Netgear WPNT834 RangeMax 240
Manufacturer: NetGear Inc. Part number: WPNT834
- More product information:
- Editors' review
- User reviews
- Specifications
- Bottom Line:
- Though the Netgear WPNT834 RangeMax 240 provides phenomenal throughput at short range, it doesn't deliver on MIMO's promise of fantastic long-range performance.
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CNET editors' review
Netgear WPNT834 RangeMax 240
price range: $79.95
- Reviewed by: Stephanie Bruzzese
- Edited by: Felisa Yang
- Reviewed on: 03/02/2006
- Released on: 11/07/2005
The good: The Netgear RangeMax 240 wireless router showed spectacular maximum and mixed-mode throughput rates. In addition, it has three adjustable antennas and comes with a comprehensive user manual. Features include WPA2 and firewall security and VPN and DMZ support.
The bad: The Netgear RangeMax 240 router provided middling speeds at long range in our tests and lacks wall-mounting brackets for more mounting options.
The bottom line: Though the Netgear WPNT834 RangeMax 240 provides phenomenal throughput at short range, it doesn't deliver on MIMO's promise of fantastic long-range performance.
There's a new kid in Wi-Fi town, and it's terrorizing the neighborhood: the Netgear WPNT834 RangeMax 240 wireless router provides nearly twice the maximum speed of our previous performance champs. This MIMO-based device also prevails in several other respects, such as solid documentation, simple setup, and ample security. Given that it had so much going for it, we were especially disappointed when the WPNT834 ultimately failed to fulfill one of MIMO's core promises--fast performance at long range. For long-range performance, the Belkin Pre-N Router remains the best choice--but you won't find better short-range speed than with the Netgear WPNT834.
The WPNT834 embodies the classic paperback-book size and shape of older Netgear routers such as the WPN824. Yet unlike its counterparts, the WPNT834 has three antennas that screw into its back edge. Each antenna can tilt 90 degrees backward. In addition, the outer two can rotate 180 degrees, and the middle antenna 360 degrees, giving you ultimate flexibility to orient them so as to maximize coverage. Between the antennas are the typical WAN jack, pinhole reset button, and four LAN jacks. Status lights on the front edge indicate router activity, including LAN connections and transmission speed. Netgear puts a handy cheat sheet underneath the router to help identify the router's exterior features. We wish the company also included wall-mounting brackets, which would allow you to hang the router high on a wall where its signal would be less encumbered. The absence of these brackets means the router must either lie flat or, if you attach the snap-on feet, stand on its edge.
The installation process for the Netgear WPNT834 RangeMax 240 router is no more involved than with most routers. Insert the bundled CD into your PC's optical drive, and the SmartWizard walks you through connecting and configuring the device. Once the process is complete, you can manipulate more features via the browser-based configuration tool. Highlights include establishing passkeys via WPA2 security; restricting access to the router by specific MAC addresses; opening up VPN pass-throughs and a DMZ port; and erecting a firewall via NAT and SPI.
With its Airgo Networks Gen 3 MIMO chip and 240Mbps maximum speed rating--more than double the speed of first-generation, 108Mbps MIMO routers--the Netgear WPNT834 RangeMax 240 absolutely annihilated the competition in tests CNET Labs conducted at a 10-foot range. It pushed data through our maximum-performance trial at a scorching 93.8Mbps, crushing previous top scores such as the D-Link DI-624M's 51.1Mbps and the Belkin Wireless Pre-N's 45.7Mbps. In our mixed-mode test, the Netgear WPNT834 earned a similarly stellar 83.3Mbps compared with the Belkin's 42.1Mbps and the D-Link's 17Mbps. Yet when we increased the distance to 200 feet for our long-range test, the Netgear WPNT834 slowed way down, managing only 24.2Mbps next to the Belkin's 36.4Mbps and the D-Link's 33.3Mbps.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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Throughput in Mbps |
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Throughput in Mbps |
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Throughput in Mbps measured indoors at 200 feet |
Netgear supports the WPNT834 with a one-year warranty and toll-free, 24/7 phone support. While this offering pales in comparison to that offered by Belkin, it is within the normal limits of Wi-Fi router warranties. Netgear does a decent job with Web support, providing a dedicated support page for the WPNT834 that includes links to troubleshooting tips, how-tos, and other information.
User reviews
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This might be a good product someday.
by azz710 on February 7, 2006
Pros: Easy to set-up, strong, fast wireless connections
Cons: Horribly buggy firmware
Summary: I just purchased and installed my brand, new WPNT834 router and I'm generally pleased, I suppose, especially considering the trouble I've had with routers, in general (I'll ...
