TriNetre - Archive for February 28, 2005

(no longer updated)

For the last three years I have been using Compex NP16 as the wireless broadband router for our home network. It has been a wonderfully stable machine needing a rare reboot now and then. But two days ago, it died on us. After trying, without success, to TFTP a rescue image (thinking it was a corrupted firmware) we decided to go out and buy a new router.

For the first time in my gadget-purchasing life I went to the shop without any specific model in mind and without reading any reviews. I ended up getting a Netgear WGT624 wireless router. At that time the choice looked good - WEP, WPA(PSK), 802.11 b/g, enhanced g, upgradeable firmware, great range etc. How wrong I was!

The trouble started once I setup the wired connection and moved onto wireless. The router would freeze every couple of hours and drop all packets. Even ping to the router's local IP address was being dropped. Thinking that it could be because of some glitch in the updated firmware, I downgraded, without any success. Playing around with the channel (interference issues), disabling 108 Mbps support, changing WPA to WEP did not solve the problem either. Googling brought me to this rather depressing 10 pages long support forum post at Netgear's website. A lot of guys seems to be having similar problems. Some seem to get it working disabling 108 Mbps support while either suggested downgrading the firmware, while others still disabled wireless support as a whole! The last was not an option for me since Surya uses a laptop.

Finally I seem to have stumbled upon a combination that seems to work. I still use the latest V4.2.6_1.0.1 firmware. But I have disabled stateful packet filtering functionality as well as disabled WEP and WPA completely! I have to rely on MAC based access list to secure the wireless. I am almost certain the WEP/WPA support is the culprit.

Whatever it be, if you are in the market for a wireless router, stay away from Netgear WGT624 router. Given the poor support in the Netgear forum I would say, stay away from Netgear products as a whole!