Customer Reviews

Netgear WGR101 Cable/DSL Wireless Travel Router

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

This is one of those things that I bought, really hoping and wanting to be able to say good things about. I really wanted this to be a good product; but it's just not.

First off, the firmware releases have been quite buggy and while they have added WPA support, I find that it does not work well. I think that if you wanted to use this device without encryption and without changing the DHCP range and not in any sort of 'must-have' environment, maybe it would work. For me, all of those things have caused me more headaches than I care to remember.

I have had a lot of problems with...
-Using WPA with multiple devices connected at once, the signal drops every 60 minutes, like clockwork. To get the signal back, you have to repower the router and restart your wireless card. Very frustating. When I tried to get Netgear's help, they told me to reload the firmware - I did this but to no avail.

-The DNS passthrough resolution stinks. (Sorry if I 'tech out' on you here, but this is an issue some may find valuable to know about.) In many situations, I can not get DNS resolution through the 'gateway', which is of course the WRG101. To resolve I have to go into the router's browser interface, pull of the DNS server IPs that the hotel or ISP issued to the WAN port and manually configure my IP settings in my WinXP Pro machine to use those DNS servers. This works, but what a pain.

At the end of the day, I can't get Netgear to give me anything resembling decent support on this thing and I would say it only works for me 20% of the time without monkeying around with it. I keep trying (and hoping for better firmware)(as of v.1009 it still stinks) but I'm sure that someday this thing will find it's way into a hotel room garbage can - or better yet, out the window.

Look elsewhere if you want encryption and stability - this is a bummer product.

I applaud Netgear for being first to market with this device (the only other I know of is the Apple Airport Express), designed for geeky business travellers. There've been many times when I've been in a hotel with wired Internet access but wanted to use my laptop across the room in bed, or in a conference room with one wired network drop and a handful of people who wanted to use it. Travelling with a 30-foot cable and/or a multi-port switch is no fun. This device is light and tiny, has a modest-sized power adapter, and even comes with a short cable for connecting to a wired port and a zippered carrying case for all of that plus your pc-card NIC.

If you're not concerned with security and have your wireless NIC set to do DHCP basically all you do is plug it in and you're all set. Configuring the device is kind of a pain though: you can only connect to it wirelessly, so if you forget the SSID after setting it not to broadcast, or forget the WEP key, you have to use the reset button and start over (make sure you hold it down a good 10 seconds, just pressing it once quickly doesn't work).

It doesn't act quite like a typical router despite some product literature I've read: on a hotel network it doesn't provide firewall or NAT security--keep in mind if the hotel assigns you a public IP you're bare naked on the Internet.

Although the physical switch on the unit that puts it in config or single-/multi-user mode is a neat idea for security, it gave me a lot of problems having to reassociate or power cycle the device after changing settings. Given that in its default state it's a pass-through device like a bridge and has no IP address, there may not be a significantly better way though.

I had little to no luck using this device with my home router or cable modem, but on a hotel wired access point it was seamless including VPN connectivity (unlike my Netgear MR814 at home). Range is very good even through walls and floors/ceilings. I got mine for about half price after rebates which, I think, just barely makes it worth it. If you like to have the latest gadget, and especially if you travel, this is less of a pain and certainly niftier than carrying around a 30-foot cable and/or hub.

I'll try to add some additional perspectives to the other reviews.

1) My configuration includes a Netgear PC CARD (108G), Dell C640 laptop. I was able to configure this unit with WPA on the first try and had no difficulty with 1 laptop connected. I have not tried 2 or more pc's yet.

2) Previously I carried around a Linksys BEFW11S4 V4 router for hotel use, as these are going for around $9 now it doesn't matter if the maid steals it. But this unit is MUCH smaller and lighter.

3) I wish the power supply had been built into the unit with an integrated, folding power plug. Adding an external power supply and cable adds a lot of bulk, but less than the BEFW.

4) The unit was flawless in 4 days of use. Never dropped a connection at all. This with WPA configured and SSID not being broadcast. I use the ATHEROS client software, although the NETGEAR client would probably work just as well.

