Netgear is the best router company, hands down

I have used a Linksys WRT54GC (which USPS lost in transit to Linksys for an RMA...thanks USPS) and a Hawking HWR54G in the same exact setup as I have the Netgear WGT624NA currently in. Of them all, the Netgear has been the best so far.

(Netgear puts the model of the WGT624 as WGT624NA, which is what Staples also has it as).

Yes, I am well aware of the fact that Wireless G is a thing of the past and probably doesnt compare to the speeds and the coverage of Wireless N or MIMO or what have you, but for someone in need of a simple wireless solution for limited coverage or limited capabilities, I would definitely recommend the WGT624NA, at the right price though. I say that because I have also had an excellent experience with the WGT614, which I support for my aunt. Both products get the job done for a simple wireless solution. I bought the 624NA at $20 (after rebate), and the 614 can also be bought for $20. Either of them work. So again, the right price. I don't think at this time that the 624NA is worth anymore than $30. So if you find it for $40, wait for it to come down.

Anyway...

In the box:
WGT624NA router
Power cord for router
7 foot, dark blue ethernet cable
2 plastic, snap-on feet for standing router upright
CD with Computer Associates AntiVirus, and some manuals
Some paper manuals
Warranty Card

The router comes with plastic protective tape over the front as well as the rear, which was very nice.
There are four numbered ports and one internet port. The standard for today's routers.
It comes with your standard 4" antenna...which is good enough for a simple wireless solution.
The front display, like on all Netgear routers, is your standard big green back-lit numbers and icons.

Back in 1999 I purchased a Netgear FA310TX network card, which is somewhere in the house, and it came with a blue ethernet cable but had those rubber protectors for the RJ45 clips. I hated those. I always pull them away from the clip because it is just an annoyance. I bring it up because all the new Netgear products comes with a dark blue ethernet cable WITHOUT these protectors. *claps*.

They say you must use the CD that comes with the router to set it up. Yeah, no thanks. I was fine without it. However they make it very clear in the manuals that you should turn things on in this order: PC, Router, Modem. I brushed that direction off as being something for the technically impaired. Dumb move on my part. The WGT624NA comes with this wizard that you cannot get out of. Once you plug it in you have to go through the entire wizard, enabling this, disabling that. I couldnt find a way out of the wizard other than actually completing it...and the only way the wizard would actually finish is if I turned on things in the order they suggested (PC, router, modem). I dont exactly recall encountering this wizard when I setup the WGT614.

Once you are done with the wizard, it is clear sailing until you hit your problems.
Out of the box you will probably be using a very old firmware, as expected. What I wonder is what settings Netgear uses initially that doesnt let them see those issues. In this case I had a few issues:
1) The connection would drop periodically every 40 seconds. I was downloading something big very fast, and my download meter would read max speed for 40 seconds, then you would see a drop off then it would go back to max speed.
2) The port forwarding would not work and UPnP was just not doing its job

See, the normal person doesnt know that firmware upgrades are issued to fix this kind of stuff. In the case of Linksys and Hawking, I rarely ever saw a firmware upgrade from them. Netgear, on the other hand, releases a new firmware every few weeks. The best part of the firmware releases from Netgear is that they actually fix problems you have. In my cases, both of those issues disappeared after I upgraded the firmware. My aunt, with a WGT614, was experiencing significantly reduced internet speed while using the router. Webpages would load at 56kbps speeds. After upgrading the firmware, though, the router worked like a champ.


So now, reporting with a working firmware, UPnP works great. Port forwarding works alright (not as great as I would like though...takes some time for the computers to pick up the open port).


Oh, the most important thing...speed and coverage.
I was able to pull a constant 80mbps from the 4 port router, which is not bad considering my Hawking HWR54G only manages to pull 64-70.
Wireless speeds even from 50 feet away are good. I was able to get constant 600KBps internet download from this distance.
Coverage...this is the good part. My house is a range house and it is the absolute worst when it comes to wireless coverage. The Hawking and the Linksys couldnt manage more than 50 feet through these 40 year old walls (not your standard dry wall...we are talking stone walls where the router is located). Well this router, through stone, does very well in this house. I was very impressed.



On a side, Im not the biggest advocate of changing all the settings in a router. I live in a residential area where the next house is about 150-200 feet away. Then factor in the lack of experienced tech people in this area. What Im saying is that Im not in an area which requires me to be configuring a router for maximum security and all that junk. Just plug it in and go is what Im all about. If this was the city in an apartment setting I absolutely would be one of those guys all about WEP and WPA or whatever, but Im not there so Im not one of those people. Thus, I cant really comment on the router's settings and capabilities outside of standard WEP/WPA and port forwarding...heh.


Overall, great router if obtained at the right price ($30 max...and in a lot of cases it can be obtained for $20 at Staples or something when it is on sale, like in my case).