Netgear Rangemax WNDR3700 Dual Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router (Black)

10 Review to this product

• 

  Paul
  September 22nd, 2009 on 9:58 am

  Rating

  The WNDR3700 works great. Bypassed the setup wizard because of custom requirements. Have been using wireless for ten years.

  You likely will need a new adapter to get the full benefits of the WNDR3700. Ordered it with the WNDA3100 wireless adapter, which had many problems, thus it was returned.

  Locally bought the WNDA3100v2 which worked great with the WNDR3700 and has much better range. Its chipset is from a different manufacturer so it should have been called the WNDA3700. Unfortunately V1 and v2 have the same model number so you need to look at the picture on the box. WNDA3100v2 has a light and a button.
• 

  Dean Redfern
  September 24th, 2009 on 12:03 pm

  Rating

  This router is fast, easy to set-up and smartly engineered. Although this is a high-end feature-rich consumer router, out of the box, I had this running in just a few minutes. Using the simple color-coded 1-2-3 step setup process, an expert, or a novice, can have this router up and running very quickly.

  Modifying the two dual band networks for different names and passwords is straight forward, and I preferred to do it manually. After logging into the firmware, the screens are divided into three panels. The left panel is the list of the feature sets, such as “wireless settings,” or “guest network” settings; the middle panel has the pick list of options for the feature set; and the right panel on the screen explains, in the easiest of terms, what the features and options mean. There is little need to refer to the product manual or other help. Everything is in one place, and in the right place.

  I attained maximum speeds with each of the dual bands when my laptops were in close proximity to the router. My throughput on the 5 Ghertz band using the “n” protocol was a blazing 300 Mbps. With my previous router, I was never able to achieve anything faster than 130 Mbps. As is the case with the 5 Ghertz channel, this speed drops off quickly as I moved my laptop away from the router. By 30 feet, I was down to 100 Mbps a second, but still relatively fast when compared to the legacy “g” speeds. On the 2.4 Ghertz band, using the “g” protocol, I saw very little degradation within 50 feet of the router.

  I streamed a Netflix movie to an HD television flawlessly through a Toshiba laptop and an HDMI cable. There was no stutter in the picture, and the picture quality was excellent. Unlike past video streaming, I did not experience a dropped picture while waiting for the video buffer to reload.

  I connected a USB disk drive to the router and shared it among three laptops without incident. I established read and read/write passwords for various file folders on the disk drive. I also made the drive available for access through the Internet, and again this process was straightforward in creating. I plan on backing up the three laptops to the USB drive on the router, as well as sharing photos and other files with family and friends by having them access the password protected IP address of my new network-based disk drive.

  In total, you can establish four networks on this router. One for each of the dual bands, and two more as guest networks for each of the dual bands as well. The guest networks are nice as they can completely isolate guests from accessing sensitive information on other PCs or devices on the network. (Or you can open up the guest networks to everything on the network.)

  Some other features worth noting are the automatic checking for firmware updates every time you log into the router; the “traffic meter” that shows daily, weekly and monthly internet usage that can be configured to throttle it; and the ability to backup personalized firmware settings in case of an emergency restore. With regard to the latter, it would be nice to also get a saved PDF file of what the settings are for each of the backed-up firmware configurations.

  The Netgear WNDR3700 replaced two Linksys routers that I had connected together to essentially create a “dual band” environment. One was an older “g” unit, while the other was a newer “n” router. Together they got the job done in a mixed environment of video and Internet surfing. But the WNDR3700 takes routing to a newer level, with faster processors driving the dual bands to faster speeds and better range; and a big feature set that is easy to use, understand and configure.

  SIX-MONTH UPDATE – This router has been powered up constantly for six months now, and it continues to run flawlessly. During this time, two firmware updates have been automatically flagged and applied without incident.

  I use many of the key features of this router across the three laptops that are connected wirelessly to the dual bands. Video streaming from Netflix and other Internet sites continues to work smoothly.

  Being able to connect a USB disk drive to the router has become a heavily-used feature. The router-based disk drive is the central location for backing up the data from the three laptops. I can backup these laptops locally, or from anywhere using the Internet. When traveling with a camera and a laptop, I am able to easily backup digital pictures to the router’s USB disk drive. It is another way to save and protect files when away.

  This router is my third, and best to date.
• 

  D. Constant
  September 25th, 2009 on 1:15 pm

  Rating

  Have been running a D-Link DGL-4300 for several years with good results. Needed a replacement with more speed and processing power to handle multi-media, large LAN file transfers and N wireless services.