Summary: I just purchased and installed my brand, new WPNT834 router and I'm generally pleased, I suppose, especially considering the trouble I've had with routers, in general (I'll get to that later, if only to satisfy your curiousity).
The WAN performance is good, as least as far as I can tell, as the speed test at broadbandreports.com tells me I'm getting just over 9 megabits per second, which is my ISP's current limit. The LAN performance is good. The wireless performance is excellent even though my speed is limited to 54 megabits per second due to the fact that my laptop, an IBM T-41, has a built-in a/b/g wireless NIC and that's its maximum speed. The feature set is good though, as others have pointed out, there's no access to the Airgo chipset's QoS features.
Here's a list of the problems I've discovered so far:
1) I find that after a few hours of operation, I can no longer access the router's html server; I've tried several browsers and all report that the server is busy. Recycling power to the WPNT834 re-enables the html server for another few hours. While I am not able to access the router's html server, the router continues to function properly.
2) After saving the configuration (I'm not sure if this is the trigger or if it's random), the router's html server appears to lose contact with the router's internal data. All settings appear via the web interface to be the default, which is not possible as the router continues to function normally.
3) After recycling power to the WPNT834 to fix either 1) or 2), the router occasionally loses access to my ISP's DNS servers. The proper server addresses are listed on the connection status screen, but no DNS services are available. I must release and renew the router's lease to my ISP's DHCP server to solve the problem. This problem is intermittent, occurring twice in, perhaps, seven router reboots.
4) I cannot access the router's html server remotely even though I enabled and set-up the Remote Management feature to be as permissive as possible for experimental purposes. If I replace the WPNT834 with my ancient D-Link DI-704, I can access the latter's html interface remotely, so I can only assume that this is yet another firmware problem with the WPNT834.
5) My TiVo, which has a wireless NIC, is assigned an IP address by the WPNT834's DHCP server, but the TiVo doesn't show-up in the router's client list and an entry in the router's persistence table, with the TiVo's NIC's MAC address, is ignored.
I have reported all of these problems to Netgear, via detailed text at their web site. Each problem was answered to the effect that the problems could better be dealt with over the phone. When I called, I found that the level-one technician did not have a good grasp of colloquial American English. He persisted in trying to help me debug wireless speed issues, though I did not report that as a problem and, in fact, am happy with the wireless performance. Eventually, after a fruitless hour on the phone, he queued my problems to level-two. I haven't yet heard from the level-two technician, so I don't know if my problems will be solved, but I sincerely doubt that they will be.
For it is my feeling that none of the home networking companies I've dealt with (D-Link, Linksys, Netgear, Belkin) are set-up to actually solve problems with their badly written firmware, and they all have badly written firmware. Rather, they are geared toward solving problems caused by the end user and/or replacing defective hardware. The result is that if one buys a product with bad firmware, and the manufacturer decides to do nothing, there is no recourse but to return the product for a refund.
__________________________________
Now, my saga, which, I believe, points out the woeful state of affairs in the entire consumer electronics field. To compete, and to satisfy their marketing departments, manufacturers have loaded on new features at an amazing rate but they rarely if ever seem to test their new products sufficiently. There are some exceptions, but the Netgear WPNT834 is clearly not one of them.
At the dawn of the PC networking era in the 1980s, I installed a number of Netgear hubs and switches, having found them to be designed and built very well, this despite their competitive (to say the least) price. When I first got broadband access at home in the fall of 1999, however, only D-Link had home routers and I got their first four port router (the first of its type on the market, in fact), a D-Link DI-704, in December of that year. It served me well, and still serves my in-laws, this despite its WAN speed limit of 3.5 megabits per second. I replaced it just about two years ago with a D-Link DI-774 wireless router. I paid a premium for that, because it supported WiFi a/b/g, but found numerous fatal flaws in its firmware, this despite the fact that I bought it, apparently, at the end of the product life cycle. After much prodding and many threats, D-Link replaced it with a DI-784.
A week ago Wednesday night, after almost two years of nearly flawless operation, my D-Link DI-784 died. All of its panel lights came on solid and no amount of power recycling or reset button pushing will coax it to function. As it's out of warranty, I ran out the next day to replace it, installing yet another DI-704 I had laying around as a non-wireless fill-in. I bought a Linksys WRT54GX2 at Staples, having read a number of glowing reviews of it. I got it home and discovered that it had two hardware problems. One of the wired RJ-45 ports was dead and the WiFi radio kept turning itself off. I exchanged it the next day for another, which worked well enough for me to discover a myriad of design flaws. 1) While its WAN speed is good, its LAN speed is miserable, much worse than even the old D-Link DI-704. 2) It has no DHCP persistence table. Apparently, Linksys products generally do not, which, if one uses DHCP, renders application routing unreliable as one's servers change IP addresses when rebooted or reconnected. I tried switching all of my systems to static IP addresses, but the Linksys WRT54GX2 assigned them IP addresses, anyhow. These phantom addresses were not reachable, but the fact that they show-up in its client table indicates little or no firmware testing. 3) Unless the WiFi channel was set to 11 (not the default of Auto), I had a lot of trouble connecting my IBM T-41 laptop.