5) Paid only 17 bucks for this with rebates, so it's a little more expensive than an 802.11B router.

6) comes with a nice carrying case that keeps the power supply and router together.

7) Mine is new and came with the latest firmware loaded. If you are downloading the firmware, be sure to follow Netgear's directions. With Netgear routers, I have found that you need to do a factory reset after flashing and the re-key all of the device settings. Otherwise things will NOT work right.

8) I see that Linksys is coming out with one that has some nice features like, ability to expand a wireless network, say you are in a coffee house with wireless access, you supposedly can use this router to expand the wireless access. It also has integrated power supply... sweet...

I bought this somewhere else, but wanted to get another review out here for reference in case someone else was considering this product.

This took a little bit longer to get set up than I expected and longer than a wired plus wireless DSL router I have. I had two main problems. First, the darn thing is slow serving up its internal pages in configuration mode. (By the way, you can directly connect via a cable to configure it.) Second, getting the WEP and DHCP settings to stick took a while. That said, I had the same trouble with the previously mentioned DSL router, too. After getting over these two hurdles it works like a champ and I've not had any trouble connecting across the room, etc.

Beyond the product itself, I haven't quite figured out how to stow everything in the included case. The bits don't quite fit in the supplied slots. This is especially true for the power supply.

All in all, this fits the bill for what I wanted it for - a way to use the 802.11 connection from the laptop when in the hotel traveling.

After only owning this wireless router for about 2 months, I am now shopping around for a replacement travel wireless access point. This device's firmware is EXTRMELY buggy... here are a few of the issues that I have noticed while using this paper weight:

1) If you use WPA-PSK with this device, expect your connection to drop every 60 minutes -- and sometimes at random. The only way to recover from this is to either wait it out (about 5 minutes) or reboot the WGR-101 (about 3 minutes).

2) This device is EXTRMELY slow -- and what I mean by this is not network speed, but the WGR-101s processing speed. As I mentioned above, it takes the device about 3-4 minutes to fully boot this device.

3) I tested WEP briefly on this device and noticed some issues with this as well. The connection would drop as it did with WPA-PSK, only it seemed to be at random.

If you are looking for a reliable travel wireless access-point, this device is NOT for you.

I bought this quite a while ago, and finally got the opportunity to use it. (or at least try to use it)

Setup was very easy, but I could not get it to work in shared mode. Windows didn't think I was connected to the internet. I searched live.com for this product and found others are having the same issue. Apparently like another review says, there is an issue with DNS passthrough. I was able to get it working, but won't be taking it on another trip with me.

I hoping to use the WGR101 to provide wireless, encrypted access to two laptops from a wired ethernet connection in a hotel. It worked fine in single-user, no encryption mode but that is not what I needed. I experienced severe problems trying to use it in single user mode with WEP or in multi-user mode with and without WEP. One or both laptops would lose the ability to connect to the internet at seemingly random intervals. Sometimes cycling the laptop wireless radio would restablish the connection, sometimes I had to reboot the laptops, sometimes I had to reboot the WGR101, and sometimes I had to reboot the laptops and the WGR101. Stay away from this product unless single user, unencrypted access is what you need.

I read all the reviews before I purchased and was a bit wary. I was suprised to find out just how good this product is. I wanted something small for my apartment to hide by my cable modem. The minute I plugged it in it worked. No problems at all. Great product!!

then it died. I purchased it months earlier, but never used it until four months ago. Yesterday, the lights went off and the router stopped working. I called Netgear's support line, and they ran me through some questions and then informed me that the one-year warranty had expired and the router it is bad and cannot be repaired.

Excellent product guys! I was little sceptical before buying this product as the reviews were not very encouraging. But, I have not experienced any kind of problem with this slim and nice looking router. There was a little hitch while installing it, but, the customer support helped me figure that out quickly. Excellent customer support from Netgear. And the good part is that it works with my cable internet connection at home also.