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NETGEAR Wireless Router - N600 Dual Band Gigabit (WNDR3700)

Supports Windows 8
High-performance wireless router with speeds up to 600 Mbps; ideal for video streaming and online gaming
Simultaneous Dual Band - Doubles bandwidth and reduce WiFi interference for better connections
NETGEAR Genie® App - Easy-to-use dashboard to monitor, control & repair home networks
Wireless security with the highest grade protection

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.

Buy NETGEAR Wireless Router - N600 Dual Band Gigabit (WNDR3700) Now

This high-end wireless router by Netgear is well-designed and comes with a lot of features out of the box. I loved the ability to skip the "insert this CD rom in your computer" installation for dummies method and go straight to the web GUI to set it up. The feature I was most interested in is the USB storage sharing. This feature allows you to plug in any external USB drive, and then share it over the network. This was a convenient target for pushing automatic backups to. If our computer's hard drive catches on fire, I still have backups that I've saved on the USB drive attached to this router. Unfortunately, I ran into a bug when trying out this feature. Netgear support was helpful, however, and helped me get it working in a day.

Pros:

Feature rich, high-performance.

Nice vertical stand included.

USB storage feature turns your external drive into a network share.

Comes with QoS (a must for VOIP), dynamic DNS, firewall, features.

Easy to upgrade the firmware and it will automatically check for updates.

Good documentation.

Dead-simple installation and you can skip the Insert This CD-ROM install method.

Ability to set up "guest" network with separate settings in addition to your main network.

Cons:

Traffic bandwidth monitoring is rudimentary. It is actually very good for an off-the shelf router, but I'm spoiled by my home router which runs Tomato firmware: it has pretty graphs.

USB storage feature needs work. You can only use your router's admin password to protect your shares. Configuring settings with Google Chrome or non-firefox, non-IE browsers may silently fail (as it did for me). The workaround is to reapply settings with IE or Firefox.

All in all a very solid product. I give it 4.5 stars, as I wasted time chasing down the Chrome/Web GUI bug. I have no doubt this will become a 5-star product as Netgear pushes out new firmware updates.

Read Best Reviews of NETGEAR Wireless Router - N600 Dual Band Gigabit (WNDR3700) Here

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.

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As you have no doubt read in other reviews, the firmware on this model is buggy but is progressively getting better. I am currently able to use the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands without problems. I am also able to use the network file server feature without problems.

My main gripe is that the media server feature does not work currently, and will cause the issue where the router suddenly stops working (but will still respond to ping and appear on the local network). The only fix when the router freezes like this is to turn it off and on.

If you want to read more, type 'NETGEAR WNDR3700 freeze' into your favorite search engine (no quotes) and navigate to the Netgear forums link that is returned.

My opinion is that Netgear pushed this router out too fast, and figured the early adopter's testing would be enough for them to work out all the issues. If that is the case, they were wrong this time.

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When it works, this router is fine. The 2.4ghz range and throughput is everything one could want. As written about other routers, 5ghz range is quite limited. The usb hard drive functiality is very very slow. Nowhere near a replacement for a NAS.

I've been experiencing lockups about once a week. After multiple calls, tech said probably a hardware problem. That's when I find out that it is Netgear's policy to charge for swapping the router. If I want to send it in and wait for a replacement,its free. If I want them to send me working router first, and then send back the defective unit, they charge $16.00! This is a first in my experience. In addition,their own community shows lots of postings about this weekly lock up problem (see : )

All in all, not very happy to have to throw more money at a one month old router that is supposed to be Netgear's top of the line.

Update: received replacement RMA router. It still has the same problem, and now my 90 day support window is closed. There is no email for netgear support to even inform them of a bug. Looks like I'll be spending more money on a Linksys soon. Netgear = buggy router, and infuriating support and support policies.

Cisco Factory Refurbished Linksys E900 Wireless-N300 Router

The only difference between this router and others for 2-3x more money is dual-band support (which is only useful for connections over 40Mb), QoS services (for more than 2-3 simultaneous users), some never used parent controls and access using Cicso's new (and limited) Cloud, as well as a gigabit switch (as this one supports only 100Mb although wireless connections can be faster). But, your Internet connection is likely the bottle neck at no more than 10-25Mb (for cable) or 7-15Mb (for DSL). So, why does anyone need more than 100Mb on their switch except to back up to another computer (I back up to SD)? You only need 3-5Mb for video (3.6 for native Netflix or 1.5Mb with Silverlight). I get over 20Mb downloads AND uploads with this wireless router (and a DOCSIS 3.0 modem). Well built and fair support, this switch is less than half the cost of anything comparable. And, the E900 supports the latest WPA2 encryption handling. This is THE best buy in wireless routers and what most people should buy. Highly recommended.

I must say I was skeptical about purchasing a router at such a low price point and factory refurbished as well. Rest assured this device is solid and comes packaged like it was directly from Cisco... it even had a Cat5-E cable and CD. The quality of the device was superb without a single scratch on it.

The reason I purchased this router is that I have 16 routers in my house one EA4500 Linksys EA4500 App-Enabled N900 Dual-Band Wireless-N Router with Gigabit and USB and 15 WRT54G Cisco-Linksys WRT54GL Wireless-G Broadband Router routers. Some may think this is overkill but I have an old house with plaster / chicken wire walls which creates a faraday cage in each room. Needless to say RF signals have a hard time getting through my home. So I was looking for a cheap upgrade that would get me wireless N @ 2.4 & 5GHz. I was evaluating an RE1000 but it required a high signal strength from another router in order to function and would not hardwire and act as a bridge... and it was twice the cost per repeater.

Setup was a breeze, simply connecting an ethernet cable to port 1 on the router and setting the router to bridge mode worked like a CHARM. I was able to complete setup in under five minutes. I don't use the Cisco connect software as I am old school and prefer the web interface. Although I am sure it is just as easy.

I am very happy with the performance of this router, while it doesn't have the range or throughput of my EA4500 it does a great job and outperforms my WRT's So much so that I could reduce my total number of routers by half. Throughput wise I was able to stream full HD video (1920 x 1080) from my media center and have a constant connection to the internet at speeds of 50mbps (tested using speedtest.net)

I have always trusted the linksys name brand for my home network and love the additional features like DHCP Reservation, DDNS, and router naming. I can now browse and administer these devices by name like or

For the price you cannot beat this router. Especially as a repeater for other linksys routers.

Thanks Cisco for making a great product.

Buy Cisco Factory Refurbished Linksys E900 Wireless-N300 Router Now

I've been wanting to get an 802.11n router since I began doing more home networking. Even my XBOX was telling me that my b/g router was holding me back and might impact my ability to stream higher-definition content.

