Increasingly, vendors like Cisco, Belkin, D-Link, and now Netgear, with the desktop app Genie, are using apps to make devices easier to deploy and manage in a home network. Netgear's Genie app can be installed on a PC or Mac desktop, as well as on Android and iOS devices. The purpose of Genie is to make managing and configuring Netgear devices easier than by the conventional method-opening a browser to the IP address of the device and using the Web-based GUI. I took a look at the Genie Desktop version. The desktop app adds some capabilities over the Web GUI, such as real-time monitoring of the home network. Yet, I found error messages when testing it with the Netgear Centria ($139.95 at Amazon) (Opens in a new window), and some buggy behavior when using it to manage Netgear's R6300 router, proving the app needs more fine-tuning. Read Our Solar Winds IP Address Manager Review In addition, naming the mobile/desktop app Genie the same name as the Web-based interface of Netgear routers, is liable to confuse customers. Once you install Genie, a shortcut is created on the desktop. Clicking Genie open brings you to the app's home page. There are six panels you can click on to get to different configuration options: Internet, WiFi Connection, Router Settings, Network Map, Parental Controls, and ReadyShare. I could see right on the Internet panel that the status of my internet connection was "Good." Clicking on the panel gives you some ways to get real-time insight into your network traffic. You can run a speed test though either Netgear's site or click a link to go to to check your bandwidth. There's also a real-time traffic monitor which shows download and upload traffic in Mbps. You can use a slider to set the high traffic threshold for viewing this data by default it's set at 2Mbps.Īt the bottom of the Genie window are ads for other Netgear products. These ads change frequently and seem to add some lag to interface. There is also a search field that lets you search Netgear's support site and knowledge base. I performed a search for "QoS" and was taken to Netgear's site with relevant links to peruse on QoS. On the WiFi connection panel I could see my status as "Connected" since I was connected wirelessly. Clicking on this panel pulls a bar graph of all wireless networks in your proximity,and which are using what channel.
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