Customer Reviews

Netgear MR814 802.11b Wireless 4-Port Cable/DSL Router

5 star:		(323)
4 star:		(115)
3 star:		(56)
2 star:		(65)
1 star:		(155)

 

 

I've replaced my Linksys BEFW11S4 router with Netgear MR814, and I have not been disappointed. MR814 has a better range, better user interface, and several features missing from the Linksys model.

Setup was very easy - Netgear setup wizard even recognized the type of the broadband connection I have (PPPoE-based DSL). The manual includes a handy table with settings for many US ISPs. Wireless LAN was also up and running in no time.

I have no complains about the router operation so far. It's does not drop my PPPoE connection, and is generally *not noticeable* - just like a router should be.

Features that make this router stand out in the crowded field of wireless routers: 24x7 tech support and 3yr. warranty, parental controls plus free Zero Knowledge Freedom Personal Firewall software (one-year license for up to 8 computers), and ability to update your dynamic ip address in DynDNS.org database automatically (very handy if you need to connect to your home computer).

The only downside I can think of is the size. The unit is larger than many comparable routers, although it is not as tall as others, and can be positioned vertically with the included stand, or mounted on the wall.

I recently got this wireless router to replace a Linksys cable/dsl router. The power supply was starting to get noisy after a year or two's use and it was bugging me. So I got the Netgear and I'm extremely satisfied.

I was up and running in 5 minutes and that includes the time I spent setting up the security. (I'm very familiar with these type of devices so your results may vary.)

The security is very high with this device. You can specify which MAC addresses (and thus network cards) you want to be able to access the wireless network and you can also turn on WEP encryption. Furthermore, you can also turn off the SSID broadcasting which makes your access point act in stealth mode where people would have to know the name (SSID) you configured it with in order to connect. When you combine these three levels of security, you get a great system.

Besides security, it also has a much better web interface than the Linksys Cable/dsl router. There are more options for content filtering, logging, firewalls, etc. Besides that, I haven't had to reset it yet while I used to reset my Linksys about once every two weeks or so. This device is just more stable. Previously, when I would try to ftp to the public IP address of my FTP server from inside my LAN, it would hang my Linksys. This works perfectly with the Netgear.

To all the geeks out there, this is a great device. Check it out!

I always read user comments when shopping for new products, so I'll include the details of my installation for those who may find it helpful. The short story though is that this is a great product that was easy to install and worked as advertised right out of the box.

I was reluctant to go wireless because my home network-to-be would include both an iMac and a PC. I purchased the MR814 router and the MA101 Wireless USB adapter. Within 30 minutes of opening the boxes, the wireless network was active and operating flawlessly. The MR814 router was installed between the iMac and my DSL modem -- the necessary cable was supplied with the router. The router setup required no software installation -- router settings were established using my browser and accessing the Netgear internet site. The instruction manual was very well written and the installation went "by the book". The MA101 wireless USB adapter required a software installation on the PC prior to plugging in the hardware to the USB port. The installation was brief and the software almost self-configured. The MA101 transceiver began communicating with the router immediately with "good" to "very good" signal strength (the PC is located about 150 feet from the router in a single story house). I was extremely impressed with the quality and ease of installation for this product. I highly recommend it!

I had a linksys Router and had bought the netgear MR814 to get the wireless option around the house. MR814 works perfectly right out of the box. It is easy to set up, easy to configure. Configuration is through web interface just like any other router. One good feature is that if you're setting up the router in one machine, you can get to the router pages on the other.

The router supports port forwarding, DMZ, Static Routing, all the standard stuffs on routers. It also support Dynamic DNS, one feature that I miss from the Linksys router taht I used to have.

The range is pretty good for my standard. I live in a 2 bedroom apartment and everywhere I go I have full signal with my D-link Air-Plus DWL-650+, and I heard people living in a 3 stories house and the range is good for them.

Some minor problems:
1) The router has no built-in firewall, so if security is your thing, install software firewall on all computers.

2) Default setting have Idle Timeout set to 5 minutes. That means it would automatically disconnect from your ADSL provider, I had to connect to the router and tell it to reconnect at least 3 times a day. I emailed support and they emailed me back like a couple of hours later telling me to set Idle timeout to 0 to maintain connection.

3) There is no way to disable the wireless boardcast, but WEP is supported so turn on the 128-bit encryption if you're worried someone around your house can just listen into your traffic.

Now considering I emailed them on thanksgiving, support is really good IMO.

MR814 is a really good router to have if you're looking for a cheap way to get wireless in your house.

This is the newest wirless in netgear 802.11b series wirless device. It replaces the existing model MR314 which I believe is going to discontinue soon. Previously, I owned a MR314, comparison of the MR814, MR 814 has stronger broadcast signal by boosting the detachable antenna to more powerful 5 dbi, which cover longer wireless range. I have 3 stories house. I placed a router in 2nd floor; my wireless laptop can go from third floor to basement corner. I highly recommend this product. The configuration menu has new function block ip address intrusion. The interconnectivity between my dlink wirless card and netgear router has no conflict or compatibility issues. I highly recommend this product to any one who considers buying new warless router. 5 Stars!

The router described on Amazon's page and in the downloadable user's manual offered as part of that description is not the router you will get. All information describes Netgear's original model the MR814. You will get the MR814 v2 which has no stand, is half the size, has a 2db antenna rather than the original 5db (and it is not removable like the original) etc. The MR814 v2 is an inferior, cost cutting product. Which probably accounts for the wide range of ratings you see in the 400 customer comments. Except for those that didn't get their rebates which means they paid even more for an inferior product. Read those comments carefully before you decide to buy on price alone.

