NETGEAR Wireless-N 300 Router with DSL Modem DGN2200 - Wireless router - DSL - 4-port switch - 802.11b/g/n - desktop

This was a replacement for the BT Business Hub I was given when the ADSL circuit was put in. I've had two BT supplied 2-Wire units in two weeks, and the second one just failed: They're utterly useless.

Anyway, I set up the DGN2200 to work with the BT system:
Multiplex: VC-BASED
VPI/VCI 0/38
DSL Mode Auto
PPPoA Encapsulation and my BT Supplied login and password

The Netgear on-disk setup wizard wasn't particularly brilliant. It chose the wrong encapsulation method for me, so it didn't work. But having manually configured the router, it immediately connected to BT and started hunting for a firmware upgrade. Oh boy, I thought to myself, here we go! However, not only did the firmware upgrade work smoothly, it didn't wipe out my previous settings, which I've had with numerous routers in the past. Excellent.

The ADSL connection appears to be rock solid, and the wireless connection is fast and offers good signal strength over the whole building (three floors). The BT supplied 2-wire device worked great if you were on top of the thing, but the signal strength falloff was marked the further away you got from it. On the floors up and down of the BT router, signal strength was not great. The Netgear unit is much stronger throughout the building though it's sitting in exactly the same spot.

Another advantage of the Netgear as opposed to the BT Supplied router is a half way decent firewall, with advanced settings that allow you to offer inbound service port access from the Internet to a target PC on your LAN. That's very useful for remote access, gaming and on-site provision of any other services you may want to host.

Another feature of the Netgear router is the VPN connectivity, which after a bit of playing I managed to successfully synchronise with my home router - a Vigor 2110 series router.

I liked the EMail Notification facility too. If anyone tries it on with regards hacking in, then the router will e-mail you the logs. Very clever.

In all then, I'm very happy with the device. The only things I can gripe about are pretty minor. The speed of response for the majority of the config changes is one. Having to wait for the router to reboot at every turn is a little annoying. Having said that, once the router is configured it's not a problem. The only other gripe is another minor one, and that's the lack of a 'Test' button on the EMail configuration. Having set up the various configuration elements on the EMail Notification menu, there's no way to see if you've done it correctly except to wait for a message to go through to the target e-mail account. Being able to send a test message using the configuration you've set would be useful. Having said that, the facility itself works very well, so if you set it up right, it works fine.

For more advanced users, this is a great device. The wizard supplied with the device needed some tweaking however, so a novice user may have a little difficulty. For that reason it gets a four star rather then five star rating. It says on the box that it's specifically designed for BT connections, and it certainly works on BT Lines. It won't work with BT straight out of the box though, at least it didn't for me.

In conclusion I think the Netgear DGN2200 ADSL2+ wireless modem router is a workmanlike device for a reasonable price, easily configured, secure and with a couple of interesting features that make it well worth the extra bit of cash. I like it.

For anypone requiring a wireless modem which will reach to "anywhere" in the house... or even the outside conservatory,, this is it.
We previously had a BELKIN unit and was continually having trouble with "Low Signal" and "Low Speed" readings... computers were very slow to"open" with Internet conections... and not accessing sites on a regular basis.Laptops and Desktop computers with wireless dongle adapters alike..... Has taken away all the frustration, and time wasting.
This unit has stopped all of that,, and we are very very pleased indeed with regular 72Mpbs readings, and virtualy instant changes web page to web page.
Highly recommended, and worth every penny..but make sure it in connected to your incomming telephone point as close as possible with the supplied cable, even if you have to run a power point connection.

This is a "Work and Play" rather than a "Professional" so may have lesser range than a Pro but it still has a much better range than the Netgear "RangeMax" antennaless routers and range extenders, which can barely manage 20 yards line-of-sight in my experience. Its only 300Mbps so not a gigabit router locally but it does have the full Netgear firewall as on the old DG834 and VPN support via a nice browser-based interface. It runs warm rather than hot (though admittedly thats with the the wifi-disabled via the convenient front switch) when side-standing.
All in all, if you want a good wifi range this represents a far better upgrade for the trusty DG834 than more recent Netgear modem routers despite its subgigabit bandwidth. Resonably environmentally firendly packaging. A smaller tranformer UK mains plug than the DG834's is another plus.

Some reviwers report this router failing to work out the box (see other Amazon sellers pages) but mine was fine and the installation painless.