NETGEAR WNDR3700 Reviewed

[jwpatt]

jumbo frames

Tim,

You noted in the review that the Netgear does not doesn't spec jumbo frame support for the 3700, although you were successful in passing 9k jumbo frames through in your testing. Since Jumbo Frames are not officially supported, I assume there is no way to enable/disable them on the router. That being the case, if I attach a NAS with Jumbo frames enabled, will it be able to take advantage of the Jumbo Frames even though the router is not technically set to enable them? Said differently, does jumbo frames have to be enabled on both the router and connecting device, or will it work with just the connecting device enabled? Thanks.

 

[thiggins]

There are no controls for jumbo frames on the router. The switch will properly pass jumbo frames up to 9K between two jumbo-enabled devices.

 

[jwpatt]

Thanks Tim. So it sounds like it is just an enabling issue on the client end. So long as I have two clients both enabled for jumbo frames and both are connected to the same switch, the switch will allow the pass through from Client A to Client B, regardless of any configuration, correct?

 

[ctguy1955]

WDNR3700 No LAN for me

When I read most of the posts here, no one seemed to have many problems.
I opened my new box, took out all the stuff and actually started to read the directions. It said to install the software, before you hook up the new router.
The software started up and just kept saying "cant connect to the internet"
and after clicking the program off, I was able to go online using a browser.

So I got tired of trying this over and over, so I just disconnected the old WNDR3300 (I got tired of the 3300 bottle necking when I was on my computer and my wife started using hers, they both slowed down) and plugged in the new router. So when I tried to re-install the software, same thing happened.
Meanwhile, the wife yells downstairs that she has internet. So I tried mine, and low and behold, its there. So I went into bit torrent and started uploading
some files, and then tested the system by going back online. It seemed a lot
faster, and these are the same conditions under which the 3300 was so poor.

So I went into the router and did the sign in thing using password and user name for sbcblobal dsl. I was not able to do anything with the lan, it kept saying something like dvt or some 3 letters. I asked the router to do a upgrade check, and it did put new firmware on. Now I did not have to do the password and user name, it was all automatic.

Everything seems to be doing ok, but the only thing that does not work for me, is going on network, and seeing the other computers. Im running vista home premium. The wife who is using Win 7 can see everything. I will now look into how to change my network to workgroup.

I have 3 days in which to return the 3700, but so far I feel its doing things faster then the 3300. If I can just get the LAN to work, that will be great.

Thanks for taking the time to read my poorly worded explanation. I feel like everyone else here has a doctorate in computer engineering compared to me.

 

[Headcase_Fargone]

As an owner of a DIR-655 who then got a WNDR3700, just a few quick points...the WNDR3700 can use 2 bands simultaneously (2 radios), so one can using mixed mode or just wireless g on 2.4 GHz, and the other can be wireless n only on 5 GHz., which has less interference from cordless phones, microwave ovens, baby monitors, etc. And as a result, the 5 GHz. band can run faster since it is wireless n only. Of course, the range of the 5 GHz. band is not as good, so that has to be factored in as well, making it a mixed blessing *smile*.

One more thing, I find the wireless coverage with the WNDR3700 much better at my house than the DIR-655.

This is exactly what I was looking for.

I recently purchased a DIR-655, and while it seems like a solid unit so far (I'm using the older firmware as well) I really hate having to use my old Linksys WRT54G for legacy support. So I'm thinking of shipping this D-Link off to my mum and getting myself a WNDR3700.

Does anyone else have their router set up like this? G devices on the 2.4ghz radio and N devices on the 5ghz radio simultaneously with no slow-down on either?

Also, probably a stupid question, but does the WNDR3700 play well with the Linksys WUSB600N adapters? I would imagine they should, but one can never be too certain can one?

 

[bluegrass]

This is exactly what I was looking for.

I recently purchased a DIR-655, and while it seems like a solid unit so far (I'm using the older firmware as well) I really hate having to use my old Linksys WRT54G for legacy support. So I'm thinking of shipping this D-Link off to my mum and getting myself a WNDR3700.

Does anyone else have their router set up like this? G devices on the 2.4ghz radio and N devices on the 5ghz radio simultaneously with no slow-down on either?

Also, probably a stupid question, but does the WNDR3700 play well with the Linksys WUSB600N adapters? I would imagine they should, but one can never be too certain can one?

I do have a wndr3700 setup with the 2.4 band mixed, and with the 5ghz band n only. I have not had any problems with it losing throughput.

 

[nornore]

will g clients work with WNDR3700

Hi Mr. Higgins,

Just found your site recently and it positively rocks! Solved a lot of questions, much help. Some questions remain (sorry if they're stupid):

1) My wireless client is a laptop built-in one, Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2915ABG, which only operates at a, b, and g. Will this one work with WNDR3700? And if not, what kind of a client would you recommend to use with WNDR3700 - I haven't been able to find a lot of client card reviews on your site, and those that are there essentially say all external n-clients are, well, crap, which isn't too encouraging.

