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Netgear WGT634U 108 Mbps Wireless Media Router
Netgear WGT634U 108 Mbps Wireless Media RouterNetgear WGT634U 108 Mbps Wireless Media Router
Netgear Product Details - Ratings and reviews for netgear wgt634u 108 mbps wireless media router.
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Media: Electronics
Platforms: Windows
Product Features
Netgear WGT634U 108 Mbps Wireless Media Router
- Back up, share, and access your files wirelessly & remotely
- USB disk drive or memory stick connectivity
- Smart Wizard install assistant for easy setup
- Supports both USB 1.1 and USB 2.0
- Compatible with Windows 98SE, Me, NT, 2000, and XP
Product Review
Product Description
Netgear WGT634U 108 Mbps Wireless Media Router - Experience blazing-fast wireless speeds, enhanced degree of security and impressive wireless range with the NETGEAR WGT634U 108 Mbps Wireless Media Router. You can have convenient access to your media and other files wherever you go. Just attach a USB hard disk drive or memory stick to your router and store all your files from any computer on your home network. From then on, you can remotely access your MP3s, photos and other stored files on the USB disk or memory stick from any wireless LAN notebook or desktop PC in your home or office, and from any Web-connected PC away from your home or office. The router features dual firewall with SPI (Stateful Packet Inspection) and Network Address Translation (NAT) to secure your network, PCs, files, and protect them against malicious attacks. It also supports multiple VPN pass-through tunnels that provide secure Internet connections for simultaneous multiple users. In addition, you can seamlessly share files with your friends and family members by using the Windows click commands, File>Open' and 'File>Save As' or by using the 'drag-and-drop' icon method. The WGT634U Wireless Media Router comes with Smart Wizard setup and install assistant that makes setup quick and easy, guiding you through installation in minutes. Connectivity Technology - Wireless/Cable Data Transfer Rate - Up to 108 Mbps 128-bit Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) Encryption Dimensions (WxDxH) / Weight - 6.9 x 4.7 x 1.1 / 0.7 lbs
Product Details
Netgear WGT634U 108 Mbps Wireless Media Router
- Electronics: 0 pages
- Platforms: Windows
- Publisher: Netgear
- Label: Netgear
- Studio: Netgear
- Average Customer Review: based on 44 reviews
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Customer Reviews
Avg. Customer Review:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Hardware great 2008-06-17
Comment: The reviews here are old. It's true that Netgear did release a product with lots of bugs - in the software (a.k.a. firmware). You can easily upgrade it from netgear's site, or even better, use dd-wrt, openwrt, or roofnet on it, for superior functionality. You can even make your own mesh network, as I have done.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Worst Netgear Router ever, very disappointed in Netgear. 2008-01-16
Comment: Well, the new year has came and past and netgear has stopped supporting this router. That's right, after 3 years and a few firmware upgrades, this router is still junk. Netgear refuses to RMA and replace it for a newier, different model. We all got scammed by Netgear on this one.
Hardware issues:
The router's processor overheats constantly. This is what causes a lot of the freezes and manual reboots for people. I myself have to manually reset it 3-5 times a week, not that this is a lot, but it seems to want to freeze during the times I need it the most (like VoIP calls). I even drilled a hole in the case and mounted a fan to cool it, this worked for a few months but eventually the fan crapped out and it started overheating again.
The wireless chip has 2 connectors for 2 external antennas yet Netgear only used one of them, so the range is crap. I had to solder on another antenna just to reach my bedroom (which is at most 50 feet away).
This router can only take so many connections at a time. Typically most home routers support around 2000-10000 connections, this one craps out at around 1000 (and sometimes less).
Firmware issues:
The thing likes to crap out when conntecting to VPNs. The only solution is to manually reset it (by unplugging, waiting 10 secs, then plugging it back in).
Similar to what others mentioned, it has remote connection turned on by default (leaving a few ports opened to the router) and has no option to disable outside pinging.
The router's webserver does not like Vista. I either have to boot into linux or Windows XP in order to view the router's website.
Wireless issues:
It takes me at least 5 tries to get a wireless IP from this router, and that's with every wireless card I have. No other router has this issue.
It drops my wireless connections all the time. This gets annoying, especially when I'm downloading at the time of the drop. I talked to Linksys's support and they suggested to move closer to the router for better range and I told them I was only a few feet away from it. They couldn't give me a straight answer after that.
Conclusion:
Do not buy this router, not even on ebay or at a garage sell. You will be disappointed, even as a Netgear fan, it's not worth the money. I eventually went out and bought a newier router, this time a Linksys. That's right, I was so disappointed in Netgear that I had decided to switch to Linksys. How could I trust them after such a bad experience.
Hardware issues:
The router's processor overheats constantly. This is what causes a lot of the freezes and manual reboots for people. I myself have to manually reset it 3-5 times a week, not that this is a lot, but it seems to want to freeze during the times I need it the most (like VoIP calls). I even drilled a hole in the case and mounted a fan to cool it, this worked for a few months but eventually the fan crapped out and it started overheating again.