I started looking at n routers vs. b/g and I was sold by the speed increase (up to 300 vs 54) as well as the increase in range (4x).

There was definitely quality put in to the refurb and packaging process of this unit; wen I opened it up, I would have had no idea this wasn't new. It was clean, packed well, and worked fine right out of the box. Setup with my existing Verizon router was no problem at all once I found the instructions online on how to do a lan-to-lan connection. For the refurb cost vs. new, it was a no-brainer to buy this one. I updated firmware to the latest rev just to be sure I was up-to-date. I did not install the software off of the included CD.

-1 star because the range is really no better than my old b/g router. My signal still fades significantly in my kitchen which is about 30 feet from my router location. I did a little reading online and I've seen some reports of this for the lower-end linksys routers. At 4x the range for an n router vs. b/g, I expected to be anywhere in my house or yard and have a good signal. I'm going to do some relocating to see if there are line-of-sight or obstruction issues that are impacting the range.

-1 star because speed isn't what I expected either. I didn't expect any increase in internet speed because I know I'm limited by my 25/25 Verizon FiOS package, but I expected it to maintain higher numbers when connecting device-to-router. My phone comes in at about 65, my tablet around 100, and when I take a look at the connection speed with my laptop it's about 150 Mbps. I know that the n routers will drop speed when other devices are identified on the channel; I'm probably in a congested area. I also know that certain devices can't take advantage of the full throughput of the n routers. So to be fair, my expectations were probably too high around the speed increase I'd see.

In terms of value for the price, I'm completely pleased; overall, I might have been expecting more than what an 802.11n router can realistically deliver.

EDIT: 1/28/2013 This router started to get flaky after a few days of use. Ended up having to do a reset on it, then I started having connection issues. I already picked up a dual-band n router locally (cost about 5X as much) and it's a significant step up in performance. My tablet even connects to it at the 5 GHz frequency, which is completely unused in my neighborhood (no interference).

Read Best Reviews of Cisco Factory Refurbished Linksys E900 Wireless-N300 Router Here

Bought it refurbished for $20. Very clean and new.

Flashed to DD-WRT to make it a Client Bridge/Repeater. Works like a charm and provides internet to several devices that do not have wireless capabilities as well increases signal upstairs. WIFI speed is great and allows me to stream from my PLEX Server with no buffering problems. This product is highly recommended if you like to go for simple affordable solutions with great performance. Fast shipping and delivery.

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I've ordered two of these routers and have been using them for the past 2 weeks with absolutely no problems at all. They looked brand new and each came with a Cat5e cable, power cord, and CD. I immediately installed Tomato onto them and they've been running without issue.

Pros:

-Broadcom 300MHz CPU/8MB Flash/32MB RAM/Linux-based, you can easily flash 3rd party firmware on these routers

-Super fast, Running N-Only in Greenfield under Tomato firmware I've been getting ~90Mbps in 20MHz and about ~96Mbps in 40MHz in a 100Mbps environment

-Stable, Have not had the need to restart the router manually, even if I tinker with settings, and even under high load

-Nice design, This is subjective, but I think it looks very sleek

Cons:

-No 5GHz wifi, If you live somewhere crowded, the 5GHz band is useful, although I had no need for it.

-No GbE, If you want/need Gigabit ethernet, this will be a deal breaker as the switch is only 100BASE-TX.

-No USB

-Plasticness, It feels very light, and this becomes a problem if all the Ethernet ports are used because the router will tip backwards

-Cannot be stood up vertically, This is useful in some situations but whatever

-It isn't free

Overall:

If you want 802.11n on your 100Mbps network without decimating your wallet, this is definitely the way to go.

D-Link DIR-655 N+300 Extreme-N Gigabit Wireless Router

Delivers up to 14x faster speeds* and 6x farther range* than 802.11g means greater coverage for your entire home or office
Ideal for streaming HD video or streaming multiple applications simultaneously
Intelligent QoS technology prioritizes both wired and wireless Internet traffic to enable enhanced gaming and phone calling (VoIP) experience
Gigabit Ports for Incredible Wired Network Speeds
Dual active firewall protection (SPI & NAT) helps block malicious attacks on networks from the Internet.

Im sitting on this thing right now. Man oh man...im getting a "very good" signal where my connection used to be dropping...

I used to have a few problems with WiFi. The first problem was obviously the range...as I said a few moments ago, the DIR-655 fixed that...I mean, even though it claims 6x range, but I was going to be happy with just a 25% improvement...I seriously think that this router increased my range 50-75%!

I used to always be frustrated with the lack of settings in many routers. Some would have QoS (Quality of Service...something that can prioritize important internet activity like Voice Over IP...internet phone) but it didnt really work. Some would be lacking in semi-advanced routing features...others would barely have any non-novice features at all...This one has plenty of options for the advanced user to have a lot of fun screwing with settings. The most beautiful thing about it though, is that there is a wizard in the interface so that even the most novice of users can set up a great network with strong security. It also has context sensitive online help...what that is, is when you are trying to adjust settings and you dont know what something means, there is a little help button right there that you can click to get an explanation right then and there! Its kinda like the Yin-Yang of routers...

I want to mention that I have been looking at draft-N routers for a few weeks now and have been reading the reviews. The reason that I am writing this review is that it was so hard for me to find a good review on this router. Cnet doesnt even have an official review (as of 2/13/07) but it does have very positive user comments. From my homework though, (user reviews, and more importantly official reviews from Cnet, engadget, etc) every Draft-N wireless router has some kind of problem. Some dont work well in environments with more than a couple neighboring networks, some dont have good throughput, and some dont have better range. Again, I didn't want to buy this one because I couldn't find any solid review on it. After going through a couple of different Draft-N routers, Let me help you out. This is the one.

BTW...im not running an "N" wireless adapter...this thing even increases the range of "B" and "G" signals. GREAT JOB D-LINK!

Buy D-Link DIR-655 N+300 Extreme-N Gigabit Wireless Router Now

First off, the really tough thing about wireless routers is that your performance can vary dramatically from someone elses. Whether its your hardware, your software, spyware, configuration of your house, your ISP, what type of cordless phone you use, or a myriad of other things, your experience may be entirely different from your best friend's. So, this isn't so much a review of the router as it is a review of my experience with it.

The Good

This router has all of the bells and whistles with the exception of dual band broadcasting. QoS, WISH, VPN, Port Forwarding, all levels of security, etc. It has Gigabit wired ports. You cannot get anything more elsewhere without doubling the price. It is all packaged within an attractive set up that provides hope that this will be your last router for quite some time. Set up is easy and straight forward. And, most importantly, you literally cannot get a faster router when within 30 feet.

