Review on NETGEAR Centria Gigabit Wireless WNDR4700 by Michael Paquette

UPDATE: Everything I've written below is documented and hasn't changed. However, this router settled down after the first month and proved to be reliable. It's fast and supports around 20 devices in the house, including audio, video and other high-bandwidth situations. Back then, the idea of an internal drive seemed attractive. I've given up trying to make it work. Periodically (every few months) a reboot is required, but this may well be Cox Cable's (local ISP) fault. get out with help. Still disappointed with the device compared to what I was hoping for, but as a cheap and fast router (no drive) it's ok. An upgrade from one to three stars. -------------- ------------------- OLD REVIEW STARTS HERE. I have had several WLAN routers since 2000. Some in homes and some in offices. Many were Netgear. This is a big disappointment. It looked great on paper - and had a lot of great features - but it was NOT RELIABLE. Pros: Insanely fast. Two ways. Easy to set up. I have 16 devices in my house and it powers ALL - including the music server and Rokus - just fine. The ability to install a hard drive of up to 2 TB in the router (well, yes and no) Cons: you have to reboot every 2-5 days. I couldn't keep it online for weeks. This may not seem like such a big deal, but it's a big problem. After the router restarts, many of the connected wireless devices, including Rokus, will also need to restart. My last router, also a Netgear, had to be rebooted twice in three years. Also, the internal drive didn't work. A drive that was otherwise working properly became so hot that it shut down. In the original body, it later worked perfectly again. The router has a fan and it worked - but to no avail. This indicates problems with the thermal engineering. Support: That sucks. Make yourself a cold drink and be patient. Summary: This could be a great product. I want to like it - but it's just not reliable.