Enhanced Netgear MR314 Wireless Cable/DSL Router with 4-Port Switch for Improved 802.11b Connectivity Review

I bought this for my son in law. The setup was good and the quality of the card seems to be on par with the rest. The signal strength is not as good as my Linksys. He had trouble getting through the thick walls, but this is an old house. I've never been a Netgear fan, but the discounted price was good back then. Overall I was impressed. I would buy Netgear again.

As an advanced user, I can't comment on the default configuration of this router, but based on my observations and feedback from others, it should be easy, depending on the specifics of your ISP and yours firewall software used. In this regard, it's a good choice for a beginner, but the advanced features of this router (particularly full 128-bit encryption) make it very attractive for an expert. However, a beginner will need help to use these features as the printed documentation doesn't cover…

I bought this switch (on the advice of the alpha geeks in our networking group) to replace my 2 year old Linksys box and I'll tell you, I was not disappointed. The performance is great and the installation is idiotically simple - I still have to crack the instructions. Highly recommended if you need a mixed wired/wireless network. (And if you just need a wired network, check out the similar FR314).

It was fairly easy to set up and when I got stuck at one point the phone support was quick, accurate and got me through everything else to the point where everything was as it should be. Absolutely no disappointment. However, as I have read in many places and I will warn you again, wireless distance is unpredictable depending on location. I'm in an old building with concrete interior walls and lots of metal, and the signal barely reaches 60 feet, which is just about enough.

I bought this router and the MA401 wireless card for my laptop. It was pretty easy to set everything up. After 10 minutes I was already enjoying my wireless network. But after a few hours my wireless connection suddenly dropped and my internet access on my laptop was denied. I tried restarting the machine and reconfiguring the network. but nothing happened. I called customer service. They told me to change some configurations and it worked. But the next day the problem came back. It went like…

This Router/Switch/Access Point and MA101 USB Adapter took 20 minutes to install, including setting up the MR314 and two PCs. (Both machines ran Windows XP.) The instructions for the MR314 could have been a bit clearer, but it would actually be very difficult to go wrong. And it was my first experience with a network installation! I couldn't believe my eyes when I had instant high-speed internet access on both machines - no reinstalls, no tech support calls. It just works. Something of a first…

I just bought the above device and the Wireless PC Card that came with it. The whole installation took about 1 hour including installing many wifi security features. A few months ago I bought another device from an unnamed vendor and after 8 hours for 2 days refused to install it. In the end the device broke and I sent it back. The Netgear device provides a focused and easy-to-understand set of installation steps. Their website has provided useful setup information for various ISPs. Bandwidth…

I installed this router with a Netgear MA401 card. Setup was very easy. Using Windows 98 on a Dell Pentium III. I had to call support once because the IP adapter needed to be changed in my system settings, which wasn't in the installation guide. The speed was very good on a desktop connected to this router. Customer service was polite and the guy (in India) knew what he was talking about. I gave 4 stars because I had to call customer service. I would recommend this product. I had more issues…

I am using XP Professional with a DSL line. This router only took 5 minutes to get started. Follow the instructions to the letter and save yourself the horror of cheap brands. One downside I've found is that my Eudora client doesn't always like working with this router to check my POP server. Keep in mind that the range is what you would expect from a sub-$100 router. In my case 100-150 feet. I also noticed that rotating the small antenna in different directions increases the range. I…