Hey, Jack.

On Tuesday, November 27, 2012 13:47:03, Jack Chastain wrote:
> I have a Netgear WGR614v10 I purchased about 2 years ago. It is connected
> as an extension of my main network with the main router being my FiOS WiFi
> unit in my office. Two years ago, I had Tech Support assistance to set it
> up as an extension and it seemed to work well.
> 
> Today (and probably for at least a year or so now), the unit indicates it
> has a WiFi section active (on front panel) but I do not have a signal
> present. I used WiFi Analyzer on my phone to check. My main office signal
> is present at -90+ db but other than a few other neighborhood signals,
> nothing is there.
> 
> I apparently cannot access the router either. I removed all other network
> cables leaving only the Linux system it is normally supporting via wired
> conenction. I rebooted everything - I cannot access the router. I used both
> 192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.100. Without the supporting FiOS router though,
> the Linux system does not see any network at all and obtains no address
> itself. (I pretty much expected this as the Netgear was set up to be
> an extension, so it can only get an address from the FiOS system).

This makes it sound like this is a hardware issue that's more than simply a 
transmitter not working -- sounds like the router just plain crapped.

> Now the FUN part - I called Netgear - I am PRETTY sure the guy was simply
> mis-speaking, but his words were "The reason your WiFi does not work is
> that your Tech Support contract has expired". I have no real issue paying
> for a tech support call, but I can't believe that the function of the WiFi
> signal is TIED to the contract - can this be at all real?

That's a very interesting bold claim, and I really doubt it.  Sounds more like 
a sales pitch, and one that I doubt is legal.

> A 6 month contract was twice the amount I paid for the silly thing too.
> Screw that - I will buy a new device for that.

A standard recommendation would be a Linksys WRT54GL which goes for $50 and 
can be loaded with DD-WRT if you want.  You might want to ping Alex Swehla 
about this too, being that he gave the "Pimp My Network" talk on this exact 
subject back in August.  ;-)

   http://mhvlug.org/meetings/2012/pimp-my-network

> So - I thought I would pop it out to the folks who know the most about
> these things. Anyone ever played with one of these? I am about to do a full
> factory reset on it and try to start over, at least trying to get into the
> router itself, but I recall having a pretty tough time initially, so I
> figured I would ask first.

Not familiar with the particular device; resetting to factory defaults sounds 
like a reasonable thing to try.


  -- Chris

--
Chris Knadle
[email protected]
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