The Bad

I really wanted to keep this router but I couldn't. My main problem was heat. After a few hours of use (just being on at all), this router was almost too hot to touch. I actually exchanged it figuring it must be a bad router but the new one was the same way. And, more importantly, when it got hot, I got intermittent lag via my wire machine on my internet traffic. Games that played flawlessly on my old Buffalo router started lagging; video started stuttering; downloads started pausing. Diagnosed it with my ISP as being on my side of their modem. When my old router was plugged in, all problems went away. D-Link tried to help me but there was a language barrier and no matter what we did with QoS and WISH, it didn't go away. I had to return the router.

The Ugly

FYI: Blue lights are pretty but REALLY bright. Seriously, you could read by them.

Like I said, I really wanted to keep it but I had to replace it instead. Your experience may vary so I would encourage you to try it because it is a very feature-rich router. Just keep your old one handy just in case.

P.S. Owned it for three weeks before returning it.

Read Best Reviews of D-Link DIR-655 N+300 Extreme-N Gigabit Wireless Router Here

Very satisfied. Smaller than expected. Fast enough to play HD-DVDs wirelessly to my notebook (Dell Inspiron E1505, 802.11BGN, 945GM, Core Duo (2) 2GHz, Vista Premium, Arcsoft Digital Theater, D-Link DNS-323 NAS). Great speed and coverage. Also handles HDTV perfectly via HDHomeRun device.

Don't forget to upgrade firmware.

Update 11-Nov-2007: This router may be my biggest gadget surprise this year. It continues to perform better than expected, completely solving all past wireless issues and handling all tasks such as streaming HD-DVD.

Update 7-Apr-2011: Another reviewer reports that the device's adapter is no longer dual voltage. References to voltage have been removed? Interested in a versatile travel router? I recommend TRENDnet 300Mbps Wireless-N Travel Router Kit TEW-654TR (Black). It's wireless, remarkably small, 100-240 volts, has an Ethernet port.

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Wow! I used a Linksys RT31P2 for the last year or so. It was a piece of junk!! Would slow down, get constipated, and finally died. Since we are Mac family (I have been an IT consultant too long to stay PC) I used the Airport Extreme (802.11g) for a while also. It was reliable.

BUT WHEN I PLUGGED IN THIS D-LINK ROUTER, I realized that all my previous routers had been huge bottlenecks. Over the Airport, my upload speed on Comcast cable modem increased from 4Mbps to 20Mbps. Wow. Didn't even realize Comcast had opened up that much bandwidth.

So in my house we have a wired Mac, wireless Mac, wireless TiVo, Vonage adapter, Airport printserver, Airport iTunes, and they all work fine. I am currently using 802.11g and WPA2 since I don't own any 802.11n stuff yet. Signal strength for 802.11g has doubled on the fringe areas from 30% on my Tivo adapter to 60%.

I bought the D-Link vonage ATA adapter and plugged into one of the ports. I was concerned my phone calls would get choppy since the ATA is behind the router. HOWEVER, THE D-LINK ROUTER HAS SOME VERY GOOD QoS FEATURES AND USING THE AUTOMATIC SETTINGS, THE VONAGE CALLS ARE NOT CHOPPY AND EVERYTHING WORKS FINE.

Build Quality: This router is built a lot more solid than many other routers I have seen, especially the Linksys P.O.S. I just placed in the trash can (best place for it really).

Summary: Gigabit switch is awesome. Router can do SPI and even some deep packet inspection such as H.323 (Netmeeting) compatibility and QOS stuff while maintaining lots of speed. It is VoIP aware and supports SIP and QOS is tuned for VOIP. It works great in a Mac environment and I'm sure would in a PC environemtn also. VERY extensive router setup settings for the home user including INCOMING filters, flexible DHCP server with ability to reserve IP addresses for specific MAC addresses (nice). Will email you the log files, and automatically checks D-Link's website for firmware updates. Overall an awesome router for the money.

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Here's my experience with D-Link and this router: The router stopped working after two weeks. Tech support said it was dead. It could only be exchanged or repaired, not refunded. The exchange/repair process required that the router be returned with an RMA. The RMA required that everything that came with the router be returned or there would be charges for the unreturned parts. The items and charges are as follows and are from the RMA email I received:

1 x DIR-655

1 x Bottom Foot(Stand) ($5.00)

1 x Ethernet Cable ($10.00)

3 x Antenna ($15.00)

1 x Mounting Kit (Routers,APs & Small Switches) ($3.00)

1 x CD ($12.00)

1 x AC Power Adapter ($25.00)

1 x Copy of Proof Of Purchase

Once D-link received the router it would then at D-link's discretion either be repaired or replaced. The repaired or replaced router would then be sent UPS ground. All this time, the customer is without a router.

The router itself, when it did work, required technical support as the installation disk that was provided with it did not itself work properly. The technician had a difficult time solving the problem and gave nonsense advice. He also got the serial number wrong. This had to be corrected by another call and wait on hold before the RMA was issued.

D-Link is another one of those "our product, your problem" companies. Shop elsewhere.

NETGEAR Wireless Router (R6300)

NETGEAR Wireless Router - AC 1750 Dual Band Gigabit

Supports Windows 8
Industry's first and fastest 802.11ac wireless router with speeds up to 1750 Mbps
Simultaneous Dual Band - Doubles bandwidth and reduce WiFi interference for better connections
NETGEAR Genie® App - Easy-to-use dashboard to monitor, control & repair home networks
Wireless security with the highest grade protection
Compatible with next generation WiFi devices and backward compatible with 802.11n

I've been using this router for over half a year now and it hasn't skipped the beat. Performance has been top notch and it can handle 15 wireless clients with a few HD IP Cameras. It's been running uninterrupted for the past 3 month. Sure there are other new AC routers that came out since then, which I haven't tested, but this has been a wonderful router so far and I am not looking for another replacement at the moment. Not surprising that the price is exactly what I paid 6 month ago, which means the router is actually holds its value for being one of the best out there.

INTRO

My past 3 year history of routers include Netgear WDR3700, Cisco E4200 and most recently two Asus RT-N56u using wireless bridge, but I was never impressed with the speed of wireless and 5Ghz band coverage. This was about time for my next upgrade, so I bought 3 routers RT-N66U, Amped Wireless R20000G & Netgear R6300 and I kept the latter and here is why:

THE GOOD:

Range/Speed/Performance in 5 Ghz band: Excellent! While not a huge leap forward it does perform much better than any of the previous and competing routers I've tried using this band. This was a major selling point for me. It is actually able to provide excellent download speeds in the opposite corner of the 1500 sq/feet townhome that none of the other routers could handle. Also with Mac Mini 2010 Broadcom wifi, I was able to achieve up to 22 MB/sec download speed from NAS at about 15 feet with latest firmware. Previously with RT-N56 it topped at 10 MB/sec at the same location. That's double the speed! I can't wait to try this out with AC clients!

