NETGEAR RangeMax Wireless-N Gigabit Router with USB WNR3500L

10 Review to this product

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  happy
  January 24th, 2010 on 10:28 pm

  Rating

  I have been using this router for two weeks. It is easy to setup, using the original Netgear firmware. The wireless range is good but it could have been better. The only issue I had with the router was the price. It could have been lower.
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  Nathaniel Brown
  April 14th, 2010 on 3:23 pm

  Rating

  I was looking for a quality Wireless N router with gigabit connections and DD-wrt compatible. This fit the bill, so I grabbed one to try out. I’ve tried a Linksys (320N) and a D-link to much disappointment, but this Netgear performs flawlessly. I downloaded dd-wrt firmware for it and never tried the stock Netgear stuff ([...]). DD-wrt performs flawlessly on this! No drops, great signal strength. Took me maybe 20 minutes to set up, from opening box to getting everything online. I run 3 desktops wired, one desktop wireless, and 2 wireless laptops and they all connect without issue. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for Wireless N. I have not tried the USB functionality, as all my data is shared through my computer already.
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  Thomas Johnson
  April 19th, 2010 on 8:36 am

  Rating

  It’s great to have a router out there that recognizes that customers just want the freaking thing to work, and don’t care who wrote or maintains the firmware. With that in mind, I bought this router to replace another Wireless-N router that was simply a nightmare, with glitchy firmware from two years ago, and will now find a new home or function via Craigslist or something.

  I was up and running using the stock firmware in about 5 minutes, accessing the router configuration page and setting up a secure wireless network. I didn’t try any of the quick-install software – usually like to just set the thing up myself without putting any software on my machine, and for this it worked perfectly.

  More importantly, this router is open-source-firmware ready, so if for any reason the stock firmware fails me, I’ll have an option out there to try, as opposed to the endless struggles of my prior router.

  My setup includes a wired WHS, a Snow Leopard wireless-N macbook, a wireless PC using a ‘G’ card (Win7), another wireless laptop also using G, a Wii, an XBox using a wired connection, and another wired media-center PC, running Win7, and an iPhone 2G. Powers everything without flaw.
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  Yeh Ryte
  April 21st, 2010 on 10:09 am

  Rating

  Currently running 3 laptops (mbp, thinkpad, acer), 2 desktops, iphone, blackberry bold, sony blue-ray player, 2 NAS drives, & Linksys WRE54G Bridge on the same router for the past 2 weeks without a hitch.

  The server is extremely versatile and extendable and will offer more opportunities as they are needed.

  Great performance and value for $100.
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  Robert Bagany
  April 24th, 2010 on 10:13 pm

  Rating

  I purchased this router at a B&M store a few months ago and it has been working fine since. No more hangs and annoying restarts – like my old L*****s Wireless G router. Playing online games, using S***e phone, anything you throw at it – and this unit works flawlessly.
  
  The gigabit ports work fine, also, and the wireless reception is also great and works at quite a distance.
  
  I have yet to try the USB thingy on it, but I have my own backup system in place.
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  Matthew K. Morgan
  April 29th, 2010 on 5:11 am

  Rating

  I recently purchased one of these routers as a replacement for my Linksys WRT54GL, a stalwart in the realm of home networking. My Linksys router is healthy and it works but it does not allow me to set up DHCP reservations without a 3rd party firmware update, and it does not support Wireless-N. After searching for a good balance between functionality, quality and price I settled on this router by NetGear. So far I am very pleased with this unit, though I had some minor issues when setting it up.

  Setup of NetGear routers (including this one) is simple and easy. There are two methods of setting it up, using the Wizard CD or going in manually. For users not too familiar with setting up wireless networks or routers, using the CD to get started is a good option. More seasoned users may prefer to work without the CD and work directly with the router. I chose the latter of the two. Even so, tapping in and finding any given setting is relatively easy, everything broken down into several pages. Because the router configuration is accessed through a browser, manipulating the router configuration is very much like accessing a web page and should feel familiar.

  The factory-default username, password, and access address are printed right on the router itself so there is no risk of losing this information at any point.

  I connected 3 laptops, one at a time, to the wireless network and encountered my only difficulty with moving to this router. Because I retained the network name and key I expected the swap to be seamless and mostly invisible, but my systems each complained when tried to connect, stating that the network configuration had changed even though I retained the settings, the type, key and everything else. To get each system working I had to delete the connection completely, then I allowed each to redetect wireless networks available. Two of them came up without any further incident, but one of the laptops required a reboot before it would properly connect.

  Signal strength is important when it comes to wireless networks. My Linksys router gives me very strong signal strength, and I was fearful that this new NetGear router would lack the same power to broadcast. Happily, it broadcasts brightly enough that I have had no problems with connectivity due to losing signals. It is *at least* on par but seems to be stronger. My router lives on the second story of the house, while my personal laptop is in the basement.

  As soon as the router was configured and provided a connection to the internet, I logged in ang got a surprise – it is configured by factory default to look for firmware updates every time I log in. This is fine as logging into the router becomes an infrequent activity after a while, though up front it can be annoying to have to wait for it to download and then update itself.

  I have had no connectivity issues or drops since setting this router up.

  The DCHP reservation and MAC filtering work well, which are the two advanced features about which I care most.