So, a day later, I decided to do more research and settled upon a new D-Link MIMO router, their DI-634M. Comp USA had it on their web site, but when I visited the store they hadn't yet gotten any stock, so I purchased my Netgear WPNT834, despite the much higher price, the decision based solely upon my experience with Netgear products in the early days.
I do hope my trust was not displaced and that Netgear will get their act together and fix these firmware problems ASAP. At least their box is physically solid, unlike the newer products from D-Link and Linksys (though older Linksys products are physically solid as well).Updated
Folks,
Before I go on, I should mention that I discovered yet another problem with this router, and it's a big one: If one enables remote administration, and then disables it, the feature remains enabled. This, of course, is a major security issue. NETGEAR's response? "We cannot duplicate this in the lab."
And after weeks of documenting all of the firmware problems I discovered, and being told by all but one of the NETGEAR Level 1 and 2 technicians that none of the problems could be the fault of the firmware as no one had reported them (and I'm chopped liver, I suppose, and not someone), they issued an RMA and replaced the router with a new one.
I restored all of my settings and, as I suspected, the new router has all of the same problems as the old one. This is pretty conclusive evidence that the problems are inherent in the firmware and that the firmware was inexpertly written and barely debugged. I reported this to NETGEAR, of course, and have had no substantial response except that I could e-mail my problem list to the development team but that they would not respond to me.
This simply isn't the way the manufacturers of our electronic equipment should be treating us. But, as I say, shoddy practices, both in design and problem resolution, appear to have become the norm. It wasn't always thus, and I offer an example...
In the early 1970s, my father's company purchased a used Bell & Howell Film-o-sound 16mm projector of the type used in schools for decades. This particular model was made in the 1930s and still functioned well. When my father's company no longer had a need for it, he gave it to me and I used it to show films in my home that I borrowed from the local county library. In the late '80s, a tri-axial electrolytic capacitor in the amplifier exploded. As I had no schematic, I had no idea what to replace it with, though I assumed that I'd have to use three discrete capacitors as most tri-axials were custom made. I called Bell & Howell and was connected with an elderly technician (he was probably my current age). My request was only for the values of the exploded capacitor, but he took my name and address and sent not only a photostat of the schematic but a replacement tri-axial capacitor as well, all for free, and the warranty had expired fifty five years earlier! The projector wasn't fancy, but its design is simple and elegant. It worked perfectly the day it was built and it still works perfectly today. I will leave it to the reader to draw his or her own conclusions.
Regards,
Jeff Broido32 out of 34 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Tried the rest, this is the BEST!
by jsmyrak on March 21, 2006
Pros: Cool looking and a 5th Grader could set-up!!!
Cons: Not as customizable, but hardly a con.
Summary: First I tried Linksys DI-634 which was okay, little junky but okay. So, I went with the Linksys WRT54GX4 which was a joke. U have to have an engineering degree ...
Summary: First I tried Linksys DI-634 which was okay, little junky but okay. So, I went with the Linksys WRT54GX4 which was a joke. U have to have an engineering degree to setup, "what the heck is 'concatenation' anyway?" Drops connections regularly and virtually unrepairable. I dropped more cash yet on the Netgear RangeMax and I'm soooo glad I did. I don't use the PCMCIA cards (have a centrino) and it is consistent and was so easy to setup... It even fixed some of my mistakes...AUTOMATICALLY! I had some bad experiences and was due for this. Buy it, you'll like it.
4 out of 6 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Netgear Rangemax 240 Router
by ballpython468 on March 4, 2007
Pros: Sounds good if it worked.
Cons: I have had nothing but trouble since I purchased this router. Now it will not even connect to the internet.
Summary: I have had nothing but problems with the tech staff at Netgear. They are all from India and difficult to understand, not to mention they are not very knowledgeable about ...
Summary: I have had nothing but problems with the tech staff at Netgear. They are all from India and difficult to understand, not to mention they are not very knowledgeable about this router. I sent one back and the second one will not even connect to the internet. I requested a different router from Netgear but they refused. I am very displeased with Netgear and will look elsewhere for my network gear next time.
