Upgrading from a WNDR3800

[tallen234]

I think I am having some issues with my Netgear WNDR3800 that I purchased about 5 years ago and it may be time to upgrade. I have very basic wifi needs: a few iPads, a iphone 6, iphone 5s, wireless printer. I want to "future" proof as much as possible, so I'm assuming that an AC router is necessary. My budget is $150ish, but willing to go up if there is a rock solid recommendation. I took a look at the wirecutter recommendations, Archer C7 or their current "upgraded" recommendation the Nighthawk R6400. For my usage, I think stability and range of the wireless network is the most important. I have a 2500 sq foot house with block wall exterior walls. My router is on one side of the house. It would be nice if I had complete coverage, but I do have my network hardwired into my home theater (on the other side of the house) and I have a very old Cisco modem as an access point in that room. If I can get rid of the Cisco modem, it would be a bonus (but not completely necessary). I guess my question is what would be the best choice for my relatively straight forward needs. Thanks!

P.S. Sorry for the what should I buy thread, but I only do these once every 3-5 years!

 

[L&LD]

RT-AC68U with RMerlin firmware (or one of the forks off his work; john9527 or hggomes).

 

[Trip]

AC68U or R7000 -- forget the R6400, not established enough with third-party firmware. I'm partial to AdvancedTomato, but RMerlin/xVortex would also be good choices on either.

 

[thiggins]

AC68U or R7000 -- forget the R6400, not established enough with third-party firmware. I'm partial to AdvancedTomato, but RMerlin/xVortex would also be good choices on either.

Why is third-party firmware support a must-have for NETGEAR? Is factory firmware as buggy as ASUS'?

 

[L&LD]

Why is third-party firmware support a must-have for NETGEAR? Is factory firmware as buggy as ASUS'?

It is a must-have because Netgear abandons their products after a few months after introduction.

 

[thiggins]

So NETGEAR doesn't fix bugs or doesn't add features?

 

[L&LD]

So NETGEAR doesn't fix bugs or doesn't add features?

In my experience with several Netgear products, if they don't (and they don't) release new firmware then neither can happen.

 

[NETGEAR Guy]

Is your firmware experience regarding any particular current NETGEAR router models? I can certainly follow this up..

 

[AdvHomeServer]

I think I am having some issues with my Netgear WNDR3800 that I purchased about 5 years ago and it may be time to upgrade. I have very basic wifi needs: a few iPads, a iphone 6, iphone 5s, wireless printer. I want to "future" proof as much as possible, so I'm assuming that an AC router is necessary. My budget is $150ish, but willing to go up if there is a rock solid recommendation. I took a look at the wirecutter recommendations, Archer C7 or their current "upgraded" recommendation the Nighthawk R6400. For my usage, I think stability and range of the wireless network is the most important. I have a 2500 sq foot house with block wall exterior walls. My router is on one side of the house. It would be nice if I had complete coverage, but I do have my network hardwired into my home theater (on the other side of the house) and I have a very old Cisco modem as an access point in that room. If I can get rid of the Cisco modem, it would be a bonus (but not completely necessary). I guess my question is what would be the best choice for my relatively straight forward needs. Thanks!

P.S. Sorry for the what should I buy thread, but I only do these once every 3-5 years!

Everyone want to know the answer to this. Routers are a necessity but there are so many models and so many different situations they need to work in. It's a natural question to have. A permanent thread might not be a bad idea, but drop the oldest posts after a few months since it will undoubtedly be a popular spot.

I always look at Amazon for the rankings ... highest with most votes ... read the reviews for common problems ... then cross my fingers and always save the receipt. Don't be afraid to send it back if it acts out. The Netgear AC1450 is a case in point. It upgrades nicely to a R6300V2 via a clever hack, but is a piece of junk as an AC1450. As a R6300V2 it's rock solid unless it has a hardware defect, which may or may not be easily apparent. If it has an issue, assume it's the router, not you.

Re alternate firmware: someone mentioned that - it's a coin toss. DD-WRT issues a new update sometimes 3 times a week. Why ... I don't know. It makes me nervous but sometimes you need a feature it offers and are stuck with taking a chance on getting a good release. Tomato Shibby is popular but only available for a limited set of routers. Merlin's software is well documented here.

Right now, I'm using a pfSense home built router in the basement and a wireless access point (AC1450 upgraded to R6300V2 using stock firmware) in a central spot. PS: the pfSense router can load nice security software. For example everyone is being scanned all the time by hackers and 'Internet Scientists' looking for vulnerabilities. NAT and SPI, built into all routers, protect the innocent well. pf Sense has special security tools available that show me I am under attack today by a UDP dos attack coming in over the TOR network ... I think I researched it right. pfBlockerNG and SNORT in my router are laughing at them. My point ... I chose to go for the router I might need for a vulnerability that I don't really understand but experts somewhere else do. Just throwing it out for later consideration. (What I don't understand is how they got my IP address as I'm an anonymous comcast user and someone's really working it.)

 

[Trip]

(What I don't understand is how they got my IP address as I'm an anonymous comcast user and someone's really working it.)

Basically, the dynamic IP blocks of most ISPs aren't that hard to figure out, especially since IPv4 addresses have been exhausted for some time now and IPv6 hasn't really taken hold yet, so these guys are just running their stuff up and down the entire numeric range of those subnets, always scanning for vulns and steering traffic to the ones they've discovered. With as many holes as there are, at least a few IPs in your subnet and adjacent subnets are compromised in whatever way on a routine basis, which makes DDoS that much easier and botnets that much more potentially invasive. You're doing well with your approach, though. A bit over-the-top for most average-Joe's, but effective and powerful nonetheless.

Edit: Getting back on topic, as long most people will pluck something off the shelf at Best Buy anyways, one would think the known items would be the best option, more often than not. To the average Joe, that's often the difference between "it just works" and "this thing sucks!". Opportunity cost spent even one time dealing with flaky gear is almost always greater than the savings on what you bought versus what you could have bought for however much more. My 2C at least.

 

[RogerSC]

Is your firmware experience regarding any particular current NETGEAR router models? I can certainly follow this up..

I would have gotten rid of my R7000 early on if dd-wrt hadn't been there for it.

For me, third-party firmware support is a must for any router that I buy. I really want to have a choice of admin interfaces. It worked out well for the R7000, I used dd-wrt while the stock Netgear stock firmware was unstable for me. Now I'm using tomato on the R7000. All the mfgrs. now are dumbing down admin interfaces, not allowing much network monitoring or telnet to the router, and not allowing extensions to be added. It's really hard to get decent monitoring information out of stock firmware that doesn't provide a useful log, doesn't provide more detailed traffic data/graphs, or even use the client names that I create in "attached devices" listings (MAC addresses and "-" for client names are not a usability feature), etc. In fact, Netgear firmware will not even display a client name for it's own WNDA2100 or WNDA3100, just a MAC address.

I think that you'll find that an appliance that you turn on, minimally configure, and then don't do much with it for the next few years until it fails suits some people, but the people here on this forum (and other forums) are generally looking for more from their routers, particularly for troubleshooting network problems. And they're not going to get that the from stock firmware that I've seen. Not sure about Asus firmware, I never use the Asus stock firmware *smile*, too many bugs, but Netgear and Linksys firmware have both gotten to be much less useful. And, for Asus, I think that a lot of people use RMerlin's firmware exclusively on those routers.