  Something I have not seen in any other router up to this point is a USB port. According to the documentation, the router can be set up to provide persistent storage through the network by simply connecting a USB hard drive (or even a thumb drive) to it. I have not tried this but I absolutely plan to put this to work, which will make sharing files between the different computers simple without having to make several copies. It should be noted, though, that this could be a risky practice if using to access the same file frequently from multiple points.

  Looking through the options that can be set up, I found a keyword-based page filter, QoS settings and a lot of other features I have not previously seen. For a mid-range wireless router this one has a generous set of features. Of course, the standard features are there – firewall, MAC filtering as mentioned above, different encryption key types and a lot more too.

  This is a very nice router with a nice feature set. It is very easy to set up, easy to configure once it’s running, and so far has proven to be stable. If you need more than a basic wireless router, consider this one as a good candidate.
• 

  TMV
  May 8th, 2010 on 8:26 am

  Rating

  Pros:
  
  Small form factor, excellent build quality, worked out of box,
  
  good organization for setup pages, strong QoS features, very fast

  Cons:
  
  QoS configuration could be more automated

  Other thoughts:
  
  Verizon supplied a Westell router, but I also tried their Actiontec equivalent. Both
  
  routers are dated and suffer from issues relating to Voice over IP: my Vonage calls would
  
  get choppy on the upload. The solution is a newer router with a strong QoS component.

  I had Verizon do the installation with CAT5 from the ONC box. You really have to insist since
  
  they want to install with COAX so you can buy their package deals. However, if you do the CAT5 install
  
  then its simply a matter of calling tech support and having them do an “IP Release” then connect
  
  the WAN port on the router to the CAT5 cable emanating from the ONC box.

  The Netgear 3500L is an excellent choice for this configuration. I ran Netgear’s supplied CD, and
  
  was connected and configured in about 7 minutes. However, since I also use a Netgear AP/Bridge pair
  
  to connect several laptops and desktops wirelessly to the router, there were a few other adjustments.
  
  In this case its best to assign static IPs to all the devices. When I did not do this there were times
  
  when the router’s DHCP had trouble assigning an IP to a device(s) on the other end of the AP/Bridge.
  
  Oftentimes the system would hang requiring a powercyle (to the Bridge) to get online. Assigning
  
  static IPs fixed the problem.

  With the Netgear 3500L I was able to set a wireless N+G mode of 300 for my laptops. Am getting excellent
  
  range and no dropped signal and very fast data transfers on the 2.4Ghz band. The Netgear AP/Bridge gives me the
  
  second 5.0Ghz band to work with; its great for streaming videos. The two combined cost a little less than $200
  
  but you have the flexibility of moving the AP/Bridge to another router. Moreover, the system works extremely
  
  well. Its really fast and rock solid stable.

  Finally, Verizon does not make a point of telling you the advantage of running CAT5 from the ONC box instead of
  
  COAX. They want to sell you packages requiring COAX cabling and their proprietary MOCA routers. I spent probably
  
  12-15 hours going back and forth with their tech support people, and driving to and from their service center,
  
  before I found I DID NOT have to use their supplied Westell or ActionTec routers. So, if your primary use is
  
  internet, and you do have an internet phone (eg Vonage) then have Verizon do the CAT5 installation and buy your
  
  own router. And, you really can’t buy a better router (at least for now) for the money than the Netgear 3500L.
  
  I did try a Dlink 825 and had issues. The Netgear 3500L worked flawlessly.

  I would highly recommend the Netgear 3500L to anyone who needs a wireless router that’s feature-rich and that’s
  
  easy to set up. If you need the 5.0Ghz band, just add the Netgear AP/Bridge for about $100 more.
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  Ronald R. Harris
  May 27th, 2010 on 2:11 pm

  Rating

  This routher replaced a Linksys and it was so easy to set up. It was up and running in less than 10 minutes. You just hook it up and run the installlation cd and it takes care of the rest. It has much greater range than my former g router and I am no longer losing connections as before. I highly reccomend thisrouter especially for easy set up.
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  Vince J. Filippelli
  May 30th, 2010 on 5:30 am

  Rating

  I replaced a 2 year old busted linksys N with the Netgear Rangemax and I’m very pleased. As advertised and reviewed, it was a snap to set up. The wireless connections are faster than they ever were with the linksys and hopefully it lasts longer. I also use the USB share drive for my back and that works “OK”. Transfer rates are slow but it beats having to get the HDD and plug it in. I sometimes have guests and I really like the feature that, while I can have my own private secured network, at the click of a button, they can have their own network. The one click secure client configuration really saved some headache since I did opt for a secure netowrk. With the one click, you either press a button or click on a software button on the device and press a button on the router and all the setup information is transfered “snap” like that! Great wireless for under $100!
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  Roger S.
  May 30th, 2010 on 10:55 pm

  Rating

  This is the first wireless home setup I have attempted, so I knew nothing about anything. I’m running Vista on a 3GHz Pentium with RR cable internet. The install instructions were clear and easy to follow, it was virtually plug and play. In about 20 minutes I was up and running, and my Wii system was on the internet. Decided to set up the wireless before I buy a laptop. I highly recommend this router to everyone, easy enough to use for people like me, and my friends who actually know what their doing tell me it would be a great router for them also.