| Broadband (Cable/DSL) Modems |
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71 of 72 found the following review helpful:
 Take note if Verizon DSL customer Jan 20, 2009
By deutscherhififan
"LA based"
Good thing for Rick V's review below. Otherwise I would have returned this great router.
If you are a Verizon DSL customer, it is possible that you can't connect immediately to the Verizon DSL service due to the WAN IP Lease expiration issue Rick described below. However, after disconnecting the old Westell modem and waiting for a few hours, the lease on the WAN IP had expired and the Verizon server had issued a new WAN IP to the new router. From that point on the auto-configuration worked like a charm. My advice:
1) don't call Verizon customer service - they are clueless about this issue
2) don't call Actiontec customer service - they told me that the router just does not work with Verizon
3) disconnect your old modem the night before your new Actiontec shows up. That way you are ready to go immediately.
Also, Rick V mentioned below that the router does not support WEP incryption, but only WAP incryption. That is actually not correct since the "Advanced Wireless Set-up Option" allows you to select what type of incryption you want.
Now that that's out of the way I can summarize as follows:
- Set up is really easy and fast (even for Verizon customers, if you follow my advice)
- Range is great. My router is located on the first floor and I still have 54 speed on the second floor in the opposite corner of the house
- documentation is good
- configuration is very intuitive
- just with any other g routers, you can get interference from 2.4 GHZ cordless phones. I would position router and receivers away from a phone basestation
- I was able to reclaim some space on my desk due to the integrated nature (modem and router) of this product
- the already great antenna can be replaced with one of your liking, if you feel inclined to do so (it is screwed on)
- the router is a little bigger than many other routers, but standing up it does not really matter
- it was easy to get to a life customer service person. However, they also did not know about the Verizon WAN IP lease issue
Hence, I can highly recommended this modem/router.
63 of 65 found the following review helpful:
Hardest Part of installation was opening the box! Oct 18, 2008
By Bruce A. Pinkham Jr.
My SBC (Now ATT) 2Wire DSL Modem broke one night, and I needed a new DSL Modem STAT.
The store had three wireless DSL Modem-with 4 port switches, and after a while of deliberating, I choose Actiontec, over two slightly better known brands (zoom and diamond) I recognized zoom, from analog phone modems in years past, and diamond, from video cards in years past, but never heard of Actiontec.
I had no clear cut winner in my hand, but the ActionTec had a copyright date of 2008, the other two had a 2007, and the Package box info seemed very complete, so I figured newer is better, right? And I had 30 days to return it, so why not!
VERY HAPPY with my decision. Cannot comment on the Zoom or Diamond, so please do not infer that they are bad, but the ActionTec GT724WGR worked perfectly, and it took minutes to set up.
I was afraid that there was some kind of "secret" settings for my ATT DSL connection, and that a "generic" DSL Modem would not work.
I followed the very simple, and easy to follow instructions, and I was amazed that I was up and running in a few minutes!
The only tricky part, was that I had to remember my SBC user ID and password (NOT MY YAHOO id, but my SBC login id!)
While my primary job deals with computers, both hardware and software, and I have done this for almost 20 years, I have to say, that I needed NO EXPERT knowledge to connect the Actiontec DSL Modem to my pc and access the internet again.
It worked fine with my VPN connection to work, and I password protected my wireless access.
I get slightly faster internet speeds, but we are talking a few per cent, as ATT has the final say as to how fast my DSL connection is.
I have not tried the wireless connection, so I cannot comment first hand on the wireless speeds or reliability , however, I read on DSLREPORTS and BROADBANDREPORTS that other people have had very strong, reliable wireless connections.
The physical device can either be positioned vertically, or horizontally,
your choice.
Only had the device for one day, so I cannot comment on long term use.
Final thoughts, I did have a little apprehension about getting a OTC DSL modem to work, as I thought that there was some propriatary issues with the ATT DSL, but really, this was "stupid simple" to set up
27 of 29 found the following review helpful:
Instant satisfaction. Sep 28, 2008
By P. Asensio
Unpacked, plugged in power and DSL line; hit the Auto detect configuration and within 2 mins, I was up and running. Spent about another two more mins changing the password and fine tuning/updating the unit. Had and immediate speed increase and computer responsiveness overall. Very nice setup/GUI. Highly recommend!
(ISP = DSL Extreme)
15 of 16 found the following review helpful:
Perfect upgrade from a flawed GT704WG (Verizon) Nov 23, 2008
By Rick V
"Bargain hunter by day, shopaholic at night"
HISTORY YOU CAN SKIP
I'll add a little more history in this review as to why we replaced the Verizon DSL issued GT704WG router/adsl modem gateway that served us for a few years.
