Netgear WNR834B RangeMax NEXT Wireless Router

Average customer rating: 2.5

Really should be tagged a beta product
Hard to set up, works intermitantly Don't waste your money
An Infuriating Waste of Time and Money
2 weeks in, flawless
Use a product wrong and you will never be satified! Use it properly and 5 stars will come shooting by!

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Netgear WNR834B RangeMax NEXT Wireless Router

Manufacturer: Netgear
Product Group: CE
Binding: Electronics
ASIN: B000FFRZ1W
2006-05-20

Related Categories:

Routers

Routers

Product Description

The Netgear WNR834B RangeMax NEXT Wireless Router extends the power & possibilities of your wireless home network. This next-generation wireless standard utilizes advanced MIMO (Multi-In, Multi-Out) technology, delivering speed and range. It provides wireless interoperability at the highest speeds with other products, with Intensi-fi. Create and maintain enough bandwidth to go online, make Internet calls, share files, play network games, stream videos and more -- all simultaneously. Unit Dimensions - 8.9 x 6.8 x 1.5 (225.5 x 172 x 39 mm) Weight - 1.2 lbs. (.56 Kg) Recommended for use with WN311B or WN511B RangeMax NEXT Wireless Adapter

Amazon.com Product Description

Step up to the next level of wireless network speed, reliability, and performance with the Netgear RangeMax NEXT Wireless Router. Thanks to cutting-edge technology, now you can run multiple applications -- such as streaming HD video, audio, file transfers, VoIP calls, HD gaming, and music downloads -- over your wireless network throughout your home. Plus, an attractive internal antenna design means this router will look great anywhere in your home or office.

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<small><b>Beauty and and Power: The RangeMax NEXT Wireless Router sports a stylish exterior. Listen to a presentation about the RangeMax NEXT system.</b></small></td></tr></table> <b>Built for Speed</b>
Netgear's new draft-11n technology lets you build a wireless network that creates highly reliable steady-stream connections at up to 270 Mbps. By using advanced MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) technology, the NEXT Wireless Router maximizes wireless network range and throughput. What's more, Draft-11n products like the Netgear RangeMax NEXT Wireless Router are compatible with legacy 802.11b/g devices, so your current networked products will stay connected.

<b>Simple Installation</b>
To begin experiencing the next generation of wireless networking, add a Netgear RangeMax NEXT router and adapter to your existing network. The coverage and performance of your legacy devices will improve immediately. And when you move your whole network to the draft-11n wireless standard, you'll experience greater speed, range, and performance than ever before. In addition to wireless capabilities, the router features four 10/100 ethernet LAN ports, as well as a single WAN port for connectivity with your broadband modem or another router.

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<small><b>RangeMax NEXT is designed to handle the massive bandwidth that today's applications demand. See how RangeMax NEXT compares to other wireless technologies.</b></small></td></tr></table> As always, with Netgear's Smart Wizard installation is a breeze. Plus, touchless WiFi Security makes creating the highest level of network security easy. Security includes support for WEP, WPA-PSK, or WPA2-PSK. And don't forget Netgear's 24/7 technical support.

<b>What is RangeMax NEXT?</b>
RangeMax NEXT extends the possibilities of your wireless home network by providing draft 802.11n-compliant technology that greatly increases the amount of bandwidth available to wireless devices and computers. This next generation wireless standard utilizes advanced MIMO (Multi-In, Multi-Out) technology, which delivers incredible speed and range, and for the first time provides wireless interoperability at the highest speeds with other draft 802.11n products. Additionally, the Netgear RangeMax NEXT Wireless Router uses Steady-Stream technology, which ensures you have enough streaming bandwidth to support all of your applications, all over your home, all at once.

A RangeMax NEXT wireless network creates and maintains stable connections and enough bandwidth to surf the Internet, download MP3s, make Internet phone calls, share files, play network games, and stream high-definition videos, simultaneously at any distance or location in the home or office. And, as mentioned, RangeMax NEXT is compatible with all legacy b and g wireless products, so you are sure to be connected. <br clear="all">

Customer Reviews:

Really should be tagged a beta product.......2007-05-30

I lost two CAT5E wires inside our walls following a nearby lightning strike. I had no choice but to go wireless. I had a D-Link G adapter sitting around but it would not run under Vista and no drivers are planned. Fine, I thought, time to jump to the next gen technology - wireless N.

Some research led me to believe the Netgear router 834B was a good choice. I bought it along with two Netgear WN121T USB adapters and a WN311B PCI adapter. After 30 days of pain and suffering, I returned everything to the store for a refund.

I learned a few things:

1. The product works sometimes but is flawed. The main issue was our new Dells running Vista would lose their connection with the internet after waking up from energy saver mode. This does not happen under windows XP.