2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
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avoid like the plague
by traceyincambridge on February 22, 2007
Pros: fast when it works
Cons: it rarely works
Summary: This product disconnects and requires resetting so frequently as to be utterly useless. Admin utility is patchy. Sparse documentation makes reference to url's that don't exist. Customer support ...
Summary: This product disconnects and requires resetting so frequently as to be utterly useless. Admin utility is patchy. Sparse documentation makes reference to url's that don't exist. Customer support is unhelpful. This is extra disappointing as I have grown to trust CNET editors' ratings and I feel let down that it has been given an 8 out of 10.
1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Good device with original firmware.
by paulbridges02 on August 3, 2006
Pros: Range, signal strength, looks good
Cons: New firmware 1.0_41NA has made it a brick
Summary: Since updating to the 1.0_41 firmware on my WPNT834 router, I have been unable to obtain a dynamic IP from the ISP.
I have been on the phone for ...Summary: Since updating to the 1.0_41 firmware on my WPNT834 router, I have been unable to obtain a dynamic IP from the ISP.
I have been on the phone for around 4 hours with a couple L1 techs and for about an hour and a half with 2 L2 techs. They have finally determined that it is a firmware problem, and have sent it to L3. I only had it sent to L3 after writing them and letting them know that it has been almost 4 weeks now that I have had a dead router and that I was about to write to the IL state Attorney General and the Better Business Bureau.
The customer service has been sub-par to say the least. Being that I am in school for computer networking (cisco devices and the such) I did a lot of the preliminary trouble shooting on my own. After explaining this, I still had to go through 20-30 hard reboots even though I assured them it was something in the firmware.
They have finally searched the warehouse for a device with the old firmware but were not able to locate one. They also offered to exchange my router for a WPN824 I think it is, but I want the Airgo chipset which only comes in the WPNT834. Currently they are sending it to L3 techs and are supposed to call back within a few days. If they dont, I now have a direct L2 tech phone number that I am supposed to call back on.
Over all the device worked great where others wouldnt, until I upgraded the firmware. This has left a bad taste in my mouth though and I don't know that I will buy Netgear again.1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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6.0 decent wireless router with flaws
by floppymoose on February 12, 2006
Pros: good range, easy interface
Cons: poor logging, video conferencing woes
Summary: I had a Netgear FM114P router/wireless station which I was very happy with. But after a couple of years of good service the wireless crapped out. The one problem ...
Summary: I had a Netgear FM114P router/wireless station which I was very happy with. But after a couple of years of good service the wireless crapped out. The one problem it had before was it wouldn't cover the front of my house.
After some reading I decided to try the RangeMax. It has a virtually identical web based setup to the FM114P, and it promised to extend my range.
On the range it delivered. I get good (3 bar) connections in the front of my house despite intervening metal appliances (washer/dryer stack, oven, refrigerator).
But I was disappointed to find that the actual router features are somewhat downgraded. It lets me port forward like the FM114P did, but it doesn't let me set up different logging rules for the different port forwarding. With the FM114P I could log hits to ssh and mail, and drop hits to my web server, for instance. There is no way to do that with the RangeMax. In fact, logging on the RangeMax is pretty much unconfigurable in any useful way.
And I recently discovered that iSight video conferencing, which I could just barely do before with my parents across the country (me dsl, them cable), now no longer works (too poor a connection). I have the old router setup too and confirmed that switching back to it fixes the problem.
I'm really not sure why the RangeMax, which is from the same company, can't deal with the video traffic. Is it doing too much packet inspection? When I do download/upload tests I get the same performance as I did with the older router, so I'm not sure what's special about video.
All in all if you don't need logging functionality, and aren't using video conferencing, the RangeMax is a good router and will extend your working wireless range. But beware the cons. They are going to force me to try again with a different router.1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Quality ok, Support terrible
by gencaf on November 8, 2008
Pros: Good product with nice, sleek features. Looks good on the shelf. Provides good range.
Cons: Poor tech support. Limited phone support followed by web-based email support. I received only one response per day. A conversation could last for two weeks. Also received contradictions between support personel and Netgear tech manuals.
Summary: Bad support trumped it all for me. One mishap can lead to weeks of down time or a costly replacement. Buy the replacement from another manufacturer now and forget the ...
Summary: Bad support trumped it all for me. One mishap can lead to weeks of down time or a costly replacement. Buy the replacement from another manufacturer now and forget the hassles.
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faster router with design problems
by zhengliu on August 24, 2007
Pros: very fast.
