WNDR3700 or WNR3500L or ...?

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NotSoSimple

[H]F Junkie
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May 17, 2003
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Time for a new router as both of my WRT54GS units died in the last week.

WNDR3700: Seems to be the best as of right now, sitting at $149 it is pricey. Do I need 5GHz though? I have nothing on 802.11N (Maybe I will later) and would primarily use it for the 2.4GHz spectrum. I also do not need the gigabit at this time.

WNR3500L: A step down from the above with an inferior ant. design.

I MIGHT add 802.11N devices later on but if the 5GHz devices are not very good at wall penetration it wont be worth it. My house is rather long and has many walls between the router and everything else. Thoughts?
 
I'd just get the WNR3500L if you're dead set on Netgear. I just snagged one of those new Buffalo N routers with DD-WRT pre-installed for a buddy and thats been pretty nice so far. Was like $60 I think.
 
I just got a WNR3700.. best move ever..
The thing is friggin awesome.

Can't comment on the 3500
 
our WNR3500l is in the basement in a wood cabinet and i get 54mbit 60-80% signal on the second floor. that is with stock 71mw transmission power. the antenna is pretty good. we have 55/8 internet service and this router isnt a bottleneck. the LAN segment sees around 2-4TB of traffic per month, yet the router never needs a reboot. barely above 20% CPU utilization normally.

the negatives about it- if you get to the connection count limit (or above 4000) it sometimes becomes unstable and needs a reset. this was a firmware issue i seem to remember. this is over the router/external network only, ive never had this happen. you would need many many torrent clients downloading to ever see this.

from what i read, the router portion of it that handles WAN to LAN traffic maxes out in throughput around 120-140mbit in either direction. if your internet connection is faster then this, you will hit a bottleneck here, though most people dont so this will be a non-issue.

i thought about the 3700, but decided to save some money. its certainly a nice router as well.
 
I replaced my DD-WRT WRT54g with a WNDR3700 and it's been fantastic. Good signal, rock solid.
 
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