to it's fullest potential! This only opens the door wider for faster connection speeds, you still need to have an equivalent connection speed on your computer to utilize this speed!

This is an excellent wireless n router. Signal is great to all my devices and speed is outstanding on my iBook and Intel iMac. I also have a wireless networked printer. Works great with that as well. Setup is easy and for the most part, there are no problems at all... but there is one.

I also have some gaming consoles that I wanted to use it with. Like my old Netgear WGR614, this WNR834M works great with XBOX 360 and the Wii. However, UNLIKE the WGR614, IT COMPLETELY REFUSES TO WORK WITH THE PLAYSTATION 3. Tried updating the firmware for it to see if that might solve the problem. Houston, we have ANOTHER problem. It won't even update for some reason. Groan.

So here's the deal. For a fantastic price you get a terrific router... provided you won't be trying to use it with a Playstation 3. Also, the fact that it won't upgrade (could just be my particular unit) is worth some consideration. Still, if it had worked with the Playstation, I'd be very happy with it.

I was really skeptical of this router (given the bad reviews), but I picked this router up today at Fry's as a refurbished/open box special for $42. I planned on putting DD-WRT onto the router. DD-WRT is a 3rd party firmware that changes how this (and many other routers) run. I wanted this router to run as a repeater, ie to boost the signal of another router.

I brought it home, plugged it in, spent 2 minutes putting the new firmware on. I followed the instructions on DD-WRT's website to get it up and running as a repeater. It was much easier than cracking my old Linksys WRT54G v5 for DD-WRT.

It's been running for around 4 hours now perfectly. It repeats the signal of the other router beautifully, even though the other router only has 25% signal strength where I have this router installed. My whole house is now blanketed without any problems.

Putting DD-WRT on this was a breeze, and with DD-WRT, this router works wonderfully so far. Highly recommend it, especially with DD-WRT. I bought another one for my parents, who are in need of a new router. I'm not sure why others were having so many problems, but perhaps Netgear has shoddy quality control.

Let me say right off the bat that this applies to a home network with three relatively new computers (Windows XP) and the Netgear WN121T draft-N USB adaptors that are made for this product. I've seen a number of bad reviews for this router from people using older systems or mixed adaptors (different brands or mixing wireless-b or wireless-g), so I can't vouch for that setup, but I must say that I have been extremely pleased with this whole Netgear system. Years ago I installed an 802.11b network in the same location and it took hours of frustration, and numerous calls to tech support to finally get the thing to work. Times have changed and, in my case anyways, the setup wizard took care of the wireless router installation, connected me to the right place to upgrade the firmware, and the wireless adaptors on the upstairs computers then automatically found the network and connected on the first try. There was only one slight glitch on the setup when the program sensed that my internet connection used a static IP address. It asked if I thought this was correct and prompted "yes" or "no" (I chose no) and it then retried and determined correctly that my internet uses dynamic IP assignment. If not for that it was flawless. Total setup time for the router was about 20 minutes. Maybe 5 minutes for each of the USB adaptors.

Speed is palpably faster than on the old 802.11b network. In fact when I run a download/upload speedtest from the upstairs computers now I get almost no difference compared to my wired connection (about 6mbps). Running a game between home network computers is now totally lag free, which is a pleasant change.

One concern people seem to have is that the draft-N protocol may or may not be compatable (or even upgradable) to the N standard (when and if they ever get around to that). I decided not to wait for one simple reason. Since this draft-N seems to have all the speed I need, and I will not be needing to integrate other components in the next year or two, I couldn't care less if this ends up incompatable with the N standard. It's a great system and it's ready now. If you are setting up a large network that may need to be expanded in the near future you may be well advised to wait for the N standard to be finalized. But for a small home network, there's no real reason to avoid jumping in now.

This is a great router once you load DD-WRT. FAST FAST FAST. I tried a couple of the dual band routers (WRT610 and WNDR3300) and they are just unstable and DD-WRT doesn't support them yet. This router worked best for me. I just wish it made hot dogs.

