DO NOT BUY NETGEAR PRODUCTS

[slackerinabox]

I'm not commenting about the quality of their products but the quality of their support... I won't bore you with the details but after a combined total of literally 17 hours on hold, countless idiot's advice ("update the firmware!" "downgrade the firmware!" "did you try updating the firmware?"), they finally agreed to RMA my defective router... But here's the kicker- they said that I would have to pay $16 to get my replacement (which is a refurb and not even new!!!)... Considering that I paid $40 for the thing and spent countless hours on hold only to spend $16 MORE on a product that was defective in the first place... I should have thrown the thing in the garbage instead of wasting my time.. The rep told me that their warranty card clearly states that I would have to pay shipping on defective products- he started cracking up when I mentioned that they should plaster that info on the front of the box in big letters instead of burried in the box... Well, I'm in the product for a new router-any suggestions?

 

[dnuggett]

I have been very happy with my Netgear router, but here are two more suggestions:

Linksys
D-Link

Stay away from Belkin (or so I've been told)

 

[Soybomb]

Every line has its lemons, and for what you pay for the device you can't expect indepth tech support. Upgrade the firmware and reboot it is about all I would expect before they just rma it. Sucks you have to pay shipping but also not uncommon for warranty parts either.

I like linksys the best personally out of the line of home routers, but some people will tell the same story you did with linksys in place of netgear.

 

[Need4Speed]

yeah...itheir support sucks. it might say "free 24/7" support, but that means youre on hold 24hrs...my longest hold time was over 9 hours. I literally had them on speaker phone the entire day at work...

they make decent stuff, but dont buy for the support...

 

[JackMDS]

Since all of the Entry Level Network Support is similar to the described above.

What should I buy?

 

[slackerinabox]

Originally posted by: JackMDS
Since all of the Entry Level Network Support is similar to the described above.

What should I buy?

Microsoft seems to be the way to go... They don't actually make the hardware but their warranty is the best in the industry.. It may cost you $10 more but it's worth it..

 

[aka1nas]

The MS stuff seems to be a little picky about OS though, especially the 802.11.x gear. I tried using it for my aunt and uncle's home LAN as my uncle's boss recomended it to him, and it was pretty lame as the software neccesary only works on 98,ME,2K, and XP. I also didn't like how the software hid a lot of features behind the setup wizard unlike a Linksys or Dlink.

 

[dnuggett]

I personally have nothing but bad things about Microsoft labeled network hardware. Overpriced and unrelaible.

 

[cmetz]

freedomsbeat212, you get what you pay for. I realize that this will not in your mind justify why the product didn't work for you or the support did not meet your expectations, but you need to be aware when you buy cheap, low-end equipment, you're not going to get a great piece of engineering, and you're not going to get great support. You're buying a cost optimized product and everything will be cost optimal, not quality optimal. The good news of the SOHO routers is that they're cheap enough that you can throw them away and buy somebody else's and still be ahead of what it would cost to buy a higher quality business class product. Plenty of folks in this forum have done just that, and I suggest that you do so, too... just replace it and move on. You should be able to pick up a Linksys or D-Link SOHO router for $10-$40 depending on the deal landscape (see Hot Deals).

 

[InlineFive]

Everyone will get a bad piece of hardware once in a while. All I have bought for both business and home have been Netgear and they go 24/7/365 without having to powercycle. Very solid and very fast, I only go with Netgear.

-Por

 

[buleyb]

Yeah, its one thing to be ticked off, but these rant threads don't accomplish anything really.

I've had netgear stuff before, and the few times I've needed to call support, I got in no prob, they straightened me out quickly.

 

[Amorphus]

Originally posted by: aka1nas
The MS stuff seems to be a little picky about OS though, especially the 802.11.x gear. I tried using it for my aunt and uncle's home LAN as my uncle's boss recomended it to him, and it was pretty lame as the software neccesary only works on 98,ME,2K, and XP. I also didn't like how the software hid a lot of features behind the setup wizard unlike a Linksys or Dlink.

uh, what else are you looking for? the Windows 98/ME/2k/XP combo constitutes almost all of the OSes on computers today, so don't be complaining about Linux support, especially from their principal competitor.

 

[lucky9]

IMHO Linksys and D-Link and Belkin (probably) and most other consumer level, brand name products are engineered as well as any. They use components that aren't going to last 20 years, but they are amazing for what you pay for them. Remember economy of scale. The more you sell, the more you make. So they, in the marketplace, lower prices to compete and make less per unit. But they make a bundle with their volume. At no time in history has so much been available for so little in the way of functionality. Kings and men who called the world their personal property didn't live as well.