Netgear R6300 Review

[Dakota]

If you ever consider buying one, DON'T... I got the green blinking light of death a few months ago, disconnected it and plugged in my old one for wireless. Today, I thought to yank that out and troubleshoot. After reading several sites and being on the phone with Tech support, I opted not to get a RMA number and pay the shipping to and from but instead order a new router from another company.

Prior to this purchase, I had a Netgear router for about 8-9 years, in fact, it is what we have been using while this pricey one sat broke.



BTW, I could have made the exact same video as I am having the exact same problems as numerous other people. The company refuses to even acknowledge this is a problem.... so think about this the next time you are in the market for a wireless router.

My new - non Net Gear router - will be here in 2 days.

Maybe I could make a video blowing this R6300 up???

 

[Christy]

I bought an Asus router yesterday. I just tossed a fairly new Netgear router in the trash because it kept dropping off.

 

[Dakota]

I bought an Asus router yesterday. I just tossed a fairly new Netgear router in the trash because it kept dropping off.

Asus is an excellent router I got a TRENDnet which rates just slightly below an Asus. But that is how our problems started with our R6300. We kept getting drop offs but this issue we have now is beyond comprehension. Consumers really need to push back and boycott crappy products and customer service. Netgear advertises "lifetime warranty" but when you factor in the cost to ship to and back... it isn't worth it.

 

[Christy]

Asus is an excellent router

I had to go with the most reliable I could find, I have heavy bandwidth useage in my house with the x-box (sometimes 2), 2 roku's and too many laptops to count. With the Netgear it was every day.

 

[Dakota]

I had to go with the most reliable I could find, I have heavy bandwidth useage in my house with the x-box (sometimes 2), 2 roku's and too many laptops to count. With the Netgear it was every day.

How do you like your Roku? I put that on my Christmas list to use in a spare bedroom where I keep a treadmill. I thought it would be better to rid myself of the directtv box that is next to never used in there and go with a Roku.

And on the heavy usage, this old router has been hell. The R6300 was wonderful when it actually worked.

 

[itsbob]

I've got a cradlepoint.. it can use wired internet, like cable, or DSL, but can also use Hot Spots and Air Cards for your wireless network..

Can also be set up with precedence so if one source fails it goes to a.back up source, or if too much bandwidthbis being used it can share multiple internet sources..

 

[blazinlow89]

My old Net gear had rediculous range on it, it did drop a lot though. Picked up a D link from my little brother which worked fine, but could not handle a laptop and the Xbox at the same time. Got fed up and went and picked up a Lynksys router. It has handled everything I have thrown at it. You tube on 4 devices, streaming Netflix on 2 Xbox and July on the chrome cast with no buffer delay.

Also picked up a few of the PLC adapters. Works good to keep bandwidth constant and gives me an access point where there is not one.

 

[Christy]

How do you like your Roku?

The Roku is awesome. I bought it for myself but my daughter nabbed it, so I need to get another. I am seriously thinking of getting rid of cable television completely. I can get just about everything through the Roku that I can get on cable for a lot less money. I am the only one in the house that actually uses the cable television. The kids watch things through the xbox or the roku. Seems silly to keep paying for it.

 

[Dakota]

The Roku is awesome. I bought it for myself but my daughter nabbed it, so I need to get another. I am seriously thinking of getting rid of cable television completely. I can get just about everything through the Roku that I can get on cable for a lot less money. I am the only one in the house that actually uses the cable television. The kids watch things through the xbox or the roku. Seems silly to keep paying for it.

I would love to get rid of the bill but my husband is the big TV watcher in this house. Just today, I called directv and upgraded our equipment since it is 7 years old. I ordered the genie whole-home DVR with 1 mini for our bedroom and HD service. After returning the 3 other boxes in this house, it cost me $5.00 less a month. I still had my grandmother's box and she died May of last year. I ordered a Roku for a spare bedroom and my #2 son has a Chromecast coming so I think it will more than suit our needs. #2 only watches Walking Dead and Netflix. #1 only watches hockey games and can HDMI games to his TV set. I'm looking forward to the upgrade in gadgets in this house!!!

 

[blazinlow89]

The Roku is awesome. I bought it for myself but my daughter nabbed it, so I need to get another. I am seriously thinking of getting rid of cable television completely. I can get just about everything through the Roku that I can get on cable for a lot less money. I am the only one in the house that actually uses the cable television. The kids watch things through the xbox or the roku. Seems silly to keep paying for it.

Havent had TV in about 6 months. While I do miss it sometimes the $80 saved a month is nice. We pay for Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu and can watch most stuff we used too.

For sports I use Wiziwig or just use google to track the score.