I saw a LOT of bad reviews about this product but thought that I'd give it a shot it was only a hundred bucks. I currenly have two computers hooked up wirelessly, one is a new desktop running vista with a WN121T USB adapter hooked into it, the othre is a three year old dell with intel proset 2200 BG. This product took me a grand total of 25 minutes to hook up. I wired my laptop to it, downloaded the latest firmware and it started right up. Let me just say also that, contrary to popular opinion the install wizard works. My network is up and installed for 2 weeks giving me great performance. Three stories up my laptop is connecting perfectly. Benchmarked the speeds on line and felt them to be as quick as wired. Furthermore, the desktop is one floor above the router and is connecting at 200 MBPS. If you use this router and by the appropriate adapter it will work great. Unless this breaks I am very satisfied. Spend the money get all matching components and you will have no issue

I lost two CAT5E wires inside our walls following a nearby lightning strike. I had no choice but to go wireless. I had a D-Link G adapter sitting around but it would not run under Vista and no drivers are planned. Fine, I thought, time to jump to the next gen technology - wireless N.

Some research led me to believe the Netgear router 834B was a good choice. I bought it along with two Netgear WN121T USB adapters and a WN311B PCI adapter. After 30 days of pain and suffering, I returned everything to the store for a refund.

I learned a few things:

1. The product works sometimes but is flawed. The main issue was our new Dells running Vista would lose their connection with the internet after waking up from energy saver mode. This does not happen under windows XP.

2. The router would fail to serve up an IP address sometimes, forcing me to reboot.

3. Netgear support is good - at using delay and denial to wear you down so you just give up...I got a "second tier" support response saying that all wireless PC adapters loose their session after waking up from hybernation.LOL...The PC I'm on right now is wireless B (Linksys) running XP and goes into hybernation. It does not lose its internet session after I wake it up. Another PC running XP did not exhibit the problem. It appears to be Vista related.

4. While the reported speed is apparently faster than Wireless G, I never got above 108 Mbps and often ran around 54mbps. Signal was strong in some parts of the house but even then I never saw the claimed 270MBps.

Bottom line, it works sometimes but is unpredictable and, therefore, not worth the $450 investment for all the gear. It did seem to work better under windows XP. The Vista drivers should be considered beta at this point.

Final note: I set up and supported networks for many years starting back with Token Ring and Netware. I feel I have skills beyond most folks not working in IT. It seems that, given a few months, the Vista bugs will get worked out but it may be that the current "Draft N" stays a draft until we see a shift in the implementation.

Bottom line: stick with wireless G and wired if you can. Of course, make sure the vendor for your wireless G offers Vista drivers for its older stuff. In looking for wireless G adapters the past few days I found many products with no Vista support or product on the shelves which are earlier versions with no Vista support.

I installed this product and the accompanying Netgear Wireless-N card last night.

I was switching over from a Linksys wireless G network and thought I would give Netgear a try.

The setup of the product was relatively straight forward, although the interface was very plain. My first complaint is that the quick setup forces you to have the device connected up to the internet at the same time it is connected to your PC, this is extremely annoying since most people will have their PC situated away from their broadband connection!!

I knew more than enough to take the route to manual configuration offered in the manual. So I went that way.

Before long I had my card installed and this router set up. I was getting a good signal for the first few minutes, which fluctuated heavily after that giving me anywhere from 270Mbps to 18Mbps. FYI The devices were only on opposite sides of the same room!! Also every device that could trasmit interferance was turned off.

In addition the software that sits in your system tray and provides and interface to the device, is junk. The device lost connection, circa 5 minutes and although the software said it could see the network it could not reconnect, until reboot.

When it did work I could get to the base station nicely, but not beyond - the unit could only get out to the internet periodically.

After a Friday evening wasted wrestling with this thing, its going back.

For reference I work with Computers and large scale networks as a profession and I am not someone to be impatient or give up easily, but NETGEAR I am sorry, this device just is not fitting the bill for me.

I am going take it back now and potentially try the Linksys wireless N, or wait for the standard to be set in stone.

I just got the product today from Amazon and decided on it because Consumer Reports rates this model #1. When I opened up the box and tried setting it up, the CD didn't start up. I have Vista 64bit and not all CD's will work on my system so I called the customer service number listed on the support browser that poped up and they not only had me up and running in less than 15 minutes, they also had my laptop that has an HP wireless card connected within those same 15 minutes and they also help me set up maximum security with this unit. I did not have to update any software or drivers either.

Great customer service and very knowledgable as well.

Granted that I'm very happy from the first day, I'm hoping that it stays that way.