Range/Speed/Performance in 2.4 Ghz band: The range is excellent. It covers my entire home, but so did my previous router, so it's difficult to judge the improvement here. However, there is noticeable performance boost. Among several wireless devices using this band I have 4 HD (1080p 720p) IP cameras and previous Asus router had trouble with handling all of them with good frame rate where with R6300 I am finally able to stream all of them at once. Also, your performance will depend on the client. Previously I was using 2010 HP Envy 14 w/ Intel 6200 which was showing download speed at 4-6 MB/sec, 2012 HP Envy 17 w/ Intel 6300 showing much better results at 6-8 MB/Sec at the same location. While Mac Mini 2010 w/ Broadcom WiFi shows speeds less then 1MB sec. Basically, older clients may have some performance issues.

Setup: It wasn't complicated all and looks fairly straight forward for non-technical people as well.

Plenty of features for basic and advanced users: Guest network, Wireless bridge etc... all there

I CAN DEAL WITH IT:

Size: This router is about twice the size of any of the previous routers I've owned

Guest Network: Yes, it's available, but it's very basic. I've seen Asus RT-N66U guest network control which lets you specify the time limit or expiration.

Administration panel locks after about a minute of inactivity and you are prompted to enter your username & password again (very annoying when you trying to troubleshoot things!)

Parental features. I don't like the fact that you need to install tool on your pc, there is no web administration on management in the web ui.

OTHER THINGS:

First router that I see without WEP setting.

Some of the older clients (specifically HP Envy 14 w/ Intel 6200 card) had connection issues with sleep/restart. I've upgraded my laptop since then and have not had this issue anymore

Mine appears to be defective where the activity lights at the bottom are not lighting up, except Netgear logo. (UPDATE 7/10 I've gotten a new one without this issue)

PREVIOUS UPDATES:

UPDATE 10/13: This is probably going to be my last update since I really don't have anything else to add other then this has been a wonderful router ever since I upgraded to 1.0.2.36_1.0.28 version. I've been running without reboots for a month now and no problems with performance whatsoever.

UPDATE 9/6: 3 month later and still loving this router. If you live in a large home and have wireless coverage issues with 5 Ghz band you should definitely give this one a try. Overall it's been rock stable for me with only one nagging issue related to 5Ghz band (see my previous update). Netgear support got a hold of me and I've been helping them to troubleshoot the issue by sending router logs. They provided a beta update for me that fixed the issue which they will be releasing in September.

UPDATE 7/10: Month later the router still performs very well. I am hoping for new firmware soon to improves performance and compatibility with older devices. Still have issues with Envy 14, Mac Mini 2010 and also HTC Sensation phone. They all exhibit different issues. First one takes a long time to connect, second one has very low speed on 2 Ghz band and last one occasionally unable to connect. There was also one hiccup. I was running uninterrupted for 2 weeks straight using latest firmware and 5Gh signal degraded from Excellent to Poor and 4 to 2 bars at the same location. I've rebooted the router and everything went back to normal.

UPDATE 6/13: 2 weeks now with the router. Sold my two Asus N56U that I used as a wireless bridge and that were once highly rated at SNB. I honestly do not know why SNB posted terrible results with R6300, they must have defective unit but that's still not the case for me. I am perfectly satisfied with R6300 and it delivers excellent performance/range throughout the house without the need of any bridges or extenders which I once had to use. I do have defective unit where I don't get any activity lights, so I might exchange it at some point. Did I mention, this is an awesome router?

UPDATE 6/7: Netgear released new firmware which enables Guest network that caused so much noise and negative reviews in the initial release, the were no other fixes listed, but upon my own checking I noticed they added "Performance boost" option in the Advanced > Wireless settings. I performed my usual download test which showed a slight increase in download speed on 5Ghz band, but it's hard to say if it was related to the firmware or not.

UPDATE 6/4: SmallNetBuilder released preliminary test results that compare performance R6300 with a few other N routers that show that it doesn't perform as good as expected in some cases. Also mentioned my results in the process when compared to N56U. I only had R6300 for a few days now, but my experience for the most part has been positive even with a rough firmware. Also, I usually base my router purchases by SNB reviews, but in this case I am having different results, so I'll stick with R6300 for now.

Buy NETGEAR Wireless Router (R6300) Now

I bought one last week for my office. I have no idea what the one stars were for I love it!!

The guy from Comcast said he would set it up for about $100, but at that amount I figured I'd give it a shot on my own. I had installed the Genie app a few days before getting the device and after plugging it in and not being able to set it up on two tries, I clicked the "Yes" to the "Would you like the genie to fix it?" This has never worked for me in the past with any other device, but I clicked it anyway. It was less than two minutes and I was up and running! It asked me if I wanted to update and after another "Yes" and about 15 seconds it was done. It must have added the Guest access that people were looking for because I was able to find it immediately.

I don't have all of the technical knowledge that some of the people do that have left some of the most helpful comments I've ever read, but I can tell you that ease of setup is five star in my book. I can also get access if I walk outside and onto the street.

Like I said, I'm not the most technical, but I'm extremely happy at this point. If this keeps up, I'll be a Netgear customer for a long, long time.

I also love the genie app!

Read Best Reviews of NETGEAR Wireless Router (R6300) Here

Disclaimer: I received this unit as a beta tester and am an active Netgear beta tester.

I've used many routers in my years as a network enthusiast. I thought that Netgear's WNDR4500 last year was the best I could do with a wireless router in my house. I live in a 3500 sqft house which is a decently large house but not enormous as many of the McMansions in my neighborhood. Note, my house is wide with several standard sheetrock walls, not tall, so my router has to go further horizontal distances to reach my laptop and computers rather than vertical. Antenna direction can really effect signal strength based on horizontal or vertical positioning of clients.

The R6300 beat the WNDR4500 by about 40-50% in signal strength in "difficult" areas of the house. Everywhere in the house where I had a weak signal with the WNDR4500 went to a moderate signal strength with the R6300. Even the guest bedroom which is on the first floor away from the rest of the house received a moderate strength signal. This is significant because I could not receive and maintain a signal strength strong enough to stream video using the WNDR4500 but it is strong enough with the R6300.

Using an Intel Centrino Ultimate 6300 wireless NIC in my laptop, iPerf results came in at >100Mbit/sec with the R6300 on the 5Ghz band.

