Bingo - that was my experience with Netgear. They dont support and they do cut corners inside that product. So things do go wrong and when the do, good luck. If your time is worth anything, you'll be better off throwing the thing away and buying a new one.
That is not surprise and IMO it fits into the mentality of many electronics companies that churn out short term product and move on. So I'm in your camp - I had that experience with Netgear before and there are no spec on earth that would induce me to spend my money on their product ever again.
I am a little late to this party, but I wanted to bring some perspective to the "cut corner" remark.
Electronics companies like Netgear have to provide product at a competitive prices, otherwise you will buy someone else's product. Netgear, like the others who sell product in the general consumer space typically allocate 5-7% of their margin to support warranty claims, recalls, support desks, etc. Typical consumer class broadband routers costs you $60-$120. That is retail. So if Netgear wholesales your favorite router for $45, that is $2.25 per router that you have paid for a specific level of support.
Also, in an effort to keep costs down, they outsource the manufacturing and support. If Netgear expects to sell, say 50,000 of those routers they will pay some firm $112,500 to perform "support". That may include phone support, answers to web questions, etc. They pay regardless of how many are actually sold. The outsourced firm is highly motivated to keep their costs to a minimum.
Netgear is not alone in this approach to support of their products. Linksys, D-Link and the rest do the same thing.
If one expects a higher level of support with actual people who answer questions, follow up, record tickets of your issue, then you will see one of 2 things. A higher price that reflects the cost of providing that support, (typically 10-15% of wholesale) or most common, maintenance agreements.
This is where typically next tier brands become involved. SonicWall, Fortinet, and others. That is why they cost more even though in most uber-geeks eyes they perform the same function as that lowly Netgear from Best Buy.
So your perspective of what constitutes adequate support has a direct relationship to what you paid for the device. $2.25 of support gets you a 90-120 day warranty, a discussion board, downloadble firmware almost indefinitely, and a basic level of phone support.
So the next time you consider a new purchase, if you demand some level of support, you should research the product further, not just the lowest price on the shelf.
. Weird thing is that not everything freezes immediately.
