seriously though, is this router as bad as the reviews say? lol. Cause i am in need of a new router…
I bought an older version of one of these before and it actually came with a little lid that covered up the lights. I don’t know if they’ed include that in a refurbished one though.
duct tape=amazing
i have a pink roll in my floor at the moment. 
Nope.
It’s amazing to me why people would buy products based on the color of the status LEDs! Oh well, different strokes for different folks I guess…
How does this compare to the Linksys WRT54G?
Anyone know what version this is? Netgear support page shows at least 3 versions.
Also anyone know if you can turn off router function and just use as Wifi access point and wired switch? That’s my real need since I already have an ipcop router.
Thanks,
Brentdog
Anyone please chime in with pertinent information. Glowing blue LED’s are hardly a concern to me on performance…geesh
I won’t buy anything from Netgear that comes in a plastic case.
Well i have a wireless negear router from like 5 years ago and it isnt G its only a B…would this be a decent upgrade or should i look elsewhere
According to this article in NetGear knowledge base, you can do that with that router.
Congratulations, you’ve found your new wireless access point ! 
HOWEVER there is a quite frightening “Potential issues” section at the bottom of that article; see:
“1. DHCP configuration may not work reliably because the wireless router/access point may not correctly relay DHCP information from the router. Workaround: Use static IPs on the wireless PCs.”
Hmmm…
No Netgear for me, Goodnight
I have this exact make and model of router. I booted an old Belkin for this guy a few months ago for the added VPN Tunnelling support which is an amazing resource if you spend a lot of time on the road or have other demand of your home network outside of your residence or organization.
One of my only qualms is that port forwarding is limited to 20 port assignments; reasonable for home use.
Security is good, the router can be fitted with its own security services and maintains an excellent connection log. My Vista, XP, and Linux machines all get along well over the network, as do my Wii, Zune, and Blackberry.
Regarding the “annoying blue lights,” there’s a button to shut it off, geniuses. It’s a cool feature and has a nice ambience to it if you’re not an epileptic, but I keep my lights turned off most of the time. Four wired ports in the back as standard, no external antennas, feet for vertical mounting, and decent range and signal from anywhere in my apartment building.
I also only purchase electronics whose outer casing is thinly sliced ham
it doesn’t, Netgear products suck, I’ve had nothing but trouble with them.
wrt54g is going to be top of the line, especially for hackability with openwrt or dd-wrt
i have this one and it work great, i would prefer an N vs a G but then again who wouldent, Its a great for the price
Personally I’d go for it. It’s half price. Who cares if it’s refurbished. They check it pretty good. I work at Access Computer Recycling and so I know about the checks. We spend a lot of time checking. One little thing to add though, for the RangeMax function of the router to have peak performance, you have to have a good fairly new (within a year) wireless card/adapter that will pick up the range.
Makes a great night light…
So people should buy things they don’t like with their hard earned money?
i have a toshiba laptop that i got a year and a half ago…think it would work with that? intel pro/wireless 3945ABG is the card