Pogue tests 802.11n routers, blasts Netgear

Michael,

thanks a lot for your attention to my comment. Score +1 ;-)

Michael

The kernal panic starts when I plug in the USB hub, at which time it has 2 ipods 2 hdds and a printer connected to it. I then started to remove them one by one, but not just the router, even the mac refuse to boot up normally even I just connect a empty hub to the usb port with nothing plugged in.

I hope the firmware update solve some of the problem, but i really don't know. I bought the router first day it came out so also returned it early. What worries me is not some performance bugs that can be fixed by a few patches, it's the way Apple design it's supposingly next generation / top of line router.

Don't try to think you can transfer and share your movies / iTunes library (if it is over 10Gig) on your USB HDD over this thing. Go for any of the possible alternative, can't be worse seriously. Anyway, as I said, enough rant. Best luck if you are hunting 4 a router.

I am not a big fan of Apple Routers. In my view, none are very secure since they do NOT stealth any of the closed ports. Go to www.grc.com and use Sheilds Up. You will see that Apple Routers fail Shields Up. Not only do Appel Routers fail to stealth closed ports (which is EASY to do in firmware) but Apple Routers also fail to disregard PINGS on the WAN side.

Without this stealth technology, hackers can easily tell that there is a computer system at your IP address and try to hack into it.

If your router disregards PINGS and stealths all your closed ports, hackers won't know if your computer system exists and will likely move on to another IP address.

I really wish Apple provided better security in its routers.

In my view, for the $$, the D-LINK DIR-655 is a much better router. It has 10/100/1000 Ports and also better security.

Rob

#7 -- Eric, to clarify, do you have those hard drives and the USB hub all connected to the AEBS? I'm not sure which portions of your config refer to your desktop and which refer to your router.

I'd be curious if the recent firmware update made any difference in your performance experience.

#8 -- Wojtek, sorry for the confusion over the adapter vs. router install; I've clarified the post.

Pogue's point is valid in either case. Netgear may design nice hardware, but the attention to user experience is often lacking when it comes to the software.

This post is written in a highly objective manner. While David Pogue indeed had problems with Netgear hardware, it was NOT an 802.11n ROUTER he had the problems described in the post with!

It was an USB adapter running on Windows. So it's score -2 for the informative value of this very post.

In fact, the Netgear Gigabit Ethernet 802.11n router is the very single device that would fulfill the needs of a hi-tech enthusiast, while keeping the device case design somewhat close to Apple's.

My Guess of my AEN problems:

1. I got approximately 4 USB HDD and 2 FW HDD, ranging from 250G to 100G;
2. I got 4 computers, two are Macs, one is Vista PC and one is Linux;
3. The worst nightmare - kernel panic, is caused by a exteranl powered Belkin USB hub, which (at the time it cause the panic) holds a printer, 2 iPods and 2 USB HDDs.
4. I use 100Mbps network and have at least 1000 TCP streams opened constantly. AEN couldn't stand for that more than 5 minute without a self-reset. (I read about this somewhere, possibility on Tuaw, that it is cause by some sort of incompatibility between Mac OS X and BitTorrent).

So I guess not everyone use computers the way I do. For most mac users, only computer(s) @ home will be Mac, only file format they use will be HFS+ and the only external HDD they buy is Lacie (mines include WD, Lacie and some non-branded eBay HD-cases).

I mean, obviously AEN is something that CAN work, but nowhere near ROBUST. It's like Windows, you plug the wrong cable it jumps up and bite your head off or commit suicide.

It also use stupid software (for god sake, why someone need to install a memory-killing boot-loaded software to use a router) that kills any Linux support. By the time I was using it, Vista isn't supported (there were hacks, but that defeats the Apple plug-and-play spirit).

To put it short, if you want a pretty looking router, you don't care about money and you never stress your router, go for it.

This is my final bitchin about this AEN, promise.

Eric, every time a post about the AEN pops up you make a negative comment. Can you please explain or link to an article that explains what problem you have with the device? Why do most seem to give the AEN high marks if there are horrible problems?

(I'm guessing the problems apply to vary rare/limited situations and/or no QoS).

I've used Netgear products for years. I've never had a problem with them. But I've never used the install disks for setting up the routers - never had to.

My Macs and PCs connect without any problems.

Eric-

Gotta agree. I love my DIR-655. I get awesome LAN transfer rates with it. For the rather low price, the gigabit support is awesome as well.