Reasons for replacing:
- once we hooked up multiple XBOX 360's (we have 3) and 2 PS3's the kids had trouble with joining friends in certain games due to closed or restricted NAT's. Port forwarding and DMZ would not structurally help.
- The router once in a while (2x a day on avg.) would just get disconnected and a hard reboot would be needed.
- The 704 lacked settings due to the Verizon issued firmware on it.
- When I finally tried an old 2WIRE DSL modem/router bought via eBay, that one disconnected avery 2 hrs or so
- When finally trying to put the GT704 back I could NOT , even with IT support, get it to connect us to the internet again.
IMPORTANT TO KNOW RE VERIZON DSL CONNECTIONS
So Verizon told me the GT704WG was no longer under warranty and I apparently had broken it, which I did not believe. But I still went ahead and bought a GT724WG as a replacement. When that came in it would not connect either even though I had transferred settings 1:1. What I did notice, however, is that the 724 could not use the MAC address of the old router, i.e. the new firmware did not allow cloning of MAC addresses.
After some fiddling I found out the following: since Verizon DSL (in the Midwest at least) uses DHCP to connect there is a lease term of your WAN IP based on the MAC address of your router. So what happens is that if you try and replace the router you will be UNABLE to connect until that DHCP issued WAN IP expires. I found that to be a few hrs after which all of a sudden the Internet light/connection will work. Stupid outsourced DSL support was clueless!!! Never heard of such a thing but it does indeed do that. If you're having similar problems with Verizon just go in the modem connection status screen and look at your WAN IP: there will be none visible because Verizons DSL server will not have issued one until the previous lease expires.
THE ACTUAL REVIEW
Without talking too much about the detailed settings (just download the online manual) we found that the Auto setup / detect to connect to your provider works like a charm. You just plug it in and with most providers it communicates (like the olde modem handshake) to find the right settings and can get oonline, unless you need UID and Password with something like a PPPoE connection but even then it will prompt you for it.
KEY FINDINGS:
A: without having to do ANY screwing around with UDP/TCP forwards and ports this router IMMEDIATELY (it seems preconfigured in the hardware) removed the issue we had with the old GT704 with XBOX Live. All XBOX 360's are fully functioning without connect problems even though the NAt and Firewalls are up.
B: Also, the PS3's no longer have issues with connecting to online games like CoD4 and 5 : am am ALWAYS able to connect.
C: We've had this router up for weeks without ANY reset required and no deterioration of connection speeds. BLISS!!
D: Games like AoE and AoM work great over the internet now, whereas we had problems with the old router.
E: this router / modem support ALL the modern connection formats and they built it to make it easy on the non-tech user to connect with minimal help needed.
F: the wireless signal is MUCH stronger than that of the old 704 (better antenna).
G: it no longer supports old WEP butonly he newer formats which might be troublesome if you have WEP only devices on your network. It uses WPA-PSK (TPIK).
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Once I figured out the DHCP lease lock that Verizon has I tested it with the olde 704 GT router and that worked again, but with the same disconnect and restricted NAT issues. I then FLASHED the router, since I had a new one anyways, with ACTIONTEC Firmware (not the adjusted Verizon firmware junk): the router worked fine WITHOUT ANY DISCONNECTS for at least a day and a half. So, if you have something like this with your router and Verizons tells you support is over and you need to buy a new one: have someone download the latest actiontec issued firmware if it is disconnect isssues. If you cannot get a WAN IP on the modem then ensure you ask / see if it is DHCP and give it a few hrs before you give up.
14 of 15 found the following review helpful:
Amazing improvement over 2Wire Dec 03, 2009
By Timothy F. Halloran
I have only been using this a short time, but this receives a hands-down 5 star review for ease of setup, initial performance, and comparison to my AT&T supplied 2Wire 2700 series gateway modem. I ran the AT&T DSL speed test on the 2Wire just prior to replacing and had 2.064 MBPS download, 420.69 upload speed. I re-ran this test on the Actiontec and had 5.110 MBPS download, 660.28 upload speed. I couldn't believe the difference which is very noticeable, for example on a short Youtube video which fully buffers the entire video now in seconds rather than gradually.
Installation was ridiculously easy - I just had to go to the IP address listed on the Quick Start guide, put in my ISP username and password, and wait a couple of minutes. Then you name the network and password protect. That's IT. It came up immediately on my other home wireless pc's without any issue, and signal has not dropped once since installation. I was losing connection 3-4 times per day on my 2Wire. Range is excellent as well.
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