Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Easy to set up - Easier to use
* I installed my father-in-law's DLink wireless router (614?). Anyway, that router took me 2 reinstalls and 4 calls to tech support. The manual was no help. When it was connected, no internet access! I had to disconnect it 3 times to access the internet because it was not working right. However, it is now working. I say this because the Netgear router installed on it's own and started working before I even finished.* I have SBC Yahoo DSL on my XP desktop. I had to go into the SBC Connection Manager and turn on the Auto Connect. After that, the router instaled great. My wireless card (Netgear MA401) is installed on Win2000. Everything is working very quickly. * I had to adjust the router location to get the maximum connection between dsktop and laptop. But it is pretty easy. Just put the router in between the desktop and the laptop. Monitors, microwaves, cordless phones, and any other wireless devices cause interference. So be careful. * The CD helps out a lot and the directions for the wireless card are very simple. I really reccommend this. CNET rates this router very high. * My questions are how to print share since it's not a print server, but there are help files I have not explored yet. * Security Encryption is optional and I coudn't get it right to begin with. I had the laptop set for 64 bit with the passkeys, but it has to be exactly the same on the desktop or you will not have access. The default is Disabled so you can surf, but make sure you read the instructions online on Encryption because they are not in the manual.
Rating:  - Unstable firmware finally resolved. It's OK now.
This is my 2nd wireless router, (I am not counting my access points). I'm a tester in a network company, so I've done sone detailed observation.Pros:
Netgear did an awesome job by making this 'slick' looking router with nice lights. There's even a sticker which explains what each lights are for. Setup is straight forward. For most people, they will only need to stick with first 2 pages (and sub-pages of those) to get everything done. The ugly:
First-You'll start to get into some hairy stuff with the wifi page. When you set the 'country' and 'channel', you will notice that after refresh it disappears. Sometimes it sticks, but most of the time, you have to do this several times. Not only that, the help tab does not show up until you've made a change. Obviously a bug.
Second-The port forwarding on the older firmware is flaky. You will need to upgrade your firmware to the latest released, which was in May. The really UGLY stuff.
My SMC router was working fine in an urban environment. If I sniff the air, I see 5 other routers. So, I plug this thing in, put it on the same channel as SMC and it just flaked out. This router can not be trusted to be up 24x7 yet. Occasionally it will just die, and require a hard boot. After the firmware upgrade, router seems to have stabilized, but prior to this, it would die every other day from who-knows-what. In short, this router is pretty nice looking, and seems to have stabilized with '4.11' firmware revision. The new firmware has only been out for couple of weeks, and I've only had to reboot once. After you upgrade the firmware, I recommend that you hard reset it via the button on the unit. For now, I can not recommend this product. I've tested it with ISO downloads with the new firmware (Redhat 9, 3 iso's each with ~700megs) and the thing stayed up. Prior to that, this thing would hang. If you are going to power this thing on and off every day, then it's a good deal But if you want something you want to configure once, and deal with it maybe 4x a year, this unit has not proven itself to me. The new firmware seems to be great, but it's only been 2 weeks since it's release (installed the day after it was released), and it took them 3 months to release it. Then again, I can not recommend SMC either. If you have the money, and are willing to pay for stability, Linksys seems to be the choice. BTW: There's a 2nd version of this router, and it's supposidly smaller, and no longer has the 'detachable' antenna.
Rating:  - Intensely Frustrating - Don't Risk It!
I'm happy for all the reviewers for whom this product worked out, but it was a disaster for me. Just to hit the high points: (1) The set-up instructions had bizarre blind spots which left me without guidance on key issues. (2) Once it was set up, the wireless connection dropped incessantly -- more or less every twenty minutes -- no matter what I did (and I spent hours trying to solve the problem). (3) The wireless connection could not survive distances of more than 4 or 5 feet, even with no walls or other obstructions in the way. (Note that I was using both the Netgear router and Netgear wireless cards). (4) My first call to the help line started with 45 minutes on hold. The second time I called help I waited on hold for 45 minutes before the system hung up on me (with no indication why). I called back and waited another 25 minutes before the system hung up on me again. I called back a 3rd time, and got through after 35 minutes. (5) The help people I spoke with were very friendly and eager to help, but nothing they offered helped even the slightest bit. For example, they directed me to a system upgrade that was supposed to solve the problem of dropped connections; it made absolutely no difference whatsoever. They suggested various other tactics, but none made a difference. I sank hours into implementing their suggestions -- all wasted. (5) Finally, help told me that they would research the dropped connection issue further and get back to me. They never did. I doubt they meant badly; much more likely, Netgear refuses to provide even a fraction of the funds necessary to sustain a workable help line. Reading other reviews, I guess it must be true that this product works for some people. But I've got good basic equipment, am generally able to make computers (etc) do what they're supposed to do, and gave this product many hours of effort, and it was an absolute failure. Maybe the product is finicky about what other products it will work with; or maybe Netgear's quality control is so bad that the quality of individual units varries enormously. Either way, I'd say its not worth the gamble. There's no reason to risk the kind of frustration this product caused me. Save yourself the ulcer.
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