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NewsEven Wireless-N Routers are Going Green

Posted 09/30/08 at 04:55:23 PM by Andy Salisbury

Going green is something that just about everyone is worrying about these days, and NETGEAR is no exception. Having recently announced a new line of Wireless-N routers with the Prius driving consumer in mind, they’ve finally thrown their hat into the eco-friendly ring.

NETGEAR’s new routers will be shipping in packaging that has been made from at least 80% recycled materials, as well as boasting a fancy new on/off switch that will allow users to save energy when the network isn’t in use. There’s also a separate on/off switch that will allow users to turn off only the router’s wireless component.

The inside of the routers will be getting quite a makeover as well, "The enhanced wireless speeds and greater coverage provided by Wireless-N technology enables the simultaneous use of applications such as voice-over-IP, video and multimedia streaming, console gaming, and Web surfing. The launch of these new Wireless-N networking solutions makes it easier and more affordable for consumers to replace their existing routers or modem routers and upgrade their WiFi networks to support these more bandwidth-intensive applications. The new product family is feature-rich in terms of performance capabilities and ease of use as well as energy-efficiency,” says Som Pal Choudhury, NETGEAR’s senior product line manager for advanced wireless products. And when he says affordable, he means it. These bad boys will run you only $89 for the router, and $119 for the router with a built in DSL modem.

Comments: 2
TAGS: wireless, netgear, hardware, consumer electronics, routers, Going Green

NewsNetgear Launches Wireless-N Upgrade Kit

Posted 07/30/08 at 04:44:29 PM by Paul Lilly

The net is no place for slowpokes and Netgear hopes to nudge home networks into 802.11n territory with its Wireless-N Upgrade Kit (WNEB3100). For MSRP $149 (cheaper online), the kit comes with Netgear's 5GHz Wireless-N HD Access Point (WNHDE111) and the company's RangeMax DualBand Wireless-N Adapter (WNDA3100). When plugged into an existing router or gateway, the kit gives surfers an easy upgrade path to a speedy dual-band Wireless-N network which any Wi-Fi compliant computer or device can then tap into.

“The Wireless-N Upgrade kit enables customers with existing gateways and routers from their ISPs to easily add the performance benefits of 5GHz Wireless-N to their networks by simply connecting the kit to their existing wireless equipment, eliminating the need to re-wire, reconfigure or replace any existing equipment,” explained Som Pal Choudhury, Senior Product Line Manager for Advanced Wireless at Netgear.

The Access Point can also serve duty as a standalone bridge for connecting game consoles, media receivers, and other similar devices, and supports a wireless 'ad-hoc' mode for multicast point-to-multi-point high definition video streaming and wireless LAN peer-to-peer gaming. And because it comes equipped with automatic Quality of Service (QOS), Netgear claims gaming and movie watching will be lag- and jitter-free.

Anyone tempted?

Comments: 0
TAGS: network, netgear, WiFi, Wireless-N, hardware, consumer electronics

NewsNetgear WGR614L Embraces Open Source Firmware

Posted 07/01/08 at 07:50:11 AM by Chris Moody

Netgear may have found a winner with it’s newly announced WGR614L wireless-G router that provides open source developers with an appliance platform that can be customized. Linksys has been enjoying a certain amount of popularity from the open source community since it released its original Linux based WRT54G router back in 2003. Since then a number of projects to change the firmware on the WRT line have come about like Tomato and OpenWRT. Of course flashing the firmware to anything other than the Linksys designed firmware voids your warranty. Netgear has chosen to embrace this community with their new WGR614L, rather than fight it.

Make the jump to get the details on the WGR614L.

Comments: 4
TAGS: netgear, Router, linux, open source, hardware, wireless router, firmware update, 802.11G

ReviewsNetgear WNR854T

Posted 11/12/07 at 06:59:01 PM by Michael Brown

Netgear’s WNR854T was faster than any other router in this roundup in our close-range tests, lost the least amount of potency while running WEP security, and came in second in our 40-foot test, bested by D-Link’s DIR-655. But Netgear’s entry was several times slower than D-Link’s in our 150-foot test. (See page 70 for benchmark details.)

Click Read More for more.

Comments: 1
TAGS: netgear, networking, 802.11n, hardware, draft n roundup, wireless routers, wpa, reviews

ReviewsNetgear Digital Entertainer HD EVA8000

Posted 10/03/07 at 01:44:32 PM by Michael Brown

We like Netgear’s EVA8000—a lot. Its industrial design fits in with the rest of our AV gear, its user interface is as elegant and polished as it is easy to use, it supports resolutions up to 1080p with an HDMI port, and that’s just the beginning. But if you buy one, make sure it has the latest firmware update before you do anything else. We couldn’t configure our review unit at all until we updated the software. With that housekeeping accomplished, we were on our way to streaming bliss. Although the EVA8000 has dual antennas, it’s still limited to 802.11g speeds and cannot reliably stream high-definition video content without a wire, but it delivered excellent image and audio quality.

Click Read More for more.

Comments: 0
TAGS: netgear, Media Streamer, HDMI, hardware, tv tuner, 1080p, reviews

ReviewsNetgear SPH101

Posted 12/14/06 at 04:49:44 PM by Will Smith

Now this phone is sexy. And its tiny candy-bar formfactor, shiny, white fascia, and knobby plastic buttons make it not only attractive, but easy to use—plus its sound quality was noticeably better than the SMC phone’s. Battery life is roughly the same as a good cell phone—about three hours of talk time; 15-20 hours of standby.

Click Read more for more.