I, like some of the other reviewers am able to set up two of these units, one as an Access Point and the other as a wireless bridge. Connected to another desktop in my family room set up as an HTPC, I get regular iperf transfer rates of an eye popping 270-300MBits/sec on the ac band between the AP and bridge. A huge step up from the 60-70 MBits/sec I had using the WNDR4500. To be fair though, I wasn't using two WNDR4500s like I am with the R6300s so it's not an apples to apples comparison.

I've tested Readyshare printing with a Brother MFC8840, Brother HL-2040, and HP LaserJet2600n. All work well using the Netgear utility.

2 USB ports allow me to attach both a printer and an external harddrive to the router at the same time instead of to my desktop.

Netgear has addressed the Guest Network issue with a new firmware upgrade so that is no longer an issue. Guest network is really nice if you're having people over for the afternoon or out of town guests that are staying longer.

Finally, I absolutely love the way this router looks. I have it sitting right next to my flat screen tv. The LED "NETGEAR" lights really gives it class. It doesn't have a lot of super bright LED lights that flash with network activity in the front, and if anything, the power and wireless network lights are a little too dim. Netgear must have tried to listen to the home entertainment crowd on designing the outward appearance of this device cause it's really a good looking router.

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I purchased this router a few days ago to replace a D-Link DIR-655 that was starting to give me problems after several years of great service. I decided to go with the R6300 due to the (assumed) forward compatibility with 802.11ac devices.

I have set up several routers in the past, along with range extenders and access points. Based on previous experience, I was expecting a tedious ordeal, but I was very pleasantly surprised. I could not believe how simple this router was to set up. I followed the 4 step process outlined in the included instructions, which took approximately 5 minutes. I had my desktop computer hardwired to the router, and I launched the browser per the instructions. Within a few seconds, I had a message that said "congratulations, you are connected to the internet". At that point, I hadn't even been into the Genie setup screen. I thought to myself "it couldn't possibly be this simple", but figured I would test a wireless device anyway. I tried my android tablet from another room, found the network, entered the default password, and immediately connected. I proceeded to do the same with my laptop, and had similar success (150Mbps from another room).

I then went into the Genie setup software, just to review the settings and check for a firmware upgrade. There was a firmware upgrade, which I applied in a couple of minutes. I tweaked a few of the settings based on personal preferences for my home network, and then I went around the house connecting all my wireless devices.

I should note that I currently have only 2.4GHz devices, so I cannot speak to the performance on the 5GHz band, but I suspect it would only improve. I am getting good range with all my devices, even my DVD player, which is only about 20 feet from the router, but is behind 3 walls and is located inside an enclosed entertainment center. It showed 3 out of 5 bars and has no trouble streaming Netflix and Amazon Instant Video.

I've had it up and running for about 72 hours now, with no dropped connections. So far, I am very pleased, and can't wait to try 802.11ac later on when devices are readily available.

I cannot stress enough how simple this router was to set up. My wireless network was up and running in 10 minutes, including unpackaging and reading the simple setup intructions. It was a little more expensive than other dual band routers, but it will hopefully work well when the 802.11ac standard is more widely adopted, and my 2.4GHz performance has been outstanding. I'm very happy with the purchase.

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Well, that's what I ended up doing... paying $300 for this amazing piece of technological excellence.

I bought this router over the summer of 2012 for about $199. It was easy to set up and it was working fine. In late October, the firmware got messed up and rendered the R6300 unusable. The PDF user manual said that you must go through Tech Support in order to correct this problem. Well, it just so happened that my period of free Tech Support expired, so I was forced to buy into a contract. I bought the 6-month version for $80. The Tech Support guy fixed my issue basically I had to download the latest firmware from support.netgear.com in a zip file and upload it to the R6300 via the DOS command window.

Well in November, the firmware got messed up again, and I went through this same drill with Tech Support. Problem fixed.

In December, the firmware got messed up for a third time. Tech Support fixed it again with the same procedure. However, I demanded a replacement, since my unit was still under warranty. Tech Support instructed me to ship my unit to them in Tennessee, and after they received it, they'd send me a new one. That would take at least a few weeks. Well, "that sucks," I thought, because I'd be out of a router for at least half-a-month or more. My wife and I work at home, and we needed our network to be fully functional.

Tech Support gave me an option. I could pay them $17, and they would FedEx a replacement R6300 to me. Upon receipt, I would have to ship back my faulty unit. I guess they basically had me by the gonads, so I bought in to this. Makes wonder why I had to fork over $17 for Netgear to ship me a new unit first. Why couldn't they just ship it to me for free, and I send back my original unit afterward. They'd have my credit card on file and could easily bill me for the cost of an R6300 if I failed to ship a unit back to them.

So, here we are folks...

($199 for the purchase price) + ($80 for 6 months of Tech Support) + ($17 for them to ship me a replacement unit)

.... About $300 for the cost of the Netgear R6300 router.

Was it worth it??? Well, the new unit, which is about two weeks old by now, is dropping the network connection at random times. The first unit had firmware problems. This new unit has connection problems. I guess I should buy shares of Netgear, huh? It's a pretty good scam they have set up to sucker customers into buying faulty products then gouging them with Tech Support fees.

By the way, I was at Fry's Electronics over the weekend looking at other routers. I saw a couple of guys looking at the Netgear R6300. I told them my story, and both of them promptly put their boxes back on the shelf and picked up the ASUS RT-AC66U, then walked over to the cash registers. I guess I did my good deed for the day there, and I felt all warm and fuzzy inside. Sorry Netgear shareholders... I just chased off two potential revenue sources for you guys.

I think I'll be doing a lot more "good deeds" from now on. :)

NETGEAR Wireless Router - N900 Dual Band Gigabit (WNDR4500)

Supports Windows 8
High-performance wireless router with speeds up to 900 Mbps; ideal for video streaming and online gaming
Simultaneous Dual Band - Doubles bandwidth and reduce WiFi interference for better connections
NETGEAR Genie® App - Easy-to-use dashboard to monitor, control & repair home networks
Wireless security with the highest grade protection

Let me start off with this, the WNDR4500 is probably The best router you can buy that offers this kind of speed and usability.

Cheap wireless N routers do 150mbps

Good ones do 300mbps on both 2.4 and 5ghz range

Expensive ones get 300mbps on 2.4 and 450mbps on the 5ghz range

This router does 450mbps on BOTH 2.4 and 5ghz

Only 1 other router currently has this capability, a trendnet router, but it offers none of the user friendly capabilities as this one does. Its so fast, There are a very small number of wifi adapters that will even be able to utilize all 450mbps (most of them intel), so this router should remain top of the line for a good while.

If you are a router junkie, you might know that this router is a true upgrade to the renown WNDR3700 , rather then the WNDR4000. This router packs efficient high power amps on both the 2.4 and 5ghz antennas, meaning better throughput throughout the house and better signal and coverage. Whereas I used to get 3 bars in my room, I now get a full 5.