  Tried the D-Link DIR-825, but undocumented MAC address restrictions killed the deal. The router would not accept a non-zero value for the first two characters of the WAN MAC address.

  Looked at the Linksys WRT-610N, but was concerned with past Linksys product performance.

  Purchased the Netgear WNDR3700 which was getting very good reviews and selling out quickly after release.

  Configuration was a breeze with typical Netgear menus. LAN and WiFI speed are excellent.

  The DLNA USB device option works great, streaming pictures to our LAN connected Samsung TV.

  Guest WiFi access with LAN restrictions makes sharing with guests or visiting family easy.

  There have been no issues using Vonage VoIP and transferring large amounts of data at the same time. QOS settings are available in the WNDR3700, but I’m not currently using it. Even with QOS and rules active, the DGL-4300 would sometimes cause the VoIP to stutter during large transfers.

  Port Address Translation (PAT) is not available. This makes it difficult to access multiple Port 80 LAN devices from the WAN side.

  I rate the unit 4.5+ stars. PAT would have made it a five.
• 

  Scotty
  October 30th, 2009 on 3:43 pm

  Rating

  I replaced my Linksys WRT610N after its failure at a mere 14 months. As a consequence, I can offer a direct comparison. I was looking for equivalent or superior features in a unit with greater reliability. After two weeks of use, I can confirm that the Netgear WNDR3700 meets that requirement.

  The WNDR3700 offers a solid, fast N connection to several notebooks and wireless nodes using both the 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz frequencies. Signal strength in my two-story house is 4 bars at 5.0GHz and 5 bars at 2.4GHz at the farthest point from the router on a different floor . This is higher than that ever provided by the Linksys router. Throughput rivals that of the direct connection used by my desktop.

  Installation was simple, with connections swapped between routers. I was again online after rebooting my cable modem and router, and then using the router utility to configure my wireless and network settings. I am particularly impressed that the router utility automatically checks for firmware updates and then offers to perform the task. I followed the prompts and did so upon first use. This is MUCH easier than checking manually and then going through the convoluted download and installation process required by Linksys. (I’d performed a hard reset and firmware upgrade in an effort to revive the old router without success; previous firmware upgrades had been successful.)

  The availability of a secondary guest wireless connection that can be isolated from the remainder of the network is a boon. I was recently able to provide a separate password to a visiting ISF calibrator so that he could access the Internet without seeing my secured data. GREAT! I didn’t have to reset my security password on the router and multiple devices; merely changed the guest password for the next potential user.

  The connection for the USB external HDD is immediately recognized and appears as an available network drive. I’ll soon test the proclaimed ability to remotely access the drive when traveling.

  The Linksys router required a reboot on a regular bases when it would refuse to authenticate wireless devices using the proper password. Dropped connections were also a problem. Thus far, the WNDR3700 connects flawlessly and remains connected.

  The WNDR3700 is everything I’d hoped for with the Linksys router, and then some. The fast and solid wireless connection is complemented by an easily-used configuration utility that makes security and wireless settings simple and firmware upgrades exceptionally timely and easy to install. For home-office use, this router meets and exceeds my needs and expectations. It is worth every penny!
• 

  Eric
  December 20th, 2009 on 4:14 am

  Rating

  I purchased this router because it had all of the features I was looking for – Dual Band, Wireless N, USB Storage, and Media Server. If I had written a review a week ago, it wouldn’t have been as positive. Everything about the router worked great except for an issue where the unit would lock up if you connected a USB drive that had a lot of media files. This was a known issue by Netgear (it’s posted on their website) and the only workaround was to disable the Media Server feature. Since the Media Server functionality was one of my top reasons I purchased the WNDR3700, I was disappointed this did not work. Fortunately Netgear has just released updated firmware on 12/16 and it seems to have resolved the problem.

  Performance has been great. This router replaced an older Linksys G router and the range on the WNDR3700 is much better. I have several wireless G devices connected on the 2.4 GHz band (Wii, Roku Soundbridge, cell phones, printer, and a few laptops) and have had no problems at all. I have another laptop connected using wireless N on the 5 Ghz band and it connects at 270 or 300 Mbps and maintains a solid connection during use. I have also found the router to work well with VPN on both mine and my wife’s laptops.

  I use Vonage VOIP and have had no problems. Unlike my old Linksys router, I did not need to configure any QOS for the VOIP. As a matter of fact, I was using the phone for quite some time while I was in the process of transferring around 75GB of files to the USB drive attached to the router and did not experience any delays, dropouts, or quality issues with the VOIP.

