imac with netgear WGR-614 wireless router

[arrowhead]

hi,

i am using netgear WGR-614v4 802.11g wireless router to set up home network consisting of imac G4 17-in (1GHz) and ibm thinkpad running win2k. imac is connected to wired ethernet to one of the ports on the router and ibm thinkpad via 802.11b wireless card (also of netgear - MA401). when i use itune on both machines to access itune music store, i experienced a huge performance differences -- very very slow when using imac, and pretty good when using thinkpad. i am using sbc/yahoo! DSL (express service package) in san jose, ca area. BTW, when i connect imac directly to the DSL modem, i don't have any performance issue at all. so, i would think it is because of the wireless router. has anyone experienced the same or a similiar problem before with this network setup? also, any way to resolve this performance problem for my mac?

assuming that it is because of the wireless router, i am more and more inclined to get apple airport express to replace the netgear router. so, another question i have is that how well does it work with netgear wireless card (MA-401/802.11b)? also, any issue that i need to think about when using airport express with SBC/yahoo! DSL service in San Jose, CA area?

Any help is very much appreciated!

 

[swburton]

iMac G5 - Netgear WGR614 v4

I have been attempting to setup my sister's new iMac G5 on my current wireless network. I too am experiencing all kinds of performance issues with my Netgear WGR614v4. At this point I have removed WEP since sometimes it would accept the key, other times it wouldn't and now I am relying on MAC Address for security and turned on the Mac OS X firewall. I have tried setting the router up for G only and B only and G/B. As of now B only seems to be the most stable. My sister also uses AOL over the LAN connection. In order to get AOL running I had to setup the iMac as the DMZ workstation on the router, otherwise I would get failed connections (I found this on some other post). It seems as though everything is performing top-notch and my SBC speed test show my full 3+ Mbps downstream (from the iMac G5), then all at once I will have less than a 28.8 kbps and things come to a halt. iTunes current performance is unacceptable, the 30 second previews have to keep rebuffering and at times the Music Store will not even load. Although the iTunes is poor, web browsing will still be available via Safari and Firedfox.

The network has been up and running in a 100% MS Windows environment with an addition of a Tivo running great. I had it running in mix mode for B/G with my Windows XP workstations and laptops running excellent. I hav e read that the Netgear is full of qwerks with Mac OS X.

I recently switched from Linksys products due to hardware failures twice causing me to RMA them back for replacements. The Netgear has been OK until introducing the iMac for my sister. I also plan on getting an iMac shortly and need to cleanup this mess so we can actually enjoy the Internet portions of the OS.

I think we need to replace the Netgear unless someone else can help with a fix. Is there another 3rd party wireless router that works well with the Airport Extreme / iMac G5 / 10.3.8 or should we head for the Airport Express or Extreme base station and just cut the loss on the fairly new Netgear? Will the XP machines play nice on the Airport base station. I have a Linksys Wireless G adapter on one machine, an Orinoco B adapter on a laptop and two Linksys B adapters between another laptop and Tivo.

Any help would be great!

 

[tedmalley]

I have the same issue

I also use SBC Global/Yahoo DSL and I have a linksys Wifi 54G router with several PC's attached (1 is also an IBM Thinkpad). My Thinkpad blazes but my brand new iMac is very slow. Then I hooked my iMac DIRECTLY up to the DSL modem and established a PPOE connection and my performance problems went away. I then bought a Netgear Asante 54G wifi router and had the same thing happen when I attempted to route through the router. Anybody know why iMacs don't like these routers or is there something SBC is doing to make an iMac slow over a routed connection. Every OTHER machine on my network (Thinkpad (XP Pro) , Server (W2K server), Desktop(XP) , Tivo (linux variant) ) works perfectly.

 

[sphereboy]

any updates from the posts here on their issues.
i am having some difficulties as well on a client's iMac G5.

thanks

 

[BlueT]

Netgear and Apples don't mix

I've always had trouble with Netgear and Apples. I was told that going into a CompUSA and decided to risk it (not a huge fan of Linksys either). Unfortunately, there aren't too many options out there.

I recently purchased a D-Link for my mom's house (she uses a Win2000 laptop). My connection is pretty fast (Airport Extreme on my PB 1.33), but I get the same speed with 802.11b (this WiFi router is 802.11g).

Despite hardware troubles, I think Linksys is still the best, but I'm perfectly satisfied with the D-Link as well (I bought it for 20 bucks). To each their own, but I strongly advice against Netgear for use with Apples.