NETGEAR WNDR3700 Reviewed

[vashthestampede83]

Thank's Tim for wireless security explanation. I have some more question:
You test the RapidShare with an USB RAID drive, do you think is possible to have the same speed 11.4/9.8 of your review with a single drive external hard-disk?
I don't understand how can i set the 40Mhz B/W you use in the test, it seem to be the best configuration.

 

[pjcamp]

Support

Of course you usually can't cover this in a review, but in my experience Netgear's support is absolutely the worst on Earth. If you ever have a problem, you will call, and you will wait. There is no email. Your call will go to the Philippines or Bangalore or some place. That part is par for the course. The part that isn't is that when you hit the end of you warranty period (which at that time was a brief 90 days), it doesn't matter whether your problem is resolved or not, your support is over. This is blatantly illegal but they don't care. Your request to speak with a supervisor will be denied. You're stuck. You can write corporate headquarters but they will ignore you.

Contrast this with a company like D-Link. I also had a problem with one of their devices after a Windows upgrade. I eventually got to speak with the guy who designed the device, and this was for a two year old router. That is stellar.

I wouldn't touch Netgear product again with a 10 foot pole, no matter how good their performance.

 

[thiggins]

My question as many others will have, does WNDR3700 support VPN passthrough or is port forwarding it for connecting to corporate VPN server?

There is no mention of IPSec or PPTP passthrough or any enable/disable checkboxes.

 

[thiggins]

I don't quite understand the multiple stream / 300mbps thing. If I have an Intel 5300 agn NIC (3x3) in my laptop and use this router, is it possible to get ~200Mbps?

My standard test client is the Intel 5300. It connects at a maximum rate of 130 Mbps with the router set to "Up to 130 Mbps" mode and 300 Mbps with the router set to "Up to 300 Mbps mode".

The maximum throughput tests were done with an Intel 5300 in one computer and a NETGEAR WNDA3100 in another.

 

[thiggins]

Does WNDR3700 use Linux based OS?

It uses open source code. Download from here.

But this doesn't say that it's hackable.

 

[thiggins]

You test the RapidShare with an USB RAID drive, do you think is possible to have the same speed 11.4/9.8 of your review with a single drive external hard-disk?

Sure. The Iomega drive is configured in RAID 0 for testing with fast NASes.

I don't understand how can i set the 40Mhz B/W you use in the test, it seem to be the best configuration.

Use "Up to 300 Mbps" mode.

 

[thiggins]

Of course you usually can't cover this in a review, but in my experience Netgear's support ...

And you can find plenty of people who have the same complaint about any vendor.

 

[Osamede]

Of course you usually can't cover this in a review, but in my experience Netgear's support is absolutely the worst on Earth. If you ever have a problem, you will call, and you will wait. There is no email. Your call will go to the Philippines or Bangalore or some place. That part is par for the course. The part that isn't is that when you hit the end of you warranty period (which at that time was a brief 90 days), it doesn't matter whether your problem is resolved or not, your support is over. This is blatantly illegal but they don't care. Your request to speak with a supervisor will be denied. You're stuck. You can write corporate headquarters but they will ignore you.

Contrast this with a company like D-Link. I also had a problem with one of their devices after a Windows upgrade. I eventually got to speak with the guy who designed the device, and this was for a two year old router. That is stellar.

I wouldn't touch Netgear product again with a 10 foot pole, no matter how good their performance.

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.

 

[nison]

Looks like an interesting product to me. Great review, have been looking forward to your results. I still have some questions though.

I'm trying to get up to date regarding 802.11n routers, so please bear with me

• combined use of a/b/g and n clients will limit the performance of n clients, correct?
• Is it possible to use two WNDR3700 to set up a high speed wireless bridge AND use a/b/g clients without hurting the performance of the AP to AP connection?
• Do a/b/g clients accessing the GUEST network influence the performance of the home network?

More specifically, I would like to setup a bridge to connect my AV equipment to the rest of the network to stream (hd) video and audio content from a NAS. As implied most of my current wireless equipment is limited to 802.11g.

Thanks for your answers.

 

[thiggins]

combined use of a/b/g and n clients will limit the performance of n clients, correct?

This will limit the performance of both flavors of clients. See Add, Don't Replace When Upgrading to 802.11n

Is it possible to use two WNDR3700 to set up a high speed wireless bridge AND use a/b/g clients without hurting the performance of the AP to AP connection?

Since one radio is serving clients and the bridge, bandwidth will be shared. So, no.

Do a/b/g clients accessing the GUEST network influence the performance of the home network?

Yes. Again one radio, so bandwidth is shared.

More specifically, I would like to setup a bridge to connect my AV equipment to the rest of the network to stream (hd) video and audio content from a NAS. As implied most of my current wireless equipment is limited to 802.11g.

If you want full performance from N, especially used for streamed/media connections, then put your wireless clients on a separate G network.

 

[thiggins]

Can you verify which channels does it support when in the "UK regulatory domain" for the 5Ghz band ? - should be band A & B (36-64 and 100-128) - but I've quite often found kit not designed for the UK only covers band A.....

NETGEAR said that channels 36-48 are supported now. DFS channels (52 - 64, 100 - 140) are pending CE certification. NETGEAR expects to pass certification and will enable the other channels via firmware update.

 

[jalyst]

Cisco is well overdue to release a revised (610n v2?) competitor to this.
Will be interesting to see how it compares...

 

[hijglander]

I'm a happy camper right now... yesterday I received my WNDR3700. One small drawback: The included CD (poorly balanced, making a lot of noice) couldn't be used on Windows 7 64bit. Since I only use this OS I couldn't get the included setup wizards to work... no biggy cause after connecting the router to my modem all could be configured using the web interface.
I just love the firmware check feature, it immediately updated the shipping firmware to V1.0.4.35.

Happy happy joy joy.

Almost forgot... performance is great...

 

[jalyst]

Good to hear!
Have you been a previous owner of the 610n, if so have you had a chance to notice all the main differences?

 

[hijglander]

Nop, had a Fritzbox 7270 (ADSL2 modem/router/802.11n) previously... But since I changed to cable (50Mb/5Mb) I no longer needed the modem part.
Another drawback was that the Fritzbox couldn't get the wireless-n working with my Intel 4965 (confirmed issue by the manufacturer). The WNDR3700 performs so much better.

Just one feature I could use is a Wake-On-Lan feature in the webpages of the router.

 

[Zapa]

This one looks very interesting, think I will order one

I just got a WRT610N 2 days ago, and im returning it today

with newest firmware, my pc lost internet connection 10 times the first evening it was running, while running wired...

 

[bluegrass]

I have both units, the WNDR3700 is my main router, and the WRT610N is running DD-WRT and is a access point only for the upstairs.

The main difference I have found is the range of the WNDR3700 is much better on both radios than the WRT610N. I don't use the usb on either unit, as I have a DNS-323 that handles that.

 

[jalyst]

Interesting, thanks guys...

@Bluegrass
why don't you use the WNDR3700 as the AP and the 610n + DD-WRT as the router/gw?

 

[bluegrass]

I use that setup because I found that the WNDR3700 is the faster of two. Also, the 610N only runs N on the 5ghz, as the 2.4ghz serves to provide connectivity to the g only devices in my network. The WNDR3700 is all n, all the time.

 

[jalyst]

fair enough