Netgear RangeMax 240 (WPNT834) Warning/Review

Hi all,

here's a quick review of Netgear's flagship consumer router that I wrote.

I decided to post it here because at this moment this router does not work properly with Intel 3945 wireless cards that are very common in newer laptops (Dells in particular).






Pros
Blazing fast when it works
Good wireless range when it works


Cons
Extremely buggy firmware - many problems:
- price
- does not work (crashes) when used with Intel 3945 wireless cards (Intel Centrino wireless)
- certain NICs cause router to crash when autosense on the NICs is enabled (maybe limited to gigabit NICs)
- IPs on the router's DHCP server do not always get reserved properly
- and others

- tech support is trully horrible




Review

Netgear's flagship consumer router: NETGEAR RANGEMAX 240 (WPNT834).

What do you get from NetGear for $150CAD+tax? A really buggy firmware! Read on...


Appearance and Design

This router is visually attractive, icons on the front of the router are easy to read and blue LEDs look nice. Overall the router feels solid.

There are 3 antennas, but only one can be taken off (and possibly replaced with a higher gain antenna).

Feature set is also nice, wireless settings have WPA and WPA2 encryption that you can use if wireless actually works (more about that later on).


Performance
Hardware/wired performance-wise this router is very fast. I tried transferring a big file from my laptop to one of the newer desktops I had and the peak speed was around 9MB/sec (72mbps) according to Windows task manager; average speed was closer to 50mbps. Still not bad. Wireless coverage is also good. Switching the router wireless mode to 'Maximum Range' allowed me to get an 'Excellent' link quality and signal strength from anywhere in a 2-story house (the router is in the basement). My old Microsoft router only managed a 'Fair' link quality and signal strength (yes yes I know... Microsoft...). Others say, however, that at the limits of its wireless range, the speed of your connection to the router will be closer to 11b than 11g. (11mbit vs 54mbit)

Problems
When setting up wired connections I got a taste of problems to come with this router, once all of the computers were connected the router kept freezing once every 5 minutes or less and needed to be restarted. I have a fairly extensive background in troubleshooting Windows and networking, so I was quickly able to identify the system that was causing the router to freeze and why it was doing it. The system has a gigabit Marvel Yukon ethernet adapter integrated on the motherboard. Based on my prior experiences I decided to try disabling the autosense and set link speed to 10MBps full duplex and when that worked to 100MBps full duplex. The router did not freeze anymore. This was something I knew to try, but is definitely not obvious or even known to an average consumer.

I thought: autosense problems, hmm, not a good start and then moved onto wireless.

Here a huge surprise was waiting for me: the router rebooted when I tried to access the internet using my laptop. It has Intel 3945 wireless card. After very little poking around I found that it's a know issue and there is a workaround. However, the workaround does not actually work, because the instructions are completely bogus and there is no setting to disable "11e QOS" that netgear suggested disabling.

Note: this problem is most likely not limited to Intel 3945 wireless cards. If your wireless card sends 11e QOS frames then you may have similar problems with this router.


Non-PC issues
I failed to connect to my wireless using my Dell Axim x50v PDA while using WPA encryption that my PDA supports.


Technical Support
... and then I made a big mistake... I called tech support. I thought my local ISP tech support was bad. After calling Netgear I think that Netgear managed to reach a new low. Their technical support was worse than any other tech support I've dealt with, and I had to deal with quite a few and worked at one myself.

Multiple techs I spoke to at level 1 did not speak english and kept putting me on hold for no reason. By saying they did no speak english I mean that one asked me if there is an 'F as in Frank' in my phone number - 255-xxxx. After being put on hold by the 'tech' for a half an hour and trying to explain that my router was indeed connected to the Internet but the router was restarting when I used wireless, I demanded that he'd transfer me to level 2. 15 minutes later that is exactly what he did. It seems there (at level 2) people do speak English. That is, judging by the first 15 seconds of the conversation, because after 15 seconds I was promptly hung up on. 5 subsequent callbacks through level 1 (where people still kept putting me on hold for no reason) did not yield a longer conversation.



Bottom line
Save your money save your time. Go for something else.
Until the firmware for this router is fixed the only to consider this router is if you really can use its speed, have the advanced technical knowledge required to set it up (or troubleshoot it rather) and are willing to put up with its problems.


Additional Information

Systems on the network:
Windows XP SP2 (x4 - incl 2 wireless)
Windows 2000 Pro (x1)
Windows 2000 Server (x1)
Windows 2003 Mobile Edition (Dell Axim x50v PDA)

Products used before:
Linksys BEFSR411, Microsoft Wireless-B router

 

Ugh, sounds horrid. I have had great luck with Linksys myself. Just don't use their quick setup crap, and they tend to have pretty good hardware, as well as firmware Only had one die on me ever (most of my family uses them), and I'm pretty sure that I just zapped it with static when moving one day.

 

I bought the Belkin N1 over a week ago and haven't had a single problem with it. I get great coverage all over my house, property, and neighborhood. I haven't picked up the matching PCMCIA card yet but a friend of mine has one and he can get some serious throughput with his

 

I have the N1 too and it's great. I don't have the card either, but it works great with my Intel 3945.

 

Same card I am using. I may someday get the matching N1 card, but not for a while.

 

is N1 really worth the price? Has anyone tried it with a p2p app?

 

It won't speed up p2p apps, Leshii. It'll just increase your internal network speeds, like to other computers on your network. p2p apps are limited solely by your internet connection speed. That being said, I don't really like using pre or even draft specs, because things change so much, and the hardware you buy will likely not work with the "real" spec, which is what'll actually be rolled out on a wide scale when it's done.

 

I have to wait for it in ExpressCard when I want it anyway At the current price, I wouldn't buy it yet.

 

I am not in any hurry to get it either. ExpressCard would be nice but it doesn't seem to be catching on like they hoped.

 

Thanks pitabred, I already knew that though. What I meant to ask is whether anyone has noticed any intermittent connectivity or disconnection problems with this router when using P2P apps. Аny router will eventually crash as the number of connections increases, but some routers are known for their unacceptable performance (for example linksys WRT54GS V5). Online games also open multiple connections.

Now, I don't do much (if any) P2P myself - it's just an easy way to measure router performance.

This is a new router and there are very few detailed reviews available.

 

I also have a dell e1505 with a intel 3945 wireless card and i use this same router also..It wont work at all with my wpnt834 router causing it to disconnect or sometimes reboot all of my computers . the workaround netgear posted dont work at all either ! Has netgear given up on this router because they havent released a firmware for it since april ? What i have to do now in order for me to be able to use this laptop with the wpnt834 is use it with a dell 1490 wireless card which seeems to work fine with this router ..Besides the 3945 problem this is a great router and i would really like to be able to use it with my 3945 card ! Any word if netgear plan on getting of their butts and releasing a firmware for it ?