- Average user rating: 2.0 stars out of 50 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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2 out of 3 people found this review helpful
1.5 stars
"Works but . . . . the firmware is crap."
Pros: looks nice, it does work . . . . if you can make it work.
Cons: Firmware is crap, interface is slow, firewall is not stealth (firmware V1.0.3.5), Netgear support.
Summary: If I had bought this product I'd return it. I have the device because my rangemax 240's Internet port failed and I made a hardware warranty claim. Netgear did not have any 240s to send me so I said go ahead and send me the WNR834B. So, I get the device and plug it in. I browse to the interface and the first thing that greets me is the screen that offers to check for a firmware upgrade, I say sure. It comes back telling me that it's 3 to 4 versions behind so I go ahead and update. Big mistake, basically fries the device (as far as I could tell at that time). So, I call Netgear support back, they make me suffer for 30 minutes or so before escalating to L2. L2 calls me back the next day and they decide they sent a bad device so they are going to overnight another to me. They're so nice . . . I'm sure this will be different. I can't take anymore of they're help, it's killing me. That evening I go to Netgear's website to check out their white papers on the device and I find the exact problem I?m having. I walk through the instructions and fix the device. It seems to be working fine but the performance is not what I had hoped for, my 240 covered my house better than this thing. So, I get the new new one and I'm a glutton for punishment so the first thing I do with it is update the firmware, this time however I do it locally and it still fries it. . . . Man that's quality. I don't know who's writing the code for the firmware but they should take a class or something. I fix this one too. So after tweaking the settings and changing the placement in my home/office I get the coverage I need. So, I'm using it but I was a loyal Netgear customer, now I?m a very displeased Netgear customer. Netgear support was possibly the most painful experience I've had in dealing with tech issues and I'm a Network Administrator. . . so that's saying something. On another note the firewall on this thing is not in stealth mode, I did a port scan and several ports came back as closed. I'm like what the . . . so I have to go through and reconfigure my Network so any scans go off in to nothing so I don't have half the hackers on the internet making my life more fun. . . I mean what the heck are they doing. So now I can call Netgear back to discuss there super duper firmware or just put myself out of my misery.
At least they replaced the devices, I wasn't sure that was going to happen the first call I made to Netgear on my 240 the gal tried to tell me the port failure was a "software" failure and would not be covered. So it might have been over if I didn't know anything, but you know I probably would have been happier because I just would of gone out and bought a Belkin.
Where to buy
Netgear WNR834B RangeMax Next Router:
$70.71 - $84.84
| store | price | in stock? | rating |
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$79.99 | Yes |
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Amazon.com Marketplace
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$70.71 | Yes |
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$84.84 | Yes |
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$78.99 | Yes |
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