  The USB storage and Media Server capabilities are key features for me. Beside needing a Wirelss N router, I also wanted to replace my aging NAS that I use for backups. I’m still in the process of setting up backups for my PCs, but so far the transfer rate seems adequate. It took about 2 or 3 hours to transfer around 75GB of data using SyncToy (Microsoft utility). A few things I picked up on various sites/forums: Netgear notes a known issue with write speeds on NTFS formatted drives so I formatted my new USB drive as EXT3 (this is a common file system used with Linux). If you have slow transfers, do a search for “Remote Differential Compression”.

  I often like to stream music to my Roku Soundbridge. Previously I always needed to turn on one of my PC’s to serve up my music. The Media Server feature in the WNDR3700 eliminates that need. I haven’t used this feature extensively yet, but streaming music to my Roku worked great and was actually quicker at buffering the music and selecting songs.

  Overall this is a great router and I can easily recommend it. The new firmware resolves the Media Server/USB problem and also adds setup support for Win7 and 64bit OSes (see Netgear site for details).
• 

  Preston S. Page
  February 11th, 2010 on 5:05 pm

  Rating

  I turned to Netgear after struggling with and returning three Linksys/Cisco wireless routers that Cisco tech support decreed defective. The Netgear WNDR3700 got a very credible rave review on [...] and the feature set more than met needs. The Netgear router has a solid, no nonsense feel, better range than any of the many Linksys routers I’ve used over ten years and web based configuration utility really works.

  Pros: Good ranges, “green” features, easy to set up separate networks, solid performance.

  Cons: Minor dings here:
  
  – The desktop setup reported my Windows 7 64-bit as an unsupported OS, so I had to use the “advanced” setup by going directly into the web interface.
  
  – Because the wifi network defaults to open (as it does with all makers), I picked up an intruder before I could apply the security.
  
  – While the feature is very welcome, the push-button power on/off switch is easy to bump by accident. A slide switch would be a better design for an appliance like this.
  
  – The power cable slips out easily. It should be tighter and some sort of safety clip would be good. I use a small strip of Gorilla tape.
  
  – The status lights are very bright; a dim setting would be a nice “green” feature
• 

  Sasibhushan Upadrasta
  February 13th, 2010 on 6:23 pm

  Rating

  Arguably, This is one of the best home networking routers out there, but with a CAVEAT. To my router experience, no existing home networking router can beat this one. I have been using it for a month now and have never felt better about using wireless but beware of upgrading the firmware.

  The previous day, I upgraded to newer firmware only to rollback to initial version 1.x.31N.

  I have setup NAS (Network Attached Storage, a.k.a Ready Share by Netgear) after installing the router. The initial firmware was great, working fine with NAS. Logged on to the router the previous day and it suggested the availability of newer firmware and asked if i would upgrade and i happily hit the upgrade button.

  Now starts the issue after upgrading to version 1.x.49N, the router started dropping packets and the internet connection altogether. Then upgraded to 1.x.55N and it again started crapping out on me. Internet connection used to drop and i had to reboot my router (loop this sentence a few times). Can someone imagine how frustrated i was? This thing wasted my precious couple hours.

  Later rolled back to initial version and it started working as before with no issues with internet and NAS.

  Few GOLDEN rules worth mentioning here:

  1. People’s time counts, so enough testing must be done before releasing firmware.

  2. If encouraging to upgrade to newer firmware, one MUST provide appropriate instructions along with rollback instructions and make the previous firmware versions available at disposal, so that people don’t have to waste time searching for them in case they need to rollback.

  3. It is advisable to list chronological versions of firmware the router had, when logged on to the router using [...]

  4. If good sales are expected at the prices one is expecting and targeted for non techies/common people, the product must be flawless. Tech junkies like me can fiddle things out. Do Apple products ring a bell?

  Bottom-line:

  Would prefer this router over Linksys routers, with which i had numerous signal issues. My home is now tangle free. It is a next generation router with Gigabit capability and should last long. Expensive, but will cover the price of changing many routers over next few years. Heed my advice and do NOT upgrade to newer firmware versions unless they are stable.
• 

  NotaSecondTime
  February 16th, 2010 on 7:23 pm

  Rating

  I’ve successfully connected two 2TB drives to its one USB port. I was able to play back three .iso format DVDs from three separate PC’s and the OPlay R3 media player simultaneously. I made use of the Netgears Ethernet, 2.4 and the 5.0GHz bands simultaneously. So it has great throughput but one important limitation that users should be made aware of.

  First after trial and error, the most efficient home media streaming architecture is having the router serve-up the files. This eliminates a NAS or PC. USB 2.0 is sufficient for playing back, while sata is optimized for crating and backing up large disks.
  
