Netgear Netgear RangeMax NEXT Wireless Router

Netgear RangeMax Next Wireless Router

Netgear RangeMax NEXT Wireless Router Review, by Becky Waring August 25, 2006

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• Latest User Reviews 2 reviews
• Reviewed by: bunkey

  Duration of ownership: 1 Month

  Strengths: Fast, easy setup, good help and documentation.

  Weaknesses: Trouble with NetGear WiFi card software.

  Overall: This router will deliver, as promised, but you have to do your research and learning about it first. Do a firmware upgrade, but you must reset the router right after the upgrade is completed and this will put the settings back to default. I had to put my phone line DSL modem into bridge mode, so the router handles firewall and PPoE sign in duties. Lastly, poor performance will happen, if using NetGear PCI WiFi card Smart Wizard software utility to setup your connection. It appears to clash with some software, that loads during bootup and gets corrupted. Re-install the software for the card and during the card setup choose Windows to configure your connection.

• Reviewed by: SoopahMan

  Duration of ownership: 1 Day

  Strengths: Good range; Draft N support may help later; Stands vertically saving space with no antennas to mess with

  Weaknesses: Setup freezes Internet Explorer; 30 second pause and restart for every change made to Router; fails to connect to the Internet without serious custom configuration; XP laptop cannot connect over wifi; Nintendo DS cannot connect over Wifi

  Overall: The NetGear RangeMax Next wifi router was a serious disappointment. You begin by inserting the CD which they say over and over. This CD loads a page in your browser; if that browser is Internet Explorer it pegs your CPU at 100% and generally freaks out. It doesn't technically "freeze," but it does slow your computer to a crawl and causes setup to never finish. Moving into Firefox with the same URL, setup runs but in my case ultimately couldn't get me online. This isn't user error - my SMC Barricade I was upgrading from connected just fine to Comcast, who have an extremely simple Internet arrangement (no locked MAC address, no user/pass, no static IP - just connect to it). After I returned this Netgear I got a Linksys WRT54G instead and that connected in less than 5 minutes, as part of its setup process. The Netgear setup software is horribly broken. Back to the Netgear process. I had to kill setup and browse to the configuration URL, 192.168.1.1. After serious reconfiguration of the Router I finally got it to connect to Comcast. This took over an hour, caused partly by the fact that every time you make a change to the Router's settings, you get a wait screen. The router completely shuts down, causing you to lose your connection. 30 seconds to a minute later it comes back. Then you can make your next change and sit around another minute. In fact, I'm reducing my rating from 2 stars to 1 right now because of how amazingly frustrating that process is. Do not buy this router. The programmers writing this router software didn't waste their time making it work well for you. Don't waste your time or money on their shoddy product.

• Reviewed by: gsaman

  Strengths: Got very helpful support when setting things up, plenty of setup options, 4 gigbit ports to hardwire important computers

  Weaknesses: Can't secure to wall, internal antenna, options are a little bit confusing

  Overall: I bought two of these and when I ran into a little bit of trouble called support. They were very helpful (accents but not hard to understand) and he got me up and running quickly. I don't like the internal antenna because that means I have no choices as to upgrading to more powerful antennas later (I have not had a chance to really test the distances which this thing works well). However, it is working fine so far. When setting these up on the network to do some specialized things it had all the options I needed but it was not quite as clear as I would hope. I was able to restrict access for a set of IPs and allow two subnets to talk to each other, etc.Finally, I like the 4 gigabit ports which allowed me to hardwire some of the more important computers at truly fast speeds. As you can probably tell from reading this, I'm no expert but thus far I can't complain too much about the Rangemax

• Reviewed by: timmatt72

  Strengths: web content filter, Tons of user-configurable settings. easy setup, easy firmware upgrade.

  Weaknesses: Little too big, can't mount to wall, no storage link for usb hard drives (for network storage). wireless hiccups with 802.11G cards.

  Overall: I am in the Lan/Wan business for a fortune 500 company, so my ideal router is one that is free, and if that cannot happen then the cheapest, because one day all will stop working. I have had the linksys b routers, motorola g routers, dlink N routers, belkin and this netgear rangemax. I liked the router for its functionality (n speeds)at first but started feeling hiccups on g cards around the house. (low signal 20 feet away and such) So I went and bought a dlink N card. That worked great but I don't want to buy cards for all my family's laptops. So I would have to say this 40 dollar cheap buy will do the trick until the newer High powered antennas get integrated into these routers in order to truely get 300 mbps throughput. In my mind the D-link wireless N I set up for a side network works true to its advertisement (300 mbps speeds). All tech reviews will claim the same too, dlink xtreme n routers are the best.

• Reviewed by: mleafty

  Strengths: Pretty box, nice paperweight

  Weaknesses: Operation, tech support, manufacturer's willingness to support

  Overall: I purchased the router with seven 311 access cards, for use on computers that interface with financial websites. Router would NOT allow connections--unplug the router and it works fine. Seems there is a firmware problem. Tech Support is worse than banging your head against the wall. First they send you to morans in India, where accent and common sense stretch your ability to get anything accomplished, after 45 min on the phone to re-confirm the data registration. Then stupid questions that make you sure that Netgear wants you to figure it out for yourself long before you finish the phone call. If your problem persists, then you are sent to tech support in the Phillipines, where again you wonder how these people were ever hired. If your problem still persists, you may get the phone number for tech support in the US--where they claim to either fix your problem or give a refund. That is until they hear that you bought more than one. Then another sorry excuse about they are unable to give refunds. Some phone calls to tech support have lasted over 4 hours, with NO resolution. If you are intent on throwing your money away, let me give you a post office box.....

• Reviewed by: sklinstl

  Strengths: Backwards Compatible: Can accommodate older wireless cards and adapters among computers in our house (particularly WEP encryption). Otherwise the speed is far better than G.

  Weaknesses: Set-up: while the program is easy. It did not run on my older desktop with an XP home edition OS. I don't know why. I had to use my laptop to use the set-up disk.

  Overall: The range and speed are as advertised - great improvement on my G router (which melted down) and the G+ router from Belkin which I had to return because it could not accommodated WEP as it advertised. Obviously the speed is reduced when using 64-bit WEP encryption, but everyone is happy in the house. I was convinced to get this model as it allows me to lean forward (for the future when there's N-capable wireless adapters/cards throughout the house). And, as was mentioned in another review, upgrades are available for the firmware. I haven't had any overheating problems (which is how I lost the G rounter), but I have had to periodically reset the router by cycling its power. I was in a rush and bought this at a local retailer. For my parents house I will definitely get this same router at the cheaper prices online.

• Reviewed by:

  Strengths: Easy to set up.

  Weaknesses: only a 6 ft Cat5 cable.

  Overall: I have never set-up a wireless network before. This was so simple. I can pick it up across a parking lot on my laptop easily (through Al siding and a brick wall!) Great product.