vitara12's Full Review: NetGear WGT624 Wireless Router
When my company supplied me with a laptop with a wireless card, I decided to upgrade from a Netgear 4 port router to a 4 port wireless unit. Having had good success with other Netgear products, I selected this one from tigerdirect. I wil focus on the wireless setup and operation as that is the feature of highest interest.
Setup Very easy. The supplied CD guides you through the setup and by accepting the defaults, you will be up and running quickly. It supports both 802.11g and 802.11b IEEE protocols for wireless connections. It will transmit up to 108 mbps however my wireless laptop NIC only runs at 54mpbs, still fast enough to allow me to work from home.
I currently use this router connected to a cable modem where my Vonage box is in port 1 and my PC is in port 2.
For wireless setup, the router screens (accessed via your browser to the URL www.routerlogin.net) allow you to setup the SSID and you can also turn on MAC address filtering to allow only those wireless PCs with a specific MAC address to access the router. First, you select the name of the SSID you want to broadcast, this is what will show up when you use your laptop wireless card to connect. You can turn this off also so your router does not broadcast itself to other users in your immediate area.
Second, you set up a WEP key or WPA key. When you type this key in, it generates another key that you plug into your laptop wireless card setup. This allows you to connect securely and locks down the router from rouge visitors!
Keep in mind, you must verify your wireless card protocols before hacking away at the router settings. I learned this the hard way by setting up WPA2-PSK protocol only to find out my company supplied laptop did not suppor this. So I went with WPA-PSK and it connected fine.
The router is upstairs in my bedroom in a 2 story townhouse. I can achieve 54mps connectivity in any room, even in the basement with my laptop. While the actual connection speed can and does vary, I have never been "kicked off". I can also log into my company's VPN. The slowest wireless connection speed I saw was 44mpbs one day. Believe me, you will hardly notice it.
Nothing else needs to be done, really, to get up and running. By using the router as a DHCP server, all my attached devices connect in and access the internet. Unless you have PPOE setup on a DSL, you don't even need a login or password in the basic router setup. DNS and MAC address setup can be left at defaults as these are provided via your ISP.
Wired performance is fine. No big surpises here. Again, setup is easy, plug in your PC, reboot, let it grab IP address from router and access the internet like normal.
The router supports the following: Security: - 40-bit (also called 64-bit), 128-bit, and 152-bit (802.11g only) Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) encryption -WPA PSK (Wi-Fi Protected Access Pre-shared Key) upgradeable
For those interested in security, the router offers the following: Firewall: - Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI), Network Address Translation (NAT), DoS Attack Detection/ Logging, Dropped Packet Log, Security Even Log, E-mail Log, multiple VPN Tunnels (Pass- Through, 2 IPSec, and multiple L2TP & PPTP)
In summary, I can recommend this easy to setup and easy to use router. I have had no reboots or any issues. It works as advertised and even has an easy interface to see if there is a firmware upgrade for the unit. Thus far, I have not had to upgrade my firmware and the unit remains stable even with a Vonage voice adaptor plugged into it!
The warrany is 1 year. It has the basic ports, WAN and 4 10/100 auto sense RJ 45 ports on the back.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 54.99 Driver Availability: Windows, Linux, and Mac
Super Fast! The WGT624 uses Super G technology to deliver up to 108 Mbps when used with the WG511T 108 Mbps Wireless PC Card. It's the next generation...More at eBay
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