Cons: all kinds of firmware problems
Summary: I bought a refurbished one from a local store. I tried a whole night on this router. The first thing I did was always update to the latest firmware. Because ...
Summary: I bought a refurbished one from a local store. I tried a whole night on this router. The first thing I did was always update to the latest firmware. Because I have been using Netgear wireless for very long time. My old b generation route has been working very well for 6 years (no problem at all). And this time I have got all kinds of disconnecting problem and encryption problem.
I tried another one, then I was sure it was design problem. I think that is why they don't sell this router in new anymore. I switched to wnr834B N router. It works much better no problem so far. So avoid this model if possible. -
constant time outs
by Cazimi on March 25, 2007
Pros: good range
Cons: constant time outs, had to replace
Summary: Annoying blue light was forgiveable, but having to restart every twenty to thirty minutes wasn't.
Summary: Annoying blue light was forgiveable, but having to restart every twenty to thirty minutes wasn't.
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Avoid this Router
by jeroneanderson on March 20, 2007
Pros: Potentially Fast Wireless Transmission and good range
Cons: Buggy Firmware. Disconnects from Internet. Not reliable.
Summary: This might be fine if it worked. As it is even with the current firmware update, it will connect at best for a few hours and then disconnect. It also ...
Summary: This might be fine if it worked. As it is even with the current firmware update, it will connect at best for a few hours and then disconnect. It also causes problems for my cable modem requiring it to be reset as well. There are good Netgear wireless routers but this is not one of them so it should be avoided.
Specifications
- Manufacturer: NetGear Inc.
- Part number: WPNT834
- Description: You may not even know it but your wireless home network may be slowing you down. As everyone in your home begins to stream more video, download more MP3s, back-up and synchronize files on networked storage, play online games, and make more Internet phone calls - you place a greater demand on your home network. What you need is the speed to move content faster to everyone in your home without interruption and without wires. Now you can with the RangeMax 240 Wireless Router (WPNT834), the first router to deliver wireless speeds as fast as your wired connection, up to 240 Mbps when used with RangeMax 240 Wireless Adapters (WPNT511, WPNT121). And with Adaptive Channel Expansion (ACE) technology, the RangeMax 240 dynamically adapts to wireless interference to deliver the speed that your applications require on-demand. So whether you are streaming audio & video, uploading large files to your Storage Central, or just surfing the web, RangeMax 240 delivers the speed you need for today and beyond. Now the performance and quality-of-experience once only associated with wired networks can be achieved in your wireless home.
General
- Device Type Wireless router
- Form Factor External
- Width 8.8 in
- Depth 7.2 in
- Height 1.1 in
- Weight 1.1 lbs
- Localization North America
Networking
- Connectivity Technology Wired, Wireless
- Integrated Switch 4-port switch
- Data Transfer Rate 240 Mbps
- Frequency Band 2.4 GHz
- Line Coding Format CCK, BPSK, OFDM, QPSK, DBPSK, DQPSK, 16 QAM, 64 QAM
- Data Link Protocol Ethernet, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, Fast Ethernet
- Spread Spectrum Method OFDM
- Switching Protocol Ethernet
- Network / Transport Protocol L2TP, PPTP, IPSec, PPPoE, TCP/IP
- Remote Management Protocol HTTP
- Status Indicators Power, Link activity, Port transmission speed
- Features Manageable, NAT support, URL filtering, Firewall protection, DoS attack prevention, Auto-sensing per device, Intrusion Detection System (IDS), Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI)
- Compliant Standards IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g
Communications
- Type None
Expansion / Connectivity
- Expansion Slots Total (Free) None
- Interfaces 1 x Network - Radio-Ethernet, 1 x Network - Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX - RJ-45 ( WAN ), 4 x Network - Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX - RJ-45
- Compatible Slots None
Miscellaneous
- Cables (Details) 1 x Network cable
- Encryption Algorithm WPA2, WPA-PSK, 64-bit WEP, 128-bit WEP
- Authentication Method Radio Service Set ID (SSID)
Power
- Power Device Power adapter - External
Software / System Requirements
- Software Included Drivers & Utilities
- OS Required UNIX, Linux, Apple MacOS, Novell NetWare, Microsoft Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP
Manufacturer Warranty
- Service & Support 1 year warranty
- Service & Support Details Limited warranty - 1 year
CNET Labs' Benchmarks
- CNET Labs long-range tests (in Mbps) 24.2
- CNET Labs maximum throughput tests (at 10 feet, in Mbps) 93.8
- CNET Labs maximum throughput tests with mixed 802.11b/g and draft N, MIMO clients (at 10 feet, in Mbps) 83.3
