Thoughts on this N router? (NETGEAR WNDR3700-100NAS)

S

spotdog14

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jun 16, 2005
Messages
1,297
What are your thoughts on this router? I am replacing an old Linksys WRT-54g v2 that is running Tomato firmware. What I am looking for is a faster router, I know my aged wrt is most likely the one that is slowing me down when I have more than one computer downloading a high volume. I like this one because its an N router (I have two laptops with N cards) and its dual band. I usually stick with Linksys, but this seems to be perfect.

Any thoughts?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122326
 
4.5 years and over 1,250 posts and you can't find the sticky in this section?
 
novadude said:
4.5 years and over 1,250 posts and you can't find the sticky in this section?
Click to expand...

:D


OP: I've done much research on this and the 3700 is the best N router you can buy right now... I just haven't wanted to cough up the money for it yet- but I've spent hours and hours researching N, how it works, and then also performance between the best routers. Netgear's 3700 is simply the best.
 
Yeah its looking to be the next WRT-54g in terms of firmware. Its stock firmware is based off OpenWRT which will likely mean a DD-WRT port in the near future. Only N router that's being advertised as open source. I think its a great choice.
 
TechieSooner said:
OP: I've done much research on this and the 3700 is the best N router you can buy right now... I just haven't wanted to cough up the money for it yet- but I've spent hours and hours researching N, how it works, and then also performance between the best routers. Netgear's 3700 is simply the best.
Click to expand...

Better than the Linksys WRT-320N and 610N?
 
silent-circuit said:
Better than the Linksys WRT-320N and 610N?
Click to expand...

They don't support jumbo frames. Also (just a firmware issue) but the 320- if you have it set to Auto- you cannot manually select what channel you wan't to use.


The 3700 is designed for larger, higher bandwidth networks. The Linksys stuff... isn't.
 
I Just ordered one of these today.

Brainslayer (The main guy behind the dd-wrt firmware) has one of the 3700's in his possession right now. (A forum post on Smallnetbuilder for the 3700 has a link to a posting in the DD-wrt forum where people donated enough money to get him one)

It looks to be one of the better 802.11n concurrent 2.4/5ghz wireless routers right now, and has the potential to become the next dd-wrt.


One thing I would like to note is people are saying that the range on the 5Ghz radio is Much shorter. in 802.11 5Ghz land the higher channels (last 5) in the 5ghz band have the ability to run more power. As a matter of fact the latest firmware notes that they changed the default channel to one of these for improved range, so they must take advantage of that.



ChangoBat said:
Yeah its looking to be the next WRT-54g in terms of firmware. Its stock firmware is based off OpenWRT which will likely mean a DD-WRT port in the near future. Only N router that's being advertised as open source. I think its a great choice.
Click to expand...
 
TechieSooner said:
They don't support jumbo frames. Also (just a firmware issue) but the 320- if you have it set to Auto- you cannot manually select what channel you wan't to use.

The 3700 is designed for larger, higher bandwidth networks. The Linksys stuff... isn't.
Click to expand...

The 610N at least supports Jumbo Frames in hardware, so it's just a question of firmware support. Fairly sure you can enable after installing DDWRT or OpenWRT.
 
I got one of these to replace the DIR-855 Dlink super badass home router because the Dlink one sucked it up big time.

The Netgear WNDR3700 is the best one you can buy right now in my opinion.
 
moetop said:
One note when setting up 802.11N you need to run AES algorithm and WMM to get full throughput of N
Click to expand...
Also don't run G clients on the same N router- helps throughput greatly (If anyone wants more info I'll have to lookup a post I told someone about it...). Short story is even one G client on the N router brings the speed down on everything (50-80%). This is why you add N, and not replace G. (Unless all your clients are N).

I'll also second the quoted posted- don't touch WMM. Also, using anything but WPA2 (for whatever reason) results in a performance hit as well (again- 50-80%). It seems to be a chipset thing- and most manufacturers have this problem. So just to be on the safe side- always run WPA2. (We'd all suggest doing it too, just from a security standpoint).

And also don't use the Auto mode... IE, using 20MHz/40Mhz... Set it at 20Mhz and leave it there. The 40Mhz will only benefit you in very strong signal.

Imaulle said:
I've never had a netgear switch/router last longer then 6 months.
Click to expand...
In general, yes, that's the way it was. But Netgear got their game on and released the 3700....
 
Imaulle said:
I've never had a netgear switch/router last longer then 6 months.
Click to expand...

Get rid of any cordless phones in the room the netgear is in. For some reason phones, no matter which frequency they use, kill netgears (maybe they come alive and fight at night? :p)

I was replacing netgears on warranty every 3-6 months for a while before I replaced the phone next to it with a corded phone. Zyxel and D-link routers I've had since don't have any problems though.
 
Great, thanks for all the responses everyone! I am seriously considering getting this now. From what everyone has been saying it is going to be a great improvement over what I currently have. I also have recently gotten a slingbox and I think the addition of the N network is improve my video quality.
 
I have had this router for a month with 3 laptops on it. 1 on N, 1 on G, one getting 54mbps(whatever that is) and my printer and none have lost a signal yet. Very happy. Easy to set up also.
 
actompkins said:
I have had this router for a month with 3 laptops on it. 1 on N, 1 on G, one getting 54mbps(whatever that is) and my printer and none have lost a signal yet. Very happy. Easy to set up also.
Click to expand...

Might consider putting your G back in (and if your printer is G, that too) and putting the G clients back on it.
You'd get a 50-80% boost in speed by doing so.
 
got this router wndr3700,set-up was easy, done in 5mins.
got the wii, nintendo dsi, asus ul50vt, asus ul80vt and a desktop opteron 165 connected painlessly. i even have a 5.4ghx phone 10 ft away from the router.
 
I know this is an old post, but I wanted to give this a bump to find out if anyone's thoughts have changed on this router? I'm in the market for a new router as mine is randomly losing internet connection, I don't mind spending the money on a good router if it's going to last and really is a good router.
 
Dextar said:
I know this is an old post, but I wanted to give this a bump to find out if anyone's thoughts have changed on this router? I'm in the market for a new router as mine is randomly losing internet connection, I don't mind spending the money on a good router if it's going to last and really is a good router.
Click to expand...
Thoughts haven't changed much on this router. It's still a fantastic buy and still one of the best consumer routers on the market :)

mattjw916 said:
Cisco 1941W Integrated Services Router or go home...
Click to expand...
This would be THE BEST router period (for high end home through low end corporate usage :D)
 
I've had my Netgear WNDR3700 for about 2 months now and so far I'm liking it pretty well. I just use it at home with two tower systems cabled in, two LG blueray players wifi, 3 Droid 2's and an iPhone 3G, 3 laptops (my XPS 1730 on 5Ghz is great). ;)
Setup was as easier than an old fart like me could make it. Once connected to the net I could go IP in from my laptop and make configuration changes by wifi. Even though I read thats not suppose to be possible. I'll try almost anything once! :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top