Netgear WGT634U Review

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Netgear WGT634U
1.7 stars
Average rating for this product is: 1.7 out of 5

From 0 ratings and 3 reviews

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martin99's Review of Netgear WGT634U Wireless Modems and Routers Reviews

1st Jul 2006

Overall Rating

1 stars
  • Value for money
    1 stars
  • Ease of Set Up
    3 stars
  • Time Modem and Networking Equipment Owned
    6 - 12 Months
  • Ease of Use
    1.5 stars
Good Points

Fast wireless storage router
Reasonable price
Neat external design
Quiet - no fans


Bad Points

Frequently drops Internet connections
Loses FTP settings for USB storage devices
Runs hot


General Comments

I have had this Netgear WGT634U router for about ten months and it's given me nothing but trouble. On the UK NTL Business Broadband Service WGT634U keeps dropping the Internet connection and needs rebooting almost every day.

At first I thought it might be something to do with NTL. But no.

I replaced WGT634U with a Netgear FVS114 and the connection held up for two whole weeks without a single hitch. Then, after reinstating WGT634U, it was back to square one - daily dropped connections and rebootings. An upgrade to the latest firmware and several costly phone calls to Netgear Tech Support have failed to solve the problem.

Now Netgear has offered to replace the router with a new one using the zero-cost option which is: pick up by courier and receive replacement within ten days. So I won't have my WGT634U for that amount of time and the FVS114 will have to do instead. But I cannot help feeling that the problems I've experienced with this WGT634U accrue from a basic firmware deficiency as opposed to a hardware one with the unit concerned. Time will tell.

Meanwhile, I have another WGT634U (also sporting the latest firmware) hooked up to an NTL Home Broadband Connection.

This router is not quite as unreliable as the one above - but about every five days it, too, drops the connection and requires rebooting. However, here there isn't so much of a problem because I don't use this router's USB storage facility. Whereas I do on the NTL Business client, and when that goes offline no one can FTP into my hard disk. So I can't share files with colleagues. As the USB storage facility of WGT634U was my principal reason for buying the model needless to say I'm disappointed that it's frequently forced offline. Shame.

Furthermore, sometimes both my WGT634Us 'lose' the FTP settings for the USB HDD or flash drives, a curiosity that entails re-inputting the details and waiting ages for the routers to update. Not a lot of fun.

Talking of which

Both these WGT634Us take excessive time to refresh their interface pages. I could almost redraw them by hand much quicker. Whereas the blue FVS114 is a much faster beast - though sadly it isn't wireless and has no provision for adding USB HDD storage.

At the end of the day I suspect that too much money has been spent on marketing WGT634U and not enough on developing it. To my mind this product has some way to go before becoming as useful as it ought to be. It's probably something to do with the firmware.

In the interim, if Netgear brings out a 'blue' business wireless router with USB storage, that might well be worth a serious look.

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Members' Comments onmartin99's Review

  • martin99 Rank: Lieutenant on 21st Jul 2006

    Further to this review...

    Within 5 days Netgear sent a replacement WGT634U. It has been running continuously for over two weeks without problems. This with the 'original' (as opposed to the 'latest') firmware.

    So either I had a faulty unit or I should not have upgraded the old unit to the latest firmware.