The wireless chip has 2 connectors for 2 external antennas yet Netgear only used one of them, so the range is crap. I had to solder on another antenna just to reach my bedroom (which is at most 50 feet away).
This router can only take so many connections at a time. Typically most home routers support around 2000-10000 connections, this one craps out at around 1000 (and sometimes less).
Firmware issues:
The thing likes to crap out when conntecting to VPNs. The only solution is to manually reset it (by unplugging, waiting 10 secs, then plugging it back in).
Similar to what others mentioned, it has remote connection turned on by default (leaving a few ports opened to the router) and has no option to disable outside pinging.
The router's webserver does not like Vista. I either have to boot into linux or Windows XP in order to view the router's website.
Wireless issues:
It takes me at least 5 tries to get a wireless IP from this router, and that's with every wireless card I have. No other router has this issue.
It drops my wireless connections all the time. This gets annoying, especially when I'm downloading at the time of the drop. I talked to Linksys's support and they suggested to move closer to the router for better range and I told them I was only a few feet away from it. They couldn't give me a straight answer after that.
Conclusion:
Do not buy this router, not even on ebay or at a garage sell. You will be disappointed, even as a Netgear fan, it's not worth the money. I eventually went out and bought a newier router, this time a Linksys. That's right, I was so disappointed in Netgear that I had decided to switch to Linksys. How could I trust them after such a bad experience.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Poor equipment 2007-08-02
Comment: 1.The wireless signal doesn't seem to be all that great.
2. the internet access controls do not work or work only when the router is in a good mood.
3.Quite frequently (1-5x per week) the router drops the LAN for no obvious reason, so that it has to be turned off and on. Takes about 2-3 Minutes, before the connected computers are then online again.
Conclusion: Stay away from this alpha-version.
And yes- I did upgrade to the latest firmware 1.4.1.13. Of course, the "automatic" function, which is supposed to find firmware upgrades, did not find it. Had to download it and then install it from the local file...
2. the internet access controls do not work or work only when the router is in a good mood.
3.Quite frequently (1-5x per week) the router drops the LAN for no obvious reason, so that it has to be turned off and on. Takes about 2-3 Minutes, before the connected computers are then online again.
Conclusion: Stay away from this alpha-version.
And yes- I did upgrade to the latest firmware 1.4.1.13. Of course, the "automatic" function, which is supposed to find firmware upgrades, did not find it. Had to download it and then install it from the local file...
Customer Rating: 
Summary: When "Reset" Means Reset 2007-06-11
Comment: I experienced progressive deterioration in the performance of my WGT634U over two years and through perhaps three firmware updates. When the router finally would no longer access certain secure sites and continually dropped both secure and non-secure links, I delved into the instruction manual and discovered the caution to be sure to "reset" the router to default values after a firmware update. I had never done this before (I thought "reset" meant unplugging and replugging the router into the power source). After looking for and not finding a reference for resetting the default values inside the web-based interface, I reset the router using the "push" button on the back of the router. Now, the router is working perfectly!!!
Since it is typical to update firmware right out of the box when installing a router, I can only conclude that my installation problems with the WGT634U started when I first installed the router with a firmware update without resetting it to the default values two years ago.
"My Bad" for not reading or taking the time to understand the instructions. "Netgear Bad" for not being clearer in the instructions for so critical an item ... or, for not including an automatic reset to default values as part of a firmware update.
Since it is typical to update firmware right out of the box when installing a router, I can only conclude that my installation problems with the WGT634U started when I first installed the router with a firmware update without resetting it to the default values two years ago.
"My Bad" for not reading or taking the time to understand the instructions. "Netgear Bad" for not being clearer in the instructions for so critical an item ... or, for not including an automatic reset to default values as part of a firmware update.
Customer Rating:
Summary: This thing is awful... 2007-04-20
Comment: I should have listened to the warnings on the other reviews before I bought this, the worst router I have ever used (I install routers as part of my job). I saw the reviews telling how many problems they had, but I thought maybe those people didn't know what they were doing or they had not upgraded the firmware properly, etc. They were right...I upgraded several times to the latest firmware and still, it has to be rebooted at least daily, sometimes every 2 days. The wireless signal is awful...and I didn't even try using it as a network attached storage because of all of the other problems, and that is the entire reason why I bought it in the first place!
I finally gave up after a week or so and went back to my Linksys WRT54G wireless router, the defacto standard for wireless home networks (and small busines).
Netgear, this router should be recalled and replaced.
I finally gave up after a week or so and went back to my Linksys WRT54G wireless router, the defacto standard for wireless home networks (and small busines).
Netgear, this router should be recalled and replaced.
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Netgear WGT634U 108 Mbps Wireless Media Router
