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Product Reviews:
NETGEAR WPN824 RangeMax Wireless Router |
Rating: 5 (out of 5)
Summary: great Little Router
Comments: I have had no issues with this router in the 6 months that I have had it. I have found it much more reliable than the older 801.11b Netgear router that I had (WGR614) which used to drop connections. I also test drove the D-Link WBR-1310 Wireless G Router prior to purchasing this router and eventually went with the Netgear.
Features that I like:
The UPnP feature works flawlessly: I have a Windows Home Server which gives me access to my LAN (RDP, file transfer over http etc) and Bittorrent. All these have were successfully set up on the router with UPnP and I did not have to fiddle around with opening ports etc. This did not work on my old Netgear or the DLink that I considered purchaseing.
Setting up wireless options is a breeze. I use WPA-PSK + TKIP as my authentication/encryption and it works fine for about 3 wireless constantly connected and occasional friends visiting.
No issues getting to my corporate VPN server.
One feature I like is the static assignment of IP addresses via the MAC address. This guarantees that the machines in my house that I want to get the same IP address will, even though the computers are using DHCP. The DLink doesn't have this feature.
The admin site works well. It is a little dated, however functional and snappy. There is a little McAfee add which I just ignore. I haven't tested the child-proofing features like blocking certain sites and scheduling browsing times so cannot comment on those aside from saying they exist.
The big blue light on the side of the router was annoying, however after upgrading to the latest firmware you have an option to turn it off. Thank greatness!!
I also have it set up to stream music and lower resolution video wirelessly to my XBox 360 (Media Extender). This works well however I can not do live TV nor HDTV yet. I am not sure how a wired connection would work.
All in all, I am happy with this product. A lot happier than I have been with Netgear in the past. I also did purchase this router as an open box at a *substantial* discount and it continues to chug along fine.
Nitpicks:
* The back of the router doesn't label the ethernet LAN ports. Instead you have to look at the numbers at the front. Also the internet (WAN) isn't labelled either.
* It is a little chunky. |
Rating: 5 (out of 5)
Summary: Excellent
Comments: I have had this router for about 4 years- still impressed. Thinking about purchaseing a new router for my1N device however am worried to mess with a great thing. Have had a problems with some other Netgear products however not this one. If you just want G- I would highly endorse. I use AT&T DSL/Speedstream 5100 modem, 3PC/1MAC/WII/ROKU/2IPHONE. I use a Dynamic DNS service with this device so I do not need to have pay for a static IP- has worked great as well. |
Rating: 1 (out of 5)
Summary: PROBLEMATIC
Comments: I have had nothing however bad experience with Netgear products and this item is no exception. I have been using it for over a year. It delivers pretty great range as advertised however unfortunately causes a lot of irritating network anomolies such as random network slowdowns, IP address conflicts, unavailability of wireless access, incompatibility issues with other network equipment (particularly the Verizon FIOS modem/router). A hard reboot of the router will resolve almost all of these issues until they inevitably and unpredictably surface again. Needless to say, rebooting the router is a real pain in the neck. I finally got fed up with this router and replaced it with a comparable D-Link model that has performed flawlessly. |
Rating: 5 (out of 5)
Summary: Best Router Yet A++++
Comments: I purchased this router and i thought i splurged a little however the extra money is well worth it i get a strong quick signal ewhere in my 2 story house with the router in the basement ive previously owned a dlink and linksys and this is the best of them all easy setup and it worked as soon as i plugged it in i highly endorse purchaseing this router |
Rating: 5 (out of 5)
Summary: Works great, however setup is not for newcomers
Comments: I installed a WPN802 for a family friend, and once it was up and running, it worked (and is working) incredibly well. The friend was new to wireless networking, so he wanted me to walk him through what I was doing during setup.
Having read the reviews that the setup CD and wizard are useless, we just set it up from thebuilt in firmware. I did not have any problem with it, however my friend was not really able to follow along too easily, because so much of the setup was so backward and non-intuitive, and had to guess much of how it worked on my own.
For example, the "Updating Settings" screen often never goes away, and you generally have to refresh the page (other firmwares are much better about this, however I guess I shouldn't expect much from stock firmware on VxWorks).
When you change the the device's IP address, there is no warning that you will need to reconnect to it via its new IP (again, other firmwares are better about this).
In order to add computers to its MAC filter whitelist, you need to turn off the filter, join the open network, scan the network so that it picks up all available devices, add them, then close the network back up (again, other firmwares are better about this).
If I had to set this up 4-5 years ago on my own, I wouldn't have been able to get through it. The only reason I could was because I have been setting up routers lately, and basically know how they work. My friend, who was watching, would have been completely lost.
Now that it's up and running, it's covering an entire large house of questionable construction from a far corner in a lower level. So thumbs up for Rangemax technology, thumbs down for the firmware and setup process. |
