Since moving to a new job recently and into a brand new building we have had a whole new broadband networking system installed. The main computers are hardwired into workstations but the staff need to move around the building and each floor so require a wireless connection. The Netgear router was bought by me, being in charge of these matters, under very false advice and has been a complete waste of money. This is by far and away the worst experience I have had with any of the many routers I have used in the past! Utterly dreadful!

This cost me £59.99 from a local computer shop and the first thing that appealed to me was a review I read online and the in store advice. Another plus factor was that this, in its black and sleek design, would go well in our new office which was a black, grey combo. I should have done far more research but being in a rush I ended up buying this and what a mistake that was.

The first day went well as I was based downstairs with the router around 3m away. It was very very easy to install, very quick to get going and seemed to be okay. We were having teething issues with the network and ISP so I assume that the first few failures in that first day were down to them issues.

However the pain began after that. Second day coming in the device wouldn't connect to our laptops so a few resets later and it was working. The start of a bad week for the router. Throughout the day the connection dropped, speeded up, slowed down, failed and 10-15 times during that day it had to be reset. We even took it back as we thought it was faulty, had it replaced and the same issues came through.

The signal was poor....even one floor up this failed all the time and the power of the signal was low. Since we have replaced this we have found that this is purely the routers fault as even on the second floor the newer router works much better with nearly 5 bars of signal.

Even the girls in the office downstairs moaned about it and they were 3m away! Signal being poor, long loading times and all due to the router. The broadband is fine as proven by the wired connections and the new router's performance.

All in all this is one router best avoided and I am surprised as Netgear usually come up trumps, the only thing it has going for it is the stylish look!

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