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24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great idea, fair implementation, so-so value, September 12, 2004
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.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Does not work well - terrible support from Netgear, March 14, 2005
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.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Nice unit - some areas for improvement, July 28, 2005
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...
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