CES warmup: interview with Netgear’s CEO

by on December 12, 2006

Netgear makes a lot of the WiFi routers found in homes around the world so it was a great privilege to interview Netgear’s CEO, Patrick Lo.

He’s ultra approachable. Works in a cube surrounded by customer service people. I like that.

Unfortunately I had left my tripod at home by accident, so you get ScobleShow handheld. Hey, who said I had to be professional? :-)

  • I wish that NETGEAR could make WiFi devices more affordable for people living in the poor countries. The growth potential is in South Asia and China but most people in this part of the world do not know what is Wifi. It is a pity that in this age of democracy and globalization, technology is still limited to some rich people living in some rich countries.
  • Is there anything more boring than talking about wifi routers?

    I mean, really.
  • Dude, it's expensive in third world countries, but Netgear makes some of the best, inexpensive wireless routers out there. You can get, without trying, a solid business class AP for $150, and you can pick up a WGR614 home AP for fifty bucks. That's not free, but it's not made of gold.

    If they can't afford a $50 router, then what computers are they going to use them on?
  • Nicketas: personally I don't find it boring at all.
  • Netgear makes good stuff, but they have some really terrible tech support. I was trying to explain to them that my Vonage ATA behind the network on the DMZ wasn't getting the packets it should (as a DMZ should). No passthrough. Instead, they kept telling me to check my Control Panel, and to open my computer and see if the modem was there.

    UHHH...

    They still haven't fixed that issue with the FVG318. Blogged about it, but still haven't seen any updates. Hopefully Mr. Lo or staff will read and make some changes, but who knows.

    Outside of the bad tech support and the bug for DMZ in SPI firewalls, Netgear makes some of the best stuff out there.
  • We sell Netgear products. I wish we sold more. They are definitely one of the innovators and are usually first to market. Their RangeMax product has consistently been rated best performance. They have also branched out into WiFi media servers and NAS devices; 2 areas that are growing quickly for the home user.
    (and no I don't work for Netgear)
    I will be going to CES and certainly stopping by the Bloghaus!
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