There is also a full host of features on this router,features any high end router has, such as gigabit connections, full range of led status lights, separate guest networks on both bands, etc.

Now, the router dosnt come with a CD, but that's a plus, you just open a webpage after connecting to the router it will have a prebuilt SSID and password) and type in routerlogin.net or 192.168.1.1 and press enter. There you will be directed to the "netgear Genie" program where you will have a host of things you can change from basic parameters to higher advanced functions. cool things this has is 2 usb ports which can connect printers and harddrives to your network and DLNA functionality. The Genie menu is very simplistic, with thumbnails of menus that actively changes statuses. There you can check everything, and they have a refined version of their "connected devices" list where you will see every device that is connected to the router (great for checking on intruders)

The physical aspect of this router is just as phenomenal. It comes with the clear base attached so its always standing, and its HUGE, well not that big, but bigger then most other routers. However its glossy meaning it will attract fingerprints. Even with it vertically standing, it has a firm foothold, meaning even with many Ethernet cables pulling on its back, it wont tip.

I took it apart and inside, whereas regular routers have one maybe 2 heatsinks, this one has 6 giant black heatsinks cooling off its cpu and ram blocks. While some other reviews may say there is a fan inside, there isnt, its all passive cooled which is good, it means you wont have dust clogging up the inside of your router. Also, the antennaes are patch antannes, which are taped onto the top half of the shell, so be careful removing it if you plan on taking it apart.

Going from the usual norm of atheros chips, the wndr4500 uses a Broadcom BCM4718 processor, the flagship of the Intensi-fi XLR family of router processors. and also ups the flash ram from the usual 64mb to 128mb.

Overall, this is a very expensive router, but you do get what you pay for. It fixes some of the problems of the previous crown holder, the WNDR3700, such as 5ghz connectivity and signal problems and upgrades the speed to a combined 900mbps on 6 spatial data streams. Saying this router is great for "HD streaming" or "gaming" would be the understatement of the year, it is networking overkill for many tasks. A definite buy if you have the means to afford it.

Update----Sept.27,2011

After A week or two of testing out its capabilities heavily, i can say this is probably my new favorite router. I have not had a dropped connection yet, or random restarts whatsoever, even with 11 wifi devices connected to the router, traffic was not noticeable. So far so good! future firmware updates should make this router even better.

Recommended setting changes----

-If you dont have any wireless B devices (97% of us) you should set the preamble length to short preamble (under advanced setup-wireless settings tab), this will give a slight boost in thorough put

-while its tempting to set 2.4ghz to 450mbps, i mean, who dosnt want max speed? however 450mbpd uses channel bonding (40mhz channel width), which will cause interference with your neighbor's wifi signal and also your own if their channel happens to fall under yours. If your house has wifi congestion, i suggest using 217mbps mode, this will give you fast speed without interference on your network, and your neighbors will like you more. 450mbps on the 5ghz band however is recommended because the likely hood of any 5ghz signals is small, and to have that signal fall under your 5ghz channel only decreases the chance any problems will arise. My neighborhood for example has 17 2.4ghz signals, 3 jerks who use 40mhz channel widths, but not a single 5ghz user.

Update-5/19/12

-The router is still going strong, Since having it I have not had to reboot, even once!

-Firmware updates are not that helpful (except for the first one the boosted range of the 5ghz band), and also not frequent, maybe about one update per couple of months (and each one only fixes 1-2 specific bugs)

-Netgear needs to change their wifi policy, this router conforms to the "good neighbor" policy where it will automatically dial down wireless channel width when it detects other similar bands in the area, thus in the options, you can change the router to go "up to" 450mbps

-5ghz range while acceptable, wont go all the way to the end of the house

I am just listing most of the cons, otherwise, this is still an awesome router to get for the right price, though right now, there is a strong, possibly even better competitor, the ASUS RT-N66U Dual-Band Wireless-N900 Gigabit Router

^which uses mostly the same basic hardware but with upgrades to the memory and the antenna configuration, so check that out too!

Buy NETGEAR Wireless Router - N900 Dual Band Gigabit (WNDR4500) Now

This is a review of the Netgear N900 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router (WNDR4500)

I am an IT professional, author of many technical books, and I work from home and needed a performance upgrade from my older Linksys wireless router (Linksys WRT54G2 Wireless-G Router). So I purchased the Linksys E2500 Advanced Simultaneous Dual-Band Wireless-N Router (from amazon.com) and it was a disaster, see my 1 star review there for details. I packed it up and returned it. Amazon handled the return smoothly as always. I decided never again for Linksys.

As a replacement, I first thought about getting the NETGEAR N750 (WNDR4000) which had great reviews, but I decided that for the small difference in price I'd go for this top model.

I unpacked the Netgear N900 (WNDR4500) and had it installed in about 5 minutes on my home network (with 11 computers and many wireless devices) What I did:

1) I made the cable and power connections, and directly connected a PC to the Netgear router to obtain the configuration information.

'

2) With a web browser I entered the router's web address. The Netgear N900 reported:

* a 2.4GHz Network Name (SSID) : NETGEARxx and password

* a 5GHz Network Name (SSID) :NETGEARxx-5G and password

Also did a firmware update (single click of the notice that it was available)

3) I turned on a wireless laptop (Windows 7) and opened the wireless connections dialog, it listed the NETGEARxx SSID, I logged in (with the previous info.) and was immediately on the internet.

4) AFTER having confirmed that it was working, I logged into the Netgear N900 as administrator (admin/password) and changed the admin password, the SSID names and passwords. (Then made the corresponding changes on my laptop computer in the Windows' networking configuration.)

5) I tested it, did some downloads, Norton and Windows updates and rebooted. Then I went to and watched several of my favorites videos (mostly games) in 720p and 1080p, and the video's played as well as on my direct connection (Road Runner Turbo Internet).

Played my PS3 with the wireless connection (online multiplayer) with several games with no visible lag. Connected my Kindles and they worked well.

Signal strength is excellent: shows 5 bars everywhere in the house, my previous router showed 1 bar (or failed) at some distant points in my home.

This couldn't have been a better experience, great product, fast and I'll update this review in a week to report about the reliability etc.

Great quality, good looking device, has 4 LAN ports and 2 USB ports. Includes an network (CAT5E) cable.

Highly recommended

UPDATE: Thought I'd give an update after several weeks of use. It's great, really worth the price.

We use this router for hours everyday with several laptops, tablets, Kindles, 2 PS3's; have a printer connected, I download software, ebooks, large work related files, view youtube and netflix videos and have seen no dropped connections at all. Signal strength is great. I am puzzled by all the reviews that report problems, couldn't have been happier with this router. I'd buy it again.

