New Netgear WNR2000- any experience?

[JeffS]

Hi folks- has anyone tested the new Netgear WNR2000 draft-N access point? The price is right and it has 100% good feedback on Newegg, but only 6 reviews. User opinions elsewhere are hard to find.

I'm very curious about its performance. Tim, do you have one in house yet for testing?

Thanks,

Jeff

 

[thiggins]

First I heard of it. A quick look at the FCC ID docs shows that it is Atheros-based, the first such draft 11n product for Netgear, I think.

The other unique feature is that is supports WDS bridging and repeating.

Netgear says it hasn't been officially announced yet, but it's obviously no big secret since they have a web page up for it and it is in stock at multiple retailers.

It's a low price-point single-band product aimed at upgraders. There is / will be another version that includes a built-in DSL modem. I have requested a review unit.

 

[JeffS]

Tim,

Thanks. That sounds promising. Other Atheros systems you've reviewed seem to do fairly well if you ignore the huge throughput loss for non-WPA2 encryption modes.

The only obvious drawback to this device is aesthetics in my particular situation. My router sits on top of a kitchen cabinet. Low-profile devices are hidden or nearly hidden, but tall objects like the Netgear design are very obvious. However, if it works well, we will just have to live with it. On the plus side, the space available in the office (the other end of the bridge) is well-suited to a vertical orientation.

Looking forward to good news on this device.

Regards,

Jeff

 

[thiggins]

Any particular reason why you would wait for this vs. Atheros-based draft 11n products from other companies?

 

[JeffS]

Well, I have yet to find any reliable products with good performance in your tests. The Airport Extreme was more or less the best-tested device you've looked at, and yet I had nothing but trouble with it. I am still looking for a draft-N replacement for my rock-solid WRT54Gv4 and I'm optimistic that one will appear one of these days. I have to insist on a router and/or AP that almost never has to be rebooted. I'm still looking!

 

[thiggins]

I am still looking for a draft-N replacement for my rock-solid WRT54Gv4 and I'm optimistic that one will appear one of these days.

Such a beastie does not exist. Remember you're dealing with a draft standard and product development that is still on a rapid learning curve.

As much as the manfs would like you to believe draft 11n is trouble-free, it isn't.

 

[JeffS]

It seems like Draft N has been around long enough that it should be much further along in its development than it apparently is. Additionally, these are established silicon and router manufacturers playing, so the level of immaturity with these products is just baffling to me. Hopefully a winner will emerge over the next year or so.

Thanks again for your work identifying the contenders.

 

[thiggins]

It seems like Draft N has been around long enough that it should be much further along in its development than it apparently is.

Draft n is orders of magnitude more complex than 802.11g and has the added burden of compatibility back to 802.11b.
Manfs are also trying to drive down the cost and so chipsets also keep changing.
This is not a stable technology!