Unpredictable. Unfocused. Just like life.

I just bought a NETGEAR 55 Mbps wireless router (WGR614v5) to replace my Microsoft wireless router, that had replaced my Linksys router. I decided to install it as soon as I got home.

My other routers were pretty much plug and play and worked right out of the box. Not so with the NETGEAR. They wanted me to run a setup program that came on the CD. But I wasn't supposed to connect the router yet.

I ran the program, which ignored my default browser - Firefox - and ran Internet Explorer instead. I was immediately informed that the installation would take approximately 20 minutes, and would require me to disable any popup blockers, firewalls, or other intrusion detection software.

Given that the lifespan of a poorly protected PC connected to the Internet is a mere four minutes, leaving a PC unprotected for 20 minutes is just ridiculous.

So I risked it and the problem ran, detected my existing internet connection, and asked me to disconnect my current router and connect the NETGEAR router. The program the tried to detect how my internet connection was configured. It determined that I had a static IP address, and prompted me for my IP address. Only one problem - I have a dynamic connection. There was absolutely no way to go back or to tell the software the correct answer.

Back to square one. I went to the NETGEAR website and downloaded the documentation, as there was no reference guide included with the product. The documentation claimed that I could administer the router through the browser by going to www.routerlogin.net. Didn't work.

I forced my PC to get a new address and, assuming that the gateway address would get me to the router, I entered 192.168.1.1. Success. I was finally able to configure the router.

Overall I had wasted about 45 minutes when the one page installation guide could just have told me to go to 192.168.1.1 and configure the box, through a fairly self-explanatory set of menus. And without the danger of leaving my PC exposed.

NETGEAR used to be much better than this. They need to keep in mind what they are asking their customers to do.