 

[sparkyaclown]

If you ever consider buying one, DON'T... I got the green blinking light of death a few months ago, disconnected it and plugged in my old one for wireless. Today, I thought to yank that out and troubleshoot. After reading several sites and being on the phone with Tech support, I opted not to get a RMA number and pay the shipping to and from but instead order a new router from another company.

Prior to this purchase, I had a Netgear router for about 8-9 years, in fact, it is what we have been using while this pricey one sat broke.

I had mine 11 months before it crapped out. There was no green light of death, instead the WAN port stopped recognizing there was a cable plugged into it. The router never moved during the 11 months nor was the cable ever touched. Also, it was plugged into an UPS so nothing that I can see as far as human error or act of nature. I did RMA it and the replacement actually seems to work better than the original so far. My first one seemed to drop my wireless laptop connection at least once a day this one doesn't.

 

[aps45819]

I don't have a Netgear router but I have several of their Ethernet adapters. Plug one in next to your router, hook it up with a Ethernet cable and add another one (or more) throughout the house where you want a wired hookup. Have the boy's desktop and one Roku hard wired with them

How do you like your Roku?

Just hooked up my third today. Went by the Metrocast office Turned off the TV service, returned my telephone modem and picked up a regular high speed modem. Hooked up Basic talk for telephone and have Rokus on all the TVs except the boy's which has a PS3

 

[Dead Eye]

Its the cheep way they are made

The slightest voltage spike will corrupt the firmware, most of time its a small glitch and a re-flash of firmware will fix it. If the boot loader file is corrupted then you will be unable to use or fix and is considered a BRICK.
You can un-brick by use of JTAG ( a bit of surgery with a solder iron ) and reload firmware at the hardware level. Not an option for 99.9% of users

There are those out there who like to JTAG and put a linux system on bricked routers so put it on ebay listed as a bricked unit


You can reduce (or stop) problems by by getting a quality line conditioner to stop spikes. (Those little surge suppressors are JUNK and a FALSE sense of security)
Just take a look on a dual trace oscilloscope and see those cheep ones do nothing after they stop the first spike the rest are free to pass through.

I use a panamax line conditioner its the size of an old vcr

 

[Dakota]

I have a question that has bothered me since metrocast installed our cable internet. We have a splicer coming out of the wall and from that they connected another piece of cable into our box. Why???

 

[Dakota]

I don't have a Netgear router but I have several of their Ethernet adapters. Plug one in next to your router, hook it up with a Ethernet cable and add another one (or more) throughout the house where you want a wired hookup. Have the boy's desktop and one Roku hard wired with them



Just hooked up my third today. Went by the Metrocast office Turned off the TV service, returned my telephone modem and picked up a regular high speed modem. Hooked up Basic talk for telephone and have Rokus on all the TVs except the boy's which has a PS3

I think we are very close to having an online TV viewing option without a contract with a cable or satellite company. Directv screwed up by low balling Hulu or perhaps Hulu was foolish not to except? But... at some point these cable/satellite companies need to cross the line and provide what most people want... online streaming for less.

JMO

 

[Dakota]

The slightest voltage spike will corrupt the firmware, most of time its a small glitch and a re-flash of firmware will fix it. If the boot loader file is corrupted then you will be unable to use or fix and is considered a BRICK.
You can un-brick by use of JTAG ( a bit of surgery with a solder iron ) and reload firmware at the hardware level. Not an option for 99.9% of users

There are those out there who like to JTAG and put a linux system on bricked routers so put it on ebay listed as a bricked unit


You can reduce (or stop) problems by by getting a quality line conditioner to stop spikes. (Those little surge suppressors are JUNK and a FALSE sense of security)
Just take a look on a dual trace oscilloscope and see those cheep ones do nothing after they stop the first spike the rest are free to pass through.

I use a panamax line conditioner its the size of an old vcr

Oh gee thanks for telling me how smart you are and how the rest of us sorry ass saps have to buy stupid boxes that fricken fail when we are not part of the .1 percent.

 

[aps45819]

I think we are very close to having an online TV viewing option without a contract with a cable or satellite company. Directv screwed up by low balling Hulu or perhaps Hulu was foolish not to except? But... at some point these cable/satellite companies need to cross the line and provide what most people want... online streaming for less.

JMO

https://www.aereo.com/

 

[Dakota]

https://www.aereo.com/

I meant more expanded beyond that - basically the same programing you'd get with cable/satellite service. When you think about it, it makes sense. No more techs or equipment, just sign on & cast whatever you want to your TV. Or just pay for the channels you want!

But hey aps, it is clearly a good beginning.