2. The router would fail to serve up an IP address sometimes, forcing me to reboot.

3. Netgear support is good - at using delay and denial to wear you down so you just give up...I got a "second tier" support response saying that all wireless PC adapters loose their session after waking up from hybernation.LOL...The PC I'm on right now is wireless B (Linksys) running XP and goes into hybernation. It does not lose its internet session after I wake it up. Another PC running XP did not exhibit the problem. It appears to be Vista related.

4. While the reported speed is apparently faster than Wireless G, I never got above 108 Mbps and often ran around 54mbps. Signal was strong in some parts of the house but even then I never saw the claimed 270MBps.

Bottom line, it works sometimes but is unpredictable and, therefore, not worth the $450 investment for all the gear. It did seem to work better under windows XP. The Vista drivers should be considered beta at this point.

Final note: I set up and supported networks for many years starting back with Token Ring and Netware. I feel I have skills beyond most folks not working in IT. It seems that, given a few months, the Vista bugs will get worked out but it may be that the current "Draft N" stays a draft until we see a shift in the implementation.

Bottom line: stick with wireless G and wired if you can. Of course, make sure the vendor for your wireless G offers Vista drivers for its older stuff. In looking for wireless G adapters the past few days I found many products with no Vista support or product on the shelves which are earlier versions with no Vista support.

Hard to set up, works intermitantly Don't waste your money.......2007-05-18

I bought this product, thought it would work, it started to drop the wireless signal working for only 10 minutes at a time. It is hard to set up, the cd is useless, and the web interface is just as difficult. It has to reboot after each change to the settings, takes 30 minutes to enter what should take 10! Don't spend your money on this, buy a puppy, easier to take care of.

Nick

An Infuriating Waste of Time and Money.......2007-04-22

I needed something with good range, and this looked to be perfect. In fact it does have great range. When it works, I get 135+ MBPS in my office one floor away. However, in two weeks of owning it, I have spent far more time trying to make it work than I have actually using it. I will frequently lose connection in the middle of a session requiring restarts of the router, my pc, and on more than one occasion, complete reinstallation of the router and adapter. It's possible that the newer adapter drivers fix some of these problems. Now if I could only get on line...

2 weeks in, flawless.......2007-03-17

I saw a LOT of bad reviews about this product but thought that I'd give it a shot it was only a hundred bucks. I currenly have two computers hooked up wirelessly, one is a new desktop running vista with a WN121T USB adapter hooked into it, the othre is a three year old dell with intel proset 2200 BG. This product took me a grand total of 25 minutes to hook up. I wired my laptop to it, downloaded the latest firmware and it started right up. Let me just say also that, contrary to popular opinion the install wizard works. My network is up and installed for 2 weeks giving me great performance. Three stories up my laptop is connecting perfectly. Benchmarked the speeds on line and felt them to be as quick as wired. Furthermore, the desktop is one floor above the router and is connecting at 200 MBPS. If you use this router and by the appropriate adapter it will work great. Unless this breaks I am very satisfied. Spend the money get all matching components and you will have no issue

Use a product wrong and you will never be satified! Use it properly and 5 stars will come shooting by!.......2007-02-24

I am using this router for three computers. Desktop Vista Home Premium with integrated wireless LAN 802.11a/b/g, laptop #1 with Vista Home Premium with integrated wireless LAN 802.11n-draft and laptop #2 an ANCIENT Dell running XP with NO built in wireless connection (this one is running with the Rangemax Next Wireless-n USB 2.0 Adapter)

First I will start with the installation, I had to do this 3 times before I got it to run perfect. It came down to during set-up when you enter your IP addresses, if you check these on your system while you are running through a router you will be given "generic" addresses. You need to hook up directly to your servers module to get your addresses first.

After calling tech support (of my server...not Netgear) to get my IP addresses figured out, installation was a breeze! My router is in the basement and my desktop is on the main floor, 4/5 bars with the 802.11 a/b/g wireless LAN.

My new laptop with the 802.11n-draft...nothing but 5+ stars on that connection and signal! Simple and no need to enter IP addresses and no headaches!

My ancient Dell laptop...with the Rangemax Next Wireless-n USB 2.0 Adapter I get full strength signal all the way on the top floor! Nothing but smooth surfing!

I do agree with some of the hassle on the set-up, but my satisfaction with the end results out weighs my qualms with the hassles I had during set-up, this giving it a 5 star rating still...so imagine what it could have been if I had no set-up issues!

The poor reviews on this product might have to do with improper set-up, maybe the types of connections do not match, after all...a Pinto is still a Pinto even if you stick a Ferrari hood emblem on it! Your connection will only run as fast as your lowest connection. If you buy an N-draft router...make sure you have an N-draft connection on your computer as well! This will run with any connection, but don't DIS on the product if you don't have your expectations fulfilled when you might not be using the product to it's fullest potential! This only opens the door wider for faster connection speeds, you still need to have an equivalent connection speed on your computer to utilize this speed!

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