PDA

View Full Version : Netgear Wireless routers?



Ken Fitzgerald
08-10-2011, 2:29 PM
We have come into a laptop and it has "Wifi" and I am being encouraged to get a wireless router. I prefer hardwired routers, personally.

I am looking at a Netgear 750 at Costco. Anybody familiar with the brand and or the model?

Thanks!

Bill Huber
08-10-2011, 2:42 PM
I like Linksys much better, I have had problems with the Netgear and have just stayed with Linksys and they just work. Linksys is not owned by Cisco and they should know what they are doing.
I know a lot of Netgear users and they like them, I think they are all just about the same, one is no better then the other one.

Bryan Morgan
08-10-2011, 3:25 PM
We have come into a laptop and it has "Wifi" and I am being encouraged to get a wireless router. I prefer hardwired routers, personally.

I am looking at a Netgear 750 at Costco. Anybody familiar with the brand and or the model?

Thanks!

The brand is good. That particular model is pretty good. Its the WNDR4000. I have the 3700. There are things to keep in mind with wireless though... what spec to you want to run (A, B, G, N ?) and what do your devices support. This router will handle everything but you won't get full N speeds unless you run pure N and have multiband cards in your devices.

Also, this model has internal antennas that are fairly directional so you have to twist it around to get the best signal wherever you plan on sitting.

Eric DeSilva
08-10-2011, 5:51 PM
I recently had to go shopping to replace a Netgear WiFi Access Point... Thought the Netgear seemed reasonable at the time, but as my home network expanded, it became apparent that there were limitations in the router/WAP that made it unusable. I wanted to use a Cisco hardwired router I owned to handle DHCP and have the WAP set up to pass addresses from the Cisco, but I couldn't find anyway (even with a lot of help) of doing that with the Netgear--it wanted to create a subnet for anything connecting via WiFi. The subnet thing didn't work because I needed things on the the main network to talk to things on the subnet. I ended up doing some research and went with the Buffalo Technology AirStation N300 (WZR-HP-G300NH). Among other things, Buffalo allows you to configure it out of the box with dd-wrt firmware, which gives you a lot of flexibility. I ultimately didn't have to do that, but it is nice to know there is a lot of collective wisdom on the net about how to use it if I ever need too. At $65, it was the recommendation of choice from the networking gurus I talked too.

John McClanahan
08-10-2011, 6:30 PM
Find out what protocol the laptop uses. If you get a "N" router and the laptop has a "B" only protocol, They may not work together. I have a Netgear N router and it doesn't support B networking. The router is still in the box because of this.

John

Chuck Wintle
08-10-2011, 6:45 PM
I am using a dlink wireless with no problems...that said linksys are good but have no info on netgear.

Ryan Mooney
08-10-2011, 6:54 PM
Used to like netgear, but that was ~15 years ago. Nowdays they don't seem to be as good and prefer either dlink, linksys (although those aren't nearly as nice as before cisco bought them - they were getting to competitive with the nice routers) or smaller vendors like Buffalo. I tend to find the smaller guys are hungrier and you get more bang per buck.

Larry Frank
08-10-2011, 8:44 PM
I have been using Netgear without any problems. The only times that I have had to get new ones is to upgrade the system. I have both a wired and wireless network in the house.

Ken Fitzgerald
08-10-2011, 9:13 PM
The laptop is new and uses the N protocol.

Darius Ferlas
08-11-2011, 12:15 AM
The router still has 4 RJ45 ports so you can used it for wired connection. For wireless, do some research and don;t settle for some of the standard "home grade" encryption protocols. These can be broken in a matter of minutes.

As for the quality, Netgear is one of the better companies. I don't use their wireless but I have a few of their managed and unmanaged switches. Very good and stable products.

Bryan Morgan
08-11-2011, 10:42 AM
The laptop is new and uses the N protocol.

Then that Netgear router should work fine for you. Just keep in mind the internal antennas... How far away from the router will you be using your computer?

Lee Schierer
08-12-2011, 10:58 AM
I have a netgear router and it has worked fine for my kids with their laptops and ipods when they are home. My Blackberry doesn't like it however and refuses to connect reliably even when sitting next to it.