2) The reason I'm asking is that I'm totally fed up with how the link rates go up and down at their pleasure with my current LinkSys WRT54GL router (from 54 down to zero and connection going off), and so I'm thinking of changing the router. Will they actually stop doing that if I switch to WNDR? Or is the problem rather at the client side?

Thanks a lot in advance.

 

[Stach]

WNDR3700 Very Directional

I have tried and compared MANY wireless routers and the WNDR3700 came down to the final two (with the D-Link DGL-4500). I like almost everything about the WNDR3700 except that its wireless footprint seems to be VERY directional for me. If I stand the unit on end, then by far the best signal is a path extending straight out from the large flat surfaces on the router (top and bottom if oriented flat without the stand). If I lay it flat on a shelf, then my signal is greatly reduced all around.

Has this been others' experience as well?

If you haven't noticed, could you try changing its orientation to test?

If you have noticed this problem, do you have any solutions to give a more uniform signal output?

Thanks in advance for your replies!
-Stach

 

[Crusher]

torrent support

Hi there
Is there a chance that this router will support a torrent client function too?

 

[Crusher]

"Mixed N and "legacy" clients (802.11a, b, g) simultaneously active only on the same radio cause performance degradation. "

An other thing, can someone expalain to me this thing?

 

[thiggins]

Hi there
Is there a chance that this router will support a torrent client function too?

It doesn't now. Who knows if/when NETGEAR will add it.

 

[thiggins]

"Mixed N and "legacy" clients (802.11a, b, g) simultaneously active only on the same radio cause performance degradation. "
An other thing, can someone expalain to me this thing?

Read
Add, Don't Replace When Upgrading to 802.11n

The cause is that 11n transmissions must slow down for 11b/g transmissions, which take longer.

 

[Crusher]

Thanks for your reply.. but i cannot understand very well.. so if on 2.4 frequency i have a nintendo wii on first side and on the second side i've an usb adapter with the N protocol activated, this would damage the router? Is that correct? So do i have to set the 2.4 frequency NOT to mixed mode and use both nintendo wii and usb adapter in g?

 

[LeeNYPost]

Read
Add, Don't Replace When Upgrading to 802.11n

The cause is that 11n transmissions must slow down for 11b/g transmissions, which take longer.

tim, this may seem like a stupid question, but I can not get the stand to attach to this router. Is there some sort of trick to this? I have tried every combination of flipping the stand around and trying to get it to attach so I can stand the router uo but I feel so stupid that I can't figure it out. Do I need a screw as well or something?

 

[thiggins]

tim, this may seem like a stupid question, but I can not get the stand to attach to this router. Is there some sort of trick to this? I have tried every combination of flipping the stand around and trying to get it to attach so I can stand the router uo but I feel so stupid that I can't figure it out. Do I need a screw as well or something?

I think this is illustrated in the Quick set up guide. It slides into a slot on the power-button end of the router.

 

[thiggins]

Thanks for your reply.. but i cannot understand very well.. so if on 2.4 frequency i have a nintendo wii on first side and on the second side i've an usb adapter with the N protocol activated, this would damage the router? Is that correct? So do i have to set the 2.4 frequency NOT to mixed mode and use both nintendo wii and usb adapter in g?

No damage will occur. If both 11b/g and N devices are transmitting at the same time, both will slow down.

 

[bluesherpa]

14MB/s

I'm only getting a max of 14MB/s over wireless N (5GHz) from the WNDR3700 when it's sitting on my desk less than 2 feet away from a fairly Apple Macbook Pro 17". Network Utility shows a 300 Mbit/s link. Shouldn't I get more around 25MB/s to 30MB/s? Security Options is set to WPA2. Mode is set to Up to 300Mbit. I tried changing the channel to 161, but performance is the same. Is there something I can do to improve performance?

 

[thiggins]

Move away from the router. If you're closer then around 10 feet, it can overload the radio and reduce speed.

 

[bluesherpa]

Any other possibilities? I did what I could to maintain line of sight and tried both at 15' and 20', but the highest speed is still 14MB/s. Could it be that I have a setting of some sort wrong?

 

[beisser]

Any other possibilities? I did what I could to maintain line of sight and tried both at 15' and 20', but the highest speed is still 14MB/s. Could it be that I have a setting of some sort wrong?

you have to consider, that you are dealing with wireless here. so you will only get 50% out of your perfect 300mbps link, which would be 150mbps (i actually never got more than ~140 mbps). that would be more like 15-17 MB/sec, so your 14 MB/sec isnt too bad at all