  My media collection consists of my 500 DVD’s, 20K photographs and 30K FLAC encoded audio files, so I require 4TB of storage. The problem is this takes two 2TB drives, but the Linksys has only one USB port!
  
  So we enter into the minefield of combining 2TB drives to use ONE USB port. Incompatibilities are everywhere, especially with combining two sata drives into one sata port.
  
  I’ve had great success combining Samsung F3EG drives but only failures with the latest WD 2TB drives (WD 1.5TB and smaller are fine). The KingWin dual docking failed with all 2TB drives.
  
  I use the Thermaltake BlacX Duet USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive ST0014U and Samsung F3EG drives. Each drive is mounted as a separated share using the Netgear’s single USB port.
  
  As an alternative option two Samsung Story 2TB drives Samsung Story Station 1.5 TB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive HXDU015EB used with the Griffin 3026-SSUSB SmartShare USB (Black) will probably be a good solution.
  
  Note that backing up a 2TB drive takes 10 hours with sata, and 19 with USB 2! The very latest 5400 green drive are a lot more energy efficient than previous drive and only run lukewarm at worst. The Samsung green’s seem to power down after inactivity which is a positive in this application, but start-up takes 12 seconds.

  The big unrevealed Netgear 3700 limitation is the slow WRITING (reads are fast!) to the attached hard drives. Rates are only 2.5MB/sec. This is unacceptable, so I update/backup the drives at the main PC. However the content doesn’t change to often for reference material. If you think about it the CPU inside must be optimized for its primary purpose of serving or streaming, not writing. I understand and hope you can too.

  In any event its an awesome experience to play back from anywhere within the house using the Oplay Air R3 (the 1.09 firmware allows for thousands of Internet radio and video station streaming too).

  In summary the Netgear 3700 is the most important piece of gear in my system as it “glues” everything together while serving several rooms simultaneously. One awesome product!

  Samsung Drive info:
  
  Samsung Spinpoint F1 (Performance)
  
  Samsung Spinpoint EcoGreen F2EG (Low Noise, Low Power)
  
  Samsung Spinpoint F3 (High Performance)
  
  Samsung Spinpoint EcoGreen F3EG (Low Noise, Low Power)

  F1 – 7200rpm spindle, 333GB/platter
  
  F2EG – 5400rpm spindle, 333GB/platter
  
  F3 – 7200rpm spindle, 500GB/platter
  
  F3EG – 5400rpm spindle, 500GB/platter <– the best for home media servers
• 

  Scott Campbell
  March 2nd, 2010 on 5:52 pm

  Rating

  I first got the Netgear WNDR3700. I chose this because it is much faster than the older 3300 version and a little bit faster than LinkSys WRT610N. I can’t find the web site but one really good one did comparisons for different distances and thru walls and floors. The 3700 replaced a 2.4 Ghz D-Link G router. The D-Link was very complicated to set up a couple years ago but the Netgear was so simple and automated. Follow directions exactly on when to power on/off and disconnect. I picked the 3700 because it had 5 GHz.
  
  I used this with WNHDEB111. I bought the pair to use with my HDTV. It was tested to be faster than the powerline ethernet adapters. I used one WNHDEB111 as a bridge to a Panasonic Plasma G10 in the bedroom (thru 1 wall about 20 ft away) and used the other as a bridge to a Sony 46z5100 LCD in my living room (thru 1 wall about 45 ft away). Have streamed HD and regular movies from Netflix with no problems. Setup was also very easy. Directions aren’t straight forward but once you understand that all one has to do is push a button on the B111 then push one on 3700, they automatically sync up. Easiest network setup I’ve ever had!
  
  I’ve also used wireless with 2.4GHz with my son on X-Box 360 with no problems.
• 

  Charles C. Deano Jr.
  March 10th, 2010 on 9:04 pm

  Rating

  I just replaced my Linksys WRT600N this morning. Before the swap, I did an internet speed test on all three of my computers (desktop on a 1GB Cat 5E line, laptop using 2.4 GHz N, and TouchSmart All-in-One on a 2.4 GHz N). I was getting about 7 Mbs on the desktop and 5 Mbs on the wireless devices. Immediately after the router swap I ran the tests again and had over 10 Mbs on all three (50% improvement on the desk top and 100% improvement on the wireless devices). I also used to get intermittent Netflix HD quality streaming over my LG BD Player (wired), but the first (and only so far) time I tried it with the new router it went right to HD. So far it looks like the best $150 I’ve spent in a while.

  The setup disk didn’t like my 64 bit Win 7 Home, but the manual set up was straight forward (I guess I could have tried the 32 bit emulation mode, but didn’t think of it in time).