Average Rating: 
Rating: - Good Router
Last week I bought NETGET MR814 router. I never used LinkSys and DLink routers. I have a desktop with XP and a Laptop with 2000. The installation of MR814 is relatively easy. The installation instructions were clear and a new user shouldn't have any problems in understanding the instructions. I also bought MA401 card for the laptop. I have Comcast Cable Modem for internet connection.As many reviews indicated, you really want to change lots of default settings to setup a secure network. Under the Wireless settings, change SSID, set up the Wireless card Access List, Enable WEP security encryption (and rotate the passphrases). Change the default password (and keep changing it once in a while). Under LANIPSetup, assign static IP addresses to all the PCs and laptops. The only problem I faced with this router is I can't connect to the laptop directly from desktop (and viceversa) unless I disable the software firewall on both the machines. Called Netgear Tech support and they told me to disable the software firewall (I have Zone Alarm installed on once and Black Ice on the other) to connect from one machine is another machine. It is a pain. Once I disabled the firewall, I can share files and printer without any problem. The wireless connection through the PCMCIA card is very good. I get very good (above 90% signal strength) signal all around my home including patio. If your primary objective is to share the internet connection among multiple computers, MR814 is a very good router and you don't have a pay a lot too.
Rating: - Easy to install and Signal is Strong
Netgear MR814 is a well designed and nice looking product. The installation is easy and without any extra configuration. Just plug and play, then it works. I purchased it because it comes with one WAN port and four RJ45 ports. I just need to buy a wireless card for one of my laptops which is far away from the Router, the other one still can be connected with a network cable. I can save my money like this way. There is no problem with my two laptops running XP at all. The signal of wireless connection is strong enough. It took 10 minutes to setup everything. The only thing I need to do is interconnecting the Cable Modem and Router with a RJ45 cable, and makes the wires look neat. That's it. So simple. It happed to me that the Netgear Router can not get IP. This is for your reference, turn on the Cable Modem first, then Netgear Router. You can also to go to system admin. web page to get the IP manually.
Rating: - Excellent wireless range, poor interface
I've been using the MR814 with an Orinoco Gold PC Card and a Netgear MA101 USB wireless adapter for the past few months and am more than satisfied with the range on this router. The Orinoco comes with excellent wireless link analysis tools, and from what I've seen, going through 2 walls at about 80 feet, I've been getting excellent connectivity. The antenna is detachable, an excellent plus, but I found the standard one more than adequate.As for the router itself, there's no firewall protection (aside from NAT), you can't block specific ports, and the interface is horribly oversimplified and poorly arranged (like a completely separate category called "Security" solely for DMZ settings - here's an idea, call it "DMZ settings"!). If you do get this product, make sure to install a software firewall on your computers as well (like Agnitum Outpost or ZoneAlarm). The only other gripe I have is that I can't seem to find a way to disable wireless broadcasting, but if you want great range from a wifi router at a very reasonable price, it's a great solution.
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