When I recently purchased a new laptop I wanted a wireless router that would still give me good range even when I'm outside or upstairs. The DG834N is a funny little design. When I had friends round they thought it was a Nintendo Wii because it looks so much like one and they wouldn't believe me that it was a router.

The quality of the router itself is really top notch. It feels very sturdy and the white gloss finish is smooth to touch although it does attract dust and finger prints easy. When it's on it makes no sound at all, unless you are downloading something of importance or several laptops are connected at once then you can get several of the lights flickering at once which makes a buzzing sound, like you've got a bee in the house.

If you are on the internet a lot I have found after a few hours use the router can get very hot to touch and a few times has shown what is like a red button of death when the power on button turns red and all the other lights go out making it unusable. If you ever get this just unplug the router from the mains for a few minutes then re plug it back in and it should go back to normal although a problem nonetheless and other than this is has been an reliable router so far.

It is incredibly easy to use router. I just plugged it in and ran the initial setup and got a connection nearly straight away. The router is controlled from your laptop by going onto a net gear website that you can control the router from there. This is laid out and easy to understand and I have used it several times to change my settings or run any updates that need running.

The Net gear does have a variety of features and the one that stands out the most is probably that you get a modem, router, firewall, 4-port switch and wireless access point all in the one tiny white box which is great for saving space and peace of mind that you don't need to go buy any extras. I've used it outside in the garden and upstairs even in the loft and I still get a excellent signal. Sometimes I've lost I.P. and it can take a while to get another one, although again I don't know if this is to do with my router or my internet provider, probably the latter so nothing to worry if you are thinking of buying this router.

I paid over £100 when I bought it and I think you can get it for about half that now so it makes it even more worth while investing in this fantastic little router which I've had hardly any complaints with.