Read Best Reviews of NETGEAR Wireless Router - N900 Dual Band Gigabit (WNDR4500) Here

I've owned the WNDR4500 for about 80 days now, and have found it completely unreliable. I have had to remove the device from my network, and re-install my old router because the WNDR4500 N900 will not maintain a reliable connection to the Internet for more the 30 60 minutes. The router is fast when it works, but I work from home as a networking consultant, and a reliable connection is more important than speed. Additionally, using this device for any type of media streaming is completely useless. I am unable to maintain a connection to Netflix or online music service for more than 30 minutes before it is disconnected.

I have had a case open with Netgear practically since I purchased the router, my support is about to expire, and I've had no useful feedback from them. I've supplied all of the debug information requested, which was supposed to be passed to Netgear "3rd level support", and I have heard nothing back from them in weeks. I have been constantly assured that the problem would be resolved, but now my 90 day support is about to run out, with no word or hint of a resolution from Netgear. I would absolutely return this device if I was able... it is just taking up space on a shelf and has been a waste of $190.

3/16/2012 It has been going on 5 months since I purchased the Netgear N900, and there is still no resolution to this problem. The only way I can have a stable home network is to use the router I was originally trying to upgrade from.

Netgear continues to make promises that they will resolve this issue, but still nothing. They say their engineers are researching the issue, but for the most part they don't even ask questions related to the issue I've described.

I have requested a refund or an RMA, but contrary to their promises, they are unresponsive to any such request. I highly recommend not purchasing this router, but if you risk it, return it immediately if you have any issues.

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I concur with all the other reviewers, it's a great router. Went and looked at the Amazon and CNET reviews online and bought it on open box discount locally. Very easy network/user friendly install. You can use network Genie software that is provided or do it manually at 192.168.1.1. and/or routerlogin.net

Lots of options in the assorted set up screens. Guest network feature on 2.4 and 5 ghz is really nice so house guests can check email and not invade your main network hard drive.Both band are operational at all times.Getting 4 to 5 bars on the wireless all around the house which is up from 2 to 3 bars in some areas.....

The DLink is an excellent router at 300+300 but I wanted the 450+450 on the Netgear.

Latest bells and whistles seem to work nice......everything coupled to the TWC wideband internet 50gb down and 5gb up via the Motorola DOCIS 3.0 capable modem.

By the way this 900 series is only about $20 more than the 600 series. Stay away from the 750 series, I was told they are having some firmware issues which will be repaired soon. I just don't want to be the crash test dummy if I can help it..............

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I have tested and used both the WNDR4500 and the WNDR3800, looking at signal strengths, throughputs, feature sets, and everyday use. The 4500 has a more amplified signal to broadcast the signal farther, which can translate into greater throughputs for a given location. It also uses three spatial streams, the 3x3 transmit/receive technology, so you can obtain up to 450 Mbps data transfers on either 2.4 or 5 GHz band if paired with a 3 antenna 3x3 NIC adapter in the client (eg notebook computer). The 3800 is a 2x2 access point and can send/receive up to 300 Mbps on either 2.4 or 5 GHz band. Both routers use the same user friendly firmware setup and both routers have been rock solid performers without need for rebooting.

What I have found in my testing is that the more amplified signal of the 4500 does equate to better performance overall versus the 3800 with non-bonded channels in the 2.4 GHz band and bonded channels in the 5 GHz band, though both routers were inconsistent with both finding and maintaining a 5 GHz signal in my most remote test locations. The 3800 may perform better with bonded channels in the 2.4 GHz. The explanation for the performance of the 3800 is at least partially due to the heavy neighborhood wireless signal traffic around me, especially when looking at bonded channel 2.4 GHz testing occupying more channels with the 450 Mbps Mode of the 4500 will interact with more wireless signals in my neighborhood than the 300 Mbps Mode of the 3800 leading creating more issues with negotiating those frequencies. One other comment on throughputs that I found interesting, when testing the 2.4 GHz band with the router 2-4 feet from the notebook, the 3800 slightly edged out the 4500. Could this possibly be due to the more amplified signal of the 4500 creating a slight interference?

I have used but not tested throughputs with a bonded channel on the 2.4 GHz band. There is heavy traffic in my neighborhood that makes use of a bonded channel on the 2.4 GHz band quite variable in performance. Besides, the Good Neighbor policy of WiFi certified wireless routers dictate that the router switch to a non-bonded 20 MHz channel automatically in this circumstance. However, I did notice that internet speed testing did improve oftentimes with a properly selected bonded channel in the 2.4 GHz band.

My initial impression of the two routers was that the 3800 performed better at my most remote locations on the 2.4 GHz band. Numerous checks of internet speed tests with both a notebook and a Roku media streamer showed that the 3800 was more often obtaining greater Mbps transfer rates. But, when using a LAN test software such as Iperf, which measures throughputs within the LAN and not subject to internet bottlenecks, the 4500 nearly always proved to be the best performer at all locations, especially in the 5 GHz band and significantly in certain locations of the home with the 2.4 GHz band.

For those wanting to stream Bluray, it is possible for both routers to do so if located in the same room (mid to upper 50's Mbps throughputs), but the 4500 might be able to do so one or even two rooms over in my location (mid to upper 40's Mbps). Bluray quality throughputs will also be possible even further with the 4500 on the 5 GHz band (110's Mbps for same room, 70 Mbps for 1-2 rooms over).

For those wanting to maximize signal strength, the 4500 does just that, and this does equate overall to more Mbps data throughputs for that location versus the 3800, though sometimes the difference is not always significant, especially in the 2.4 GHz band. For me, obtaining throughputs of 20 Mbps with the 4500 at my most remote location versus 16 Mbps with the 3800 is significant. I do like the feature set offered with the 3800, though, and this may be a significant factor with the buyer on which to purchase. But for raw power, the 4500 looks to be tops. Deciding which router is best for you may come down to feature set and bandwidth you will be operating on. If you want to use the 450 Mbps Mode of the 4500 for either 2.4 or 5 GHz band then you will need a NIC adapter that utilizes 3 antenna for 3 spatial streams. Even so, I would think a 2 antenna NIC adapter would benefit from the increased amplified signal of the 4500. I have an Intel 5300 NIC adapter in my notebook which uses 3 antenna for 3 spacial streams (3x3), so I am able to utilize the 450 Mbps Mode of the 4500. The 3800 requires only 2 antenna for its 300 Mbps transfer speeds Mode (2x2).

I believe there is good reason to buy either router and am happy with either one for my needs. As I said before, both routers have been rock solid in use without need for reboots. The firmware's GUI, called Genie, use by both routers is the easiest I've used for setting up a router. I would recommend either router to family and friends, based on their needs for streaming data, neighborhood wireless traffic, and feature set of the router as the deciding factors.

