Netgear has produced many reliabe SOHO networking products in the past before, so I was very interested in reviewing the RP614 router when it fell on my lap. Having experienced weird problems with a D-Link router in the past (also a respected SOHO network products company), I was wondering if it was just the way SOHO routers were. Problems such as disconnections from the internet and requiring a "reboot" once in a while was common. One feature I regret not using with the D-Link was the built-in DHCP server. More on why that is later.

Reading the specs amazed me, as it almost read like a underpowered PC. A CPU running at 50 MHz and 8 MB of SDRAM!? That's a pretty hefty list of hardware for such a runt-like chore. How much processing power do you need for routing network traffic? Thankfully, the muscles may be the reason why the RP614 have less latancies and lower pings than the D-Link I last used.

Setup
The term "plug-n-play" does not do enough justice for the RP614. With the term associated with ISA and PCI peripherial cards, it may be hard to call the RP614 that. But surprise! It is that easy to set up and start surfing! The documentation proves this also by being laughably thin. The bundled CD is nothing but an HTML/Flash "Quick Install" which is also included via paper form in the box. One thing I appericiated was a list of settings of what seems to be all the broadband providers and theirassociated settings required to connect (both on hardcopy and CD). A very nice touch indeed.

Most mdsrn Windows OSes already have the TCP/IP protocal installed and DHCP enabled by default. In fact, if the PC was already set up to connet to the internet in the first place, you may not even have to change anything on your PC. Just plug it into the router and your done. The router already has DHCP service enabled. Of course, if you're a maschocat, you can disable it to assign your own IP addresses for every single PC on the network.

I only tested the RP614 with a Speedstream ADSL modem (also reviewed) and SBC Yahoo! DSL (also reviewed). The service entails the dreaded PPPoE (you have to sign in) and dynamic IP addressing. Both blows and sucks for hardcore users who like their internet setups raw and bloody.

The second step is to connect the cable or DSL modem to the "WAN" port of the router. The defaut IP address of the RP614 is "192.168.0.1", in which you type in your favorite web browser. Of course, this is assuming you have either already rebooted your PC or renewed your PC's IP address and able to ping the router. A dialog box will appear asking for a username and password. According to the manual, the defalt user/pass is "admin/password". Of course, it is recommended that you change the password (but the username will always be admin).

Once you are logged in, you will have to input the setting provided to you by the included list or directly from your ISP. THAT'S ALL, FOLKS!

Features
There is a long list of features associated with th RP614. DHCP service was one of them, as mentioned earlier.

For parents and worrisome manahers, you can block access to specific websites. You can also block URLs with a specific stings of letters and words such as "sex". You can also log sites visited and have it email you the log.

What if you want to control the amount of internet usage for you kids? Or block usage after hours? The RP614 lets you set up which days, and what hours are restricted from use.

Advanced features such as port redirection and blocking are here as well. You can even allow outside access to a port and redirect it to an internal IP address. So what, you ask? So you can have a web server on port 80, a FTP server on port 21 (or whatever port you want), or a dedicated Quake server inside your LAN and still allow the outside world to access it.

The firmware it upgradeable, and I did, in fact, upgaded it upon arrival. To my surprise, there were more options, settings, and features added to the interface!

There is more, but I have yet to play with it all. It is very overwhelming to see all those settings and featues listed on an easy to navigate interface.

Problems
Surely there has to be some flaws, right? Nothing is perfect. Indeed, there are a couple of problems to report.

DHCP, as stated before,was something I never used on my previous router, the D-Link. Therefore, I am not sure if this is an inherent problem for many consumer-based routers. In either case, sometimes I will not be able to see the rest of the network, and rebooting my PC or renewing my IP does not help. When trying to renew, Windows (2000) will complain that the DHCP server is not there or not responding. The only remedy isbto "reboot" the RP614.

The other issue may be my ISP, but outages do occur occasionally, and rebooting the router helps. This is for both the Netware RP614 and the D-Link routers.

Other than that, the surprising fast and easy to opperate Netware RP614 router is very pleasant to use, and will recieve my two-thumbs-up recomendation. Add to the fact that it's actually very cute to look at adds to the appeal of the product over most other "serious looking" routers.

Also, Netgear gernously offer a free full version software firewall for each of your PCs. Made by Zero-Knowledge (strange name, eh?), you may not have heard of them, but their firewall is very easy to setup. However, I couldn't help but notice that it informs the user that it is loading from the web. I don't think program of it's kind should do so. It looks like it's ;oading ads for Netgear and Zero-Knowledge's products. Oh well...

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 50
Driver Availability: Windows, Linux, and Mac