NetGear router setup 'wizard'

[MDS]

The WAN port on my old NetGear 802.11b router decided to die last night about 3 am. So today I go to Fry's and picked another NetGear router - the 'RangeMax' 802.11g. My work laptop now has a G wireless card so it was time to upgrade at home anyway.

I decided to use the setup wizard rather than just go straight to the admin panel and configure things; actually wanted to see if it would make things easy. NOPE! This 'wizard' would hopelessly confuse a novice computer user.

1. There are stickers covering the WAN and LAN ports on the back of the router that says in big bold letters 'STOP! Do not connect the router to your computer yet - first insert the setup CD.'
2. The one page quick start guide also says 'DO NOT pug the router in yet'. Put the CD into your CD drive and click Setup.

Ok, so I'll follow the directions...

The very first thing the setup wizard does is try to determine your network settings and of course it fails. How in the h!ll is it going to succeed if you haven't turned on the router or connected the computer to it!

That is just plain dumb as far as I'm concerned. I was expecting the setup wizard to give instructions like:
1. Power on the modem and wait for the sync and ready lights to indicate it has a connection to the internet.
2. Connect the ethernet cable from the modem to the WAN port of the router and another cable from the computer to the router.
3. Power on the router and wait for the internet connection light to be lit.

... and then proceed to ask you the setup questions.

I can just see my dad or sister or non-computer literate friends following the directions precisely and scratching their heads as to why it always fails to determine the network settings.

It works just fine now that I bypassed the stupid wizard and did it manually.

 

[masak_aer]

The one who writes the manual is the same person who writes the manual for the fridge, the ac unit, the ps-3 and your receiver . And btw, he lives somewhere in the Himalayas.. .

 

[avaserfi]

When I bought my netgear the same thing happened. The wizard attacked me! Finally, I just got fed up and set up the admin panel. Someone with absolutly no know how might like the wizard but I sooner never see it again, that was one of the perks of my old router, until it died.

 

[MDS]

Yeah, I just thought it was comical. The purpose of such a wizard is to make it 'easy' for novices to setup but a novice would definitely need to be instructed on how to connect and power on the damn thing because obviously the wizard can't do what it needs to do until everything is connected and powered on.

The wizard does work if you connect everything properly first but it doesn't truly setup everything. For example, it never asked me for my time zone and automatically set it to Pacific Standard Time - now could that be the default because Netgear is located in California? You betcha. A novice would never go through all the admin pages and find that setting. The router's idea of the time would always be wrong just like the VCR clock in many households.

The router does work flawlessly which is the same as every other Netgear router I've owned. Next time I'll go straight to the admin pages and do it manually like I usually do.

 

[emorphien]

I cannot stand netgear routers. Good luck getting it to work reliably.

Just as bad as Linksys with the stock firmwares have been in my expeirence.

 

[MDS]

My experience has been different. I've had at least three NetGear routers so far and they've all worked reliably. They do seem to suddenly die after about 3 years but until that point they work fine.

 

[avaserfi]

I have had two netgears and a linksys and the netgears have worked perfectly. After about a year the linksys gave out and was replaced with a netgear while the original netgear nearly 7 years old (yeah, I know, my dad won't upgrade) still works like a charm.