Netgear WGT634U 108 Mbps Wireless Media Router

by Netgear

Product Details

• Item Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0001JXAF2
• Item model number: WGT634U
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #116,163 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: January 1, 2004

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

With NETGEAR's 108 Mbps Wireless Media Router you can have convenient access to your media and other files wherever you go. Just attach a USB hard disk drive or memory stick to your router and store all your files from any computer on your home network. From then on, you can remotely access your MP3s, photos and other stored files on the USB disk or memory stick from any wireless LAN notebook or desktop PC in your home or office, and from any web-connected PC away from your home or office. Wherever you are, you can seamlessly share files with your friends and family members by using the familiar Windows click commands, "File>Open" and "File>Save As" or by using the "drag-and-drop" icon method. And wherever you are, you can easily retrieve or save files to your router-attached disk drive by simply clicking on a remote file access icon on your PC desktop screen.

When used with NETGEAR's 108 Mbps Wireless PC Card (WG511T) or 108 Mbps Wireless PCI Adapter (WG311T), this superpowered 108 Mbps router is up to ten times faster than 802.11b networks, and it expands wireless coverage in your home or office with four times the range of 802.11b. It protects your information with more than ten security and privacy features, including a double firewall. Easy to set up, Smart Wizard install assistant gets you connected in fewer than five clicks. An included vertical router stand saves valuable desk space.

Attachable Storage
Just plug an external USB hard disk drive or memory stick into this wireless router to store your files. Then, everywhere you go, enjoy wireless access to your stored photos, documents, multimedia presentations, MP3s, videos and more, from any PC that's connected to the Internet.

Exceptional Performance
Quick distribution of photos and smooth MP3 and digital movie streaming. Fastest disk access at 480 Mbps with USB 2.0. Delivers four times the range capability of 802.11b networks when used with NETGEAR WG511T 108 Mbps Wireless PC Card or WG311T 108 Mbps Wireless PCI Adapter for whole home or office coverage.

Ease of Use
Using familiar "File>Open" and "File>Save As" Windows commands, or just dropping an icon onto another icon, you can wirelessly access or backup files at home or away from home. NETGEAR Wireless Media Router is compatible with USB 1.1 as well as USB 2.0. Smart Wizard setup and install assistant guides you through installation in minutes.

Complete Security
Double firewall ­ Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) and Network Address Translation (NAT) ­ secures your network, PCs, and files, and protects against malicious attacks. Provides secure access to remote files and options to make specific folders and files accessible only over the Internet. Offers the best privacy control available, with web page filtering, "Trusted User" management, e-mail alerts, and security logs. Multi-VPN tunnels (pass-through) provide secure Internet connections for simultaneous multiple users.

Product Specifications

• Routing Protocols - Static & Dynamic Routing with TCP/IP, multi- VPN pass-through (IPSec, L2TP), NAT, PPTP, PPPoE, DHCP (client & server)
• Application Support - Works with most Internet gaming and instant messaging applications and applications that support Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) for automatic Internet access
• Functions - Automatically detects your ISP, Exposed Host (DMZ), MAC address authentication, Dynamic DNS available for Internet access away from home or office, time-based usage controls, "Trusted User" controls, URL content filtering, logs and e-mail alerts of Internet activity, Wireless Access Control (SSID), Wi-Fi Protected Access Pre-shared Key (WPA PSK) upgradability, remote management

Product Description

With NETGEAR's 108 Mbps Wireless Media Router you can have convenient access to your media and other files wherever you go. Just attach a USB 2.0 hard disk drive or memory stick to your router and store all your files from any computer on your home network. From then on, you can remotely access your MP3, photos and other stored files on the USB disk or memory stick from any wireless LAN notebook or desktop PC in your home or office, and from any web-connected PC away from your home or office. Wherever you are, you can seamlessly share files with your friends and family members by using the familiar Windows click commands, File> Open and File>Save As or by using the "drag-and-drop" icon method. And wherever you are, you can easily retrieve or save files to your router-attached disk drive by simply clicking on a remote file access icon on your PC desktop screen.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Decent Wireless Router but it's Supposed to be More, August 31, 2004

By 

Steve H (Northern California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Netgear WGT634U 108 Mbps Wireless Media Router (Personal Computers)

I use pretty much use all Netgear stuff for my home network, including a couple of wireless router/access points. I picked up the WGT634U when it first came out thinking I'd be able to extend the range of my wireless network, plug in a monster USB drive for backup and file sharing, and then turn off my home file server.

To quote the great Homer... Doh!

