dochan
join:2003-11-13
Scottsdale, AZ | WGR614v4 vs v5 & v6
What are the differences between these versions and can v4 be upgraded to 5 or 6 without changing hardware?
TIA |
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Anav
Sarcastic Llama? Naw, Just Acerbic
Premium
join:2001-07-16
Dartmouth, NS
| Real crappy, to downright crappy, to the worst POS evermade... uhhh that was in reverse order LOL.....
I believe they fix mistakes by buying another OEM/ODM router and firmware and selling that instead of fixing the last fiasco?? It might be cheaper for them not to invest in R&D and engineering and far cheaper for them just to have the consumers to keep moving up the model chain instead. Pyramid model, only the rich get to the top. 
Hopefully soon others will come in here stampeding to your rescue with some useful information, in the meanwhile hope ya had a good laugh.
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Ain't nuthin but the blues! "Albert Collins". Leave your troubles at the door! "Pepe Peregil" De Sevilla. Just Don't Wifi without WPA, "Yul Brenner"LlamaWorks Equipment |
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Orbiting234
join:2004-01-16
Minneapolis, MN | reply to dochan
No, a v4 cannot become a v5/v6. The v4 uses a chipset from Marvell (forget exactly which one) while the v5 uses a Broadcom BCM5350 and the v6 uses a Broadcom BCM5352. Although they all feature MIPS cores, they are still *quite* different. |
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JimF
join:2003-06-15
Allentown, PA
1 edit | I believe the WGR614 v4 used an Atheros AR5002 chip for the radio, along with a Marvell chip with the MIPS processor for the controller. Apparently they went with the Broadcom chips you mentioned for the radios in versions 5 and 6, but I don't know that they included the controllers on these chips. My guess is they still use the Marvell chips as controllers, but it is only a guess. |
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Orbiting234
join:2004-01-16
Minneapolis, MN
| Nope. Broadcom through and through. The Broadcom chips I mentioned before are the increasingly popular "system on a chip" put out by companies containing the processor, controller, swtich, etc in one chip. FWIW the radios in the v5 and v6 are BCM2050's. |
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JimF
join:2003-06-15
Allentown, PA | Atheros lists the Netgear WGR614 on their partner's products list. I think that includes v4. |
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CameoTabby
join:2005-03-21
Metaline Falls, WA
| Because of the generous return policy of my local store, I have tried them all, V4, V5 and V6, and more than one unit of each model. I don't care what's the difference. I have only one thing to say, they all suck. Drop connection, overheat, freeze up, you name it, I experienced it.
Netgear has gone more out of their way to make sure that I will never touch a Netgear product again. |
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alg
Passionately apathetic
Premium
join:2001-04-10
Houston, TX
clubs:  | reply to dochan
Just to counter, I have a WGR614v4 and it works flawlessly. Perhaps I am just lucky. |
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holmantp
join:2003-12-20
Rosamond, CA
| said by alg  :Just to counter, I have a WGR614v4 and it works flawlessly. Perhaps I am just lucky. HI I also have a V4, but when the wireless was enabled, it would freeze up. Since I run wired, I was able to disable the wireless, and have been trouble free.
Just wish the logging was better.
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Tim |
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JimF
join:2003-06-15
Allentown, PA
2 edits | reply to dochan
My WGR614v4 works flawlessly also, with WPA security. I think a lot of problems are on the client side, but for some reason the router gets blamed. But I don't do gaming or P2P, and they apparently are the cause of a lot of problems that I don't see.
Also, I use a Netgear WG511U PC Card in my notebook, which has an Atheros chipset, as does the WGR614v4 (but not the later versions). I think there are still some compatibility problems out there. |
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alg
Passionately apathetic
Premium
join:2001-04-10
Houston, TX
clubs:
| I do lite to heavy gaming (call of duty) depending on the day of the week, occasional P2P (WinMX, eMule (rarely), bt). One wired client, one to two wireless with WPA.
The thing hasn't skipped a beat. Only complaint is that when accessing 192.168.0.1 setup, the browser often times out after selecting a different page or clicking apply or whatever. I find that to be somewhat disturbing. My old SMC7004VBR (wired only) would always have quick and snappy load times on setup. |
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JimF
join:2003-06-15
Allentown, PA
| said by alg :Only complaint is that when accessing 192.168.0.1 setup, the browser often times out after selecting a different page or clicking apply or whatever. I have seen that on the wireless side also. But when I switch to the wired side, the setup works fine. And sometimes when you are applying a security setting (WPA or whatever), you probably have to re-start the client to make connection again anyway. But other times the cause is not so obvious. |
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