Customer Reviews
Exactly what we needed! 
2008-05-20
I live in a 1500 sq foot apartment, and since the Internet setup there is setup very poorly, I was forced to put the router in the master closet. I am still able to get it in every corner of the place, outside the front door and even the balcony. It is an attractive router with nice optional blue LED display. It was incredibly easy to setup and I am sure anyone that is at all tech savvy will feel the same. I would reccomend this to anyone! The range max technology is exactly what a lived in house or apartment needs.
Get's the job done 
2008-05-17
So in typical networking fashion the router isn't any easier to setup than any other router out there. However, once its up and running, the range and speed for the price cannot be beat. Its the mid-size sedan category of wireless routers. Rarely reboots and looks pretty cool on your desk...check out all the postings on Youtube. If you don't like the lights, you can turn them off.
Port pass-thru options are available if you're a more advanced user and I don't believe there are any major incompatibilities with any interet based software. Using a passphrase for encryption is much nicer than using a hexidecimal code for WEP...and you can move up to WPA if desired. Overall, a faithful, reliable router.
5/5 for Xbox 360 2008-05-08
I originally bought a Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G Router which worked great with my Xbox 360 when then the router and 360 were a mere 20 feet from each other with only one wall in between. Then I moved my 360 down to the basement and the WRT54G only got one bar and was dropping connection which is bad when trying to win online. So I upgraded to the Netgear WPN824 router and have three out of four bars when the Linksys could only get one. I have had the Netgear WPN824 router for over five months and not one dropped connection while playing online. I do turn off the router occasionally at night because it seems if you leave it on for weeks you have to reboot it. The setup cd does not work so don't even try using it. I didn't listen to the other reviews about the cd and struggled and gave up and was about to return this but then turned to others advice and used the advanced setup it took a couple of minutes.
Great router, quick set up 2008-05-01
I have had trouble with WPA2 on mixed networks before and have had to previously use MAC address filtering to secure my old network satisfactorily. This device actually works in WPA2 with Apple computers connected wirelessly, wired, and with a VoIP device. I always use the advanced set up route, and it worked like a charm the first time. Excellent range and reliability. I get an download speed up about 3700 mbps and a upload speed of 357 mbps connected to a cable serice and running my laptop wirelessly.
great range but odd problems 
2008-04-24
My download rates are phenomenal with this router. No complaints for the first few months. Then the wireless signal would just drop for no reason. First it seems like the cable modem would die and I had the cable modem replaced. The problems continued. I had installed a "windows home server" which uses UPnP plug and play feature on the router to manage routes from the web to the home server. I switched off UPnP on the router and it appears my trouble with dropped signals went away. I manually set up a few static routes for the home servers remote access.
I am thinking the home server and the router are not too compatible and the UPnP was probably getting reset far too often resulting in the router hanging.
Works wonderfully... when it works 2008-07-19
My Netgear is 3 weeks old. I purchased it for two main reasons. The SPI (stateful packet inspection) feature and the logging feature... where it automatically logs all web sites visited by the computers on the network (my kids) . It also sends logs to a designated email address. This allows me to review what website they went to. I could have easily used the site blocking feature on the router, but chose not to.
The router is extremely easy to set up. Even mac address filtering was very simple. The wireless signal was very strong, allowing my laptop to work from my neighbor's patio. The router worked for about 6 days straight without incident. Then, every day when I would arrive home from work, the router had crashed, and my family would not have internet access while I was at work. Every time, a simply unplug of power, wait 30 seconds and plug power back in and router was fine for the evening. This happened for about 10 days straight.
To insure it was the router and not my cable modem, I removed the Netgear and installed my old Belkin router, and it work flawlessly for the next four days. The Belkin did not offer the logging and site blocking features the Netgear offered. I re-installed the Netgear and again, every day it crashed and everyday I had to reboot it when arriving home.
Emails to their overseas tech support brought solution suggestions that did not address the issues I had enetered on their support website. They finally said to call their tech support. I called. Three straight evenings of try this and that, then try downloading new firmware then reset default values.. Hours of my time, but nothing would work. They finally said to RMA it... but at my shipping expense and a total delay of over two weeks without the product.. or, I could pay 16.95 for expedited service for a product that did not work. I refused to pay expedited shipping when their product was at fault. Had they paid I would have used the RMA. Instead, back to the big box store it goes.
I have had other Netgear routers twice before many years ago. Their products, I felt, used to be superior. Now their product quality and overseas tech support is abysmal. I assure you...its replacement will no longer bear the Netgear name.
Do Not Buy this router if you want to do port forwarding! 
2008-07-11
I have this router for less than one week, and found trouble with the port forwarding, then I searched the internet, found several forums have lots of complains about the same issue, there is no fix firmware available from netgear site. the problem is, after you set up the port forwarding, the records would be saved, then after a few hours, or even mintutes, you will find the forwarding suddenly disappear, you go check the setting, found the saved forwarding records' gone. then you try to re-create again, you receive conflicts of the service... at this point, you have no choice, you have to re-set the router and do it over again, but the chance is, it will happen again. If you don't do the port forwarding, you will be fine, this router has better signal strenght, and better range, I compared with D-Link, Linksys and Airlink routers, this WPN624 wins the game!
Great wifi router 2008-07-04
Works great. My connection speed is much faster. Definitely worth buying as an upgrade.
Worked for 18 months, then firmware problems 2008-06-13
Update: 1 day after I wrote this, Netgear sent me a firmware fix that corrected the problems and it all works fine now. Although I did not appreciate being blown off like that the 1st time, I am pleased they fixed it. Not sure if coincidence or they read these (last contact from them blowing me off was March 18). So, I am tentatively a fan of Netgear again.
I bought this about 2 years ago. It worked perfectly until about 6 months ago. I use MAC filtering. I added one more address and it crashed. It crashed each time I tried to boot it. I was forced to reset to manu settings. Now, I cannot add MAC filtering and other Firmware features are broken. I made sure I have the latest firmware and all. The Netgear support people (India) were pretty hopeless (ignoring what I was telling them and repeating instructions on what I said I did already). I finally got a 2nd tier support person, who 1st chastised me for being off warranty and then said there was nothing they could do and to buy another one. Sigh.
I have had good luck with D-link until about a year ago. I had two D-Link USB Wireless sticks die in under a year. I see so many other people have similar issues that I am moving to Belkin.
I note that Linksys was like this - they were great and then they grew and the products turned to garbage. Since Cisco bought them, they seem even worse.
If you buy this, consider that it may be only about a 1 to 2 year life.
Here's Blinking at You 2008-06-08
Four stars for now. I only just got the WPN824 version 2 from a flea market for $10.00, so I can't complain about it. I didn't have the CD so worked through the router's log-in web page and made my settings there. Firmware, software, and manuals are available from the Netgear site.
So far, so good. I run three wired computers (1 PC and two Mac's) and one wireless laptop. Setting up the router via its Web page was straightforward and there are explanatory notes alongside each option.
I agree with other reviewers that the flashing dome lights are unnecessary and idiotic. However, a button on the back of the unit, deceptively crafted like a power on/off switch, will turn off that particular irritating function.
