As said already, if your Netgear is misbehaving, then send it back and get a replacement, because that's not the norm for those routers. They do come with stands so you can stand them up on their end, which suggests that Netgear suspect they may require the additional ventilation sometimes.
Having said that, I've never come across one that's needed to be stood on its end to resolve a stability issue.
I myself have a DG834Gv2, and it's by far the most reliable router I've ever owned. The only reason I don't use it anymore is Be sent me a Speedtouch 585 that syncs ~2Mb quicker than the Netgear does on the same line (probably due to the fact that I'm on ADSL2+), and I've not even used the DMT tool to get a lower SNR margin on the Speedtouch! Anyway, I digress...
The point is, I've had to stand my Speedtouch up (I've actually got it propped up on its wireless aerial
) as it would occasionally simply stop .. routing! Since I stood it up to get some air underneath it (where the only air vents are - clever design that was!), then touchwood, it hasn't crashed sinc.... *ERROR: LOSS OF SYNC*
I thought I'd attach a pic for your amusement!
Good luck with the Netgear, let us know how you get on
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