And Amazon - how about updating this page with current information.

After reading many reviews I purchased the Netgear MR814 to serve as the center of my first wireless home network. I connected a Mac and a PC to the router via wires, and ran the setup wizard on the router to share my DSL connection. The router's settings pages are very straightforward, with lots of helpful descriptions. The computers were able to share files and access the internet after completing the wizard. I then tested out the wireless functionality from a PC with a Netgear MA311 wireless PCI card installed in it. Without changing any settings, the PC was able to access the network and the internet via the router. The router has a robust set of security options, and it was easy for me to set the router not to broadcast the SSID, restrict wireless access to my one wireless card (via MAC address filtering), and turn on 64-bit WEP encryption. After setting the network options on the PC to match those of the router, I was able to play games online with ~100ms ping times (~50 without WEP). I havent been able to test the signal range, but my experience so far has been nothing but good.

I bought this router to replace my great Linksys BEFSR41 wired router in order to gain wireless network access with my laptop. At under $50 it represents unbeatable value. It worked straight out of the box and its performance is excellent.

It has 1 x 10Mb/s WAN port, 4 x 100Mb/s Ethernet wired ports, as well as 11Mb/s 802.b11 wireless access. It makes an excellent replacement for my Linksys since it provides much of its functionality with wireless access added. It can be configured using a browser and it has one of the best configuration interfaces I've seen. The following comments related to the latest version of the firmware: 4.09.

It has a configurable firewall that supports port forwarding and can be set to block specific ports to selected internal IP addresses. All blocking can be scheduled to operate only at specific times. It can also block specific websites, a feature I don't have any use for. It cannot, however, block specific MAC addresses, which is an important feature if you are using DHCP. Even if you are not, static IP address can be easily changed by users on the network. Therefore, in my opinion, MAC blocking is a must for a future version of the firmware.

On the wireless side it supports up to 128-bit encryption as well as MAC filtering. It does not however allow you to disable wireless operation. For me, this is another important omission in the current firmware. Being able to schedule wireless operation times would be a nice security enhancement. Why have it run all night when you are sleeping, or during the day when you are at work?

I am hopeful that in the future the firmware will evolve to provide more useful features and perhaps drop some of the less useful ones. If it were to gain all of the functionality of my Linksys I would be extremely happy. As a minumum I believe that it should allow MAC blocking and it should allow wireless operation to be disabled/scheduled. Since this is a relatively new model there's a good chance that this will happen, especially given Netgear's excellent past record in home networking devices.

Wow! thats what I can say after installing and getting my network/internet operational on three laptops in 15 mins. During last five days, I spent countless hours with D-Link and LinkSys support in trying to make my home network run flawlessly. I was using D-Link DI-713P for last year and half, before it died last week when I upgraded its firmware so it won't lock up whenever I accessed internet using Windows XP. I decided to buy DI-614+ model hoping it will work better than the old one but on the contrary, I had so much trouble in setting it up that I thought I was going insane. For any changes in setup, I had to reboot my cable modem, wait two mins, reboot D-Link router, reboot my computer. It drove me nuts. To top it off, the range of wireless is extremely bad. I consistently lost signal, downstairs from my office, in living room just 30-35 feet away. The admin GUI was complicated and any time it rebooted the router, I had to go through the whole reboot sequence. I called tech support, the front line tech support guy was a novice. I am a computer professional, not really a network professional but I knew much more networking than him. Later, I got a call from "supposedly" higher line of tech support, woman had nothing else to offer except resetting the router and see if that worked.
LinkSys and Microsoft wireless routers also suffer from poor wireless signals. I didn't even bother trying Microsoft router when I read about its locking up problem. Linksys' poor wireless range, though not as bad as D-Link was unacceptable.
This wireless router from netgear has user friendly gui and various options to make the network and wireless access secure. Over that, you don't have to worry about rebooting all the devices to make any change. Its signals are great, and I am totally impressed. I had almost lost hope in all the wireless devices on the market before I used Netgear's MR-814.
My suggestion, don't even bother looking at other routers, buy this and you will be happy. It almost sounds like I am marketing for Netgear, but I would hate to see others get frustrated trying to make other products work like I did. I believe, this product will certainly fetch awards for Netgear.

Last week I bought NETGET MR814 router. I never used LinkSys and DLink routers. I have a desktop with XP and a Laptop with 2000. The installation of MR814 is relatively easy. The installation instructions were clear and a new user shouldn't have any problems in understanding the instructions. I also bought MA401 card for the laptop. I have Comcast Cable Modem for internet connection.

As many reviews indicated, you really want to change lots of default settings to setup a secure network. Under the Wireless settings, change SSID, set up the Wireless card Access List, Enable WEP security encryption (and rotate the passphrases). Change the default password (and keep changing it once in a while). Under LANIPSetup, assign static IP addresses to all the PCs and laptops.

The only problem I faced with this router is I can't connect to the laptop directly from desktop (and viceversa) unless I disable the software firewall on both the machines. Called Netgear Tech support and they told me to disable the software firewall (I have Zone Alarm installed on once and Black Ice on the other) to connect from one machine is another machine. It is a pain. Once I disabled the firewall, I can share files and printer without any problem.

The wireless connection through the PCMCIA card is very good. I get very good (above 90% signal strength) signal all around my home including patio.

If your primary objective is to share the internet connection among multiple computers, MR814 is a very good router and you don't have a pay a lot too.