I guess I got what I deserved for going on the bleeding edge and not waiting to see some reviews. This thing has one MAJOR design flaw that makes it basically useless for me... you can't write files on it when it's formatted as NTFS, and formatting as FAT32 limits you to 32GB under WinXP! Not only that, but files are limited to 4GB in FAT32. That makes this thing pretty much useless unless I really want to maintain 10 partitions on my 300GB drive and find a backup program that will break the file up into 4GB chunks. That's just not going to happen.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Experiences and problem resolutions, November 6, 2004

By 

Consumers - See all my reviews

This review is from: Netgear WGT634U 108 Mbps Wireless Media Router (Personal Computers)

I purchased this Netgear WGT634U router to work with a laptop with built-in Intel Centrino wi-fi at 54mbps, another PC with Netgear WG311T 108mbps PCI card, and finally another one with a plain RJ45 100BaseTx card. The RJ45 plugs via a cable directly into the one of the 4 available RJ45 ports. The broadband to the internet plugs into another port (5th one) dedicated to uplink. My setup uses PPPOE, and the router upon bootup had a wizard that automatically detected this type of connection and asked for login details. (this router has a built in webserver that serves pages just for configuring it via a browser). Because I have a mixed speed setting (54mpbs and 108 mbps), I chose the 108mbps Auto setting, which will allow multiple speeds to connect to the router. The 100BaseTX computer by default uses 100mbps. In summary, I was able to get all three to connect and share files and printers (make sure you add an account with the same account and password on all your three computers), but I had lots of problems before finally resolving them.

Problem resolutions: I have read a lot of reports on this router, and I had my share of them with constant reboots, connection drops, etc. I tried both the Netgear utility on the 108mbps pci card, and also microsoft's utility. I also upgraded the firmware on the router (via their web interface), and the latest drivers on the PCI wifi card. But the connection just keeps dropping. If it worked, it would work for a certain period of time before problems appeared again. I used secure WPA for the two wireless connections, tampered with lots of settings. But they didn't seem to isolate the problem.

Finally, after weeks of reading and experimenting, I nailed down the main problem: It is the HEAT of the chip that is causing it to misbehave. Luckily the design of the casing allows you to cut along the vent holes on the top cover to remove a round piece of plastic from the top of the router to expose the board with chips to air. The front panel and two side ones can also be removed (after removing and replacing 4 screws). So what I did was cut out along the vent holes on the top of the casing, and removed the two side panels and screwed the case back. This allowed free airflow to the board and chips. Did it solve the problem? YES! The thing worked like a charm. No connection drops, full signal, and perfect working order. (I don't have a compabitle USB drive to test the that ftp drive though, so I may update this info later).

So in essense, if you have purchased this router, just cut along the vent holes on the top casing to expose the chip to air, and remove two of the side panels, and you are set to go. After the firmware upgrade, its the HEAT HEAT HEAT! Nothing else is wrong with it. To upgrade the router (and get the better WPA security included in firmware versions 1.4.1.5 and above), its just clicks away after pointing your browser to it. This product would have gotten a 5 star if not for the heat problem. I suggest also to put it on its included stands to make it stand upright. This makes air flow even better. If you want heavy duty operation in hot areas, just buy one of those tiny USB fans and point the fan at the heatsink of the biggest chip on the board (assuming you just removed the hole in the top cover like I mentioned above).

Some interesting notes: Before I removed the cover to cool it, it would constantly reboot during certain times. There is a switch on it where you poke a pen into a small hole that resets the router. If you press and hold it for 5 seconds or more, it erases all your settings (login info etc) but the firmware upgraded software is never erased.

So in essense, this router works great, but because of the slim design, and poor heat dissipation of the casing, it overheats very often. Removing the hole on the cover and two of the side panels, the product is rock solid and connection is great.

31 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A very poor product!, April 12, 2004

By 

Eric J. Fridman "ejf302" (Baltimore, MD United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Netgear WGT634U 108 Mbps Wireless Media Router (Personal Computers)

Hello - I have been a fan of Netgear products for many years. I feel, unfortunately, that their products are being released with more and more bugs. This is by far the worst I've ever owned.

I got an ill feeling when I opened the box, and the first thing that comes out is a bright yellow sheet of paper saying to be sure to check their website for any bug fixes before using the wireless capabilities. Hmmmm....

Then I hooked it up and ran security scans from GRC.com. The router fails - it has ports 13 and 21 WIDE OPEN for all the world to see. In addition, the default is to respond to all pings from the internet.

Then I upgraded the firmware as advised and tried the wireless. First, there is no WPA on this router yet. They claim it will come later. Then it would not reliably connect with my 108mbps Netgear wireless card even though the boxes said it would. It would fail authentication for about 2 minutes then all of a sudden would establish the connection.

And the last straw was the error messages. They are in poor English. For example, when my wireless connections got dropped and I tried to log back on, the router displayed this message: USER ALREADY LOGINED ON. Logined on? What the heck is that?

So it went back to the store. I'll stick with my old Netgear products for now until they all die.