Bottom line comparing the 3800 to the 4500: For certain medium and long range locations using the 2,4 GHz band, and especially short and medium range locations using the 5 GHz band, the 4500 is the router to get. The feature set of the 3800 is tops, but if Netgear includes them in a future firmware update for the 4500, then then 4500 would be unquestionable king, not only because of its amplified signal and 3 antenna/spatial streams, but also because it has 2 USB ports built in.

NETGEAR Wireless Router - N900 Dual Band Gigabit (WNDR4500)

Supports Windows 8
High-performance wireless router with speeds up to 900 Mbps; ideal for video streaming and online gaming
Simultaneous Dual Band - Doubles bandwidth and reduce WiFi interference for better connections
NETGEAR Genie® App - Easy-to-use dashboard to monitor, control & repair home networks
Wireless security with the highest grade protection

Buy NETGEAR Wireless Router - N900 Dual Band Gigabit (WNDR4500) Now

Read Best Reviews of NETGEAR Wireless Router - N900 Dual Band Gigabit (WNDR4500) Here

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NETGEAR NTV550

Automatically searches and scans your networked and local devices, and organizes your movies, music, and photos
Live Browsing provides an easy and fast access to your media collection
Built-in media card slot for convenient access to personal photos and videos (AVCHD compatible)
Compatible with a wide range of SD file formats including
Blu-ray with menu, navigation and BD-Live support1

This is a review of the Netgear NeoTV 550 with updated firmware version 3.0.268 EU. I received the device from a European retailer on Nov 30, 2010.

The Netgear NeoTV 550 is a complex product to review. Your success with the device is highly dependent upon situational factors such as usage, media source, network speeds, and user technical ability. While the device is easy to use, it requires a home theater geek to properly and optimally set up the device. When first received, I recommend going through the device's Settings menu, drilling down through all the submenus, to properly understand and configure the device. Take the time to go through the several dozen settings and try to make them match your home theater equipment. There are settings for DVD region, video resolution, frame rate, aspect ratio, language, audio output (pass-through (bitstreaming)) and so on.

The remote is IR based, non-universal, non-learning, and not backlit. Ports include one HDMI port, two USB ports (front and rear), one SD port and one eSATA port. Some Blu-Ray menus require 1GB of storage. This can be a USB stick, SD cartridge or other attached storage device. The unit has no fan and is dead silent.

My media consumption is largely local content so this review reflects that bias. Alternatively, other people will use this device for consuming online media. I selected this device because of its rare ability to play Blu-Ray content with full menu support, bitstream audio and WAF. A plus will be when and if it plays Netflix, Vudu or other streaming services. I have hundreds of movies stored on a Windows Home Server (WHS). DVDs are ripped to folders and Blu-Rays are ripped as an ISO file. I tested several dozen DVD and Blu-Ray titles. Blu-Rays and DVDs play fine, audio bitstreams and menus work. The device has a good user interface. Video quality seems quite good too. Movie files are shown as cover art. My girlfriend has given the NeoTV's usability an eager thumbs up whereas the HTPC was impossible for her to use and difficult for me to maintain. I do not use any reencoded media/containers so I can't speak about MKV, FLAC, etc.

Initially, I had problems with stuttering on Blu-Ray. This is a common problem on networks that are not optimal. In my case, I had to turn of WHS's Drive Extender on my movie server. There's a host of technical problems that can prevent media, especially Blu-Rays, from playing properly. The device has a network speed test which can help identify some issues. However, my issue was the server's inability to sustain adequate disk read rates. The device offers no diagnostic for this situation. This must all be a nightmare for Netgear tech support -customers too.

Tip: The power button will stop a playing movie and bring up the Home menu.

Update 3-Dec-2010: Updated firmware to 3.0.268 EU. It fixes a few annoyances, adds a couple nice touches, leaves a couple bugs not fixed. No sign of Netflix. Perhaps an annoucement next month at CES?

Update 4-Dec-2010: Raised the rating to five stars because of resolution to my Blu-Ray networking problems (my bad) and bug fixes in 3.0.268 EU firmware. All's good now.

Update 4-Feb-2011: NeoTV 550 is stuttering on some Blu-Ray ISOs when played across a network. Importantly, it does not stutter when playing directly from a file or folder across a network. I believe the NeoTV has some optimization issues on Blu-Ray network playback. I'm hoping the NeoTV developers fix the stutter issue with a firmware update. Otherwise I'll be spending hours converting ISOs to folders. Because of the stuttering issue, I've lowered the rating from five stars to three.

Update 7-Feb-2011: I've confirmed that Blu-Ray stuttering is caused by NeoTV's SMB (network protocol) implementation. There's no stuttering when using NFS. This is a major problem as SMB is used by Windows networks. If you are planning on playing Blu-Rays ISOs across a network, hold off buying until the issue is resolved.

Update 9-Feb-2011: Community has confirmed Blu-Ray stuttering over SMB. Waiting for firmware update. Workarounds are to use file/folders or NFS. Hold off buying until the issue is resolved.

Update 3-Mar-2011: Beta firmware has resolved Blu-Ray stuttering issues. I hope to raise the rating to 5 stars when I can test and confirm on a release version.

Update 6-Apr-2011: I can confirm that firmware 325 has been pushed through. It does indeed fix the major issue of Blu-Ray ISO stuttering. With this release, finally, the device fulfills the initial major claims.

Update 28-Apr-2011: A person knowledgeable with Netgear 550 development has stated that Netgear has failed to negotiate an agreement for Netflix on the 550. Thus there will be no Netflix for the 550. If you want a similar media player but with Netflix, have a look at Boxee Box by D-Link. Be aware that all devices in the media player space are flawed in that none perform according to their specifications. Kudos to Netgear for continuously improving their firmware. Alas, they have been trumped by the improvements of Boxee. I've lowered my rating to four star because this device will not be fulfilling it's promise but ranks high amongst the alternatives.

Update 22-Aug-2011: Frustrated by the inabilities of any single media player, I've reached a new conclusion. I recommend buying two players to cover all bases. I recommend the Netgear NeoTV 550 for local content and the Roku 2 XS for online content.

Buy NETGEAR NTV550 Now

About 3 months ago I decided to re-do my basement into a media room. New TV (Samsung 58 inch 8000 series plasma) new reciever (Yamaha Aventage 2000 reciever), new speakers (Magnapan 1.6 speakers for surround), new couch, etc etc..you get the idea. One thing that bothered me about my old media / movie room was the shelves upon shelves of DVD's (I have almost 2000 if you include TV series)...in my new media room I didn't want to see them so I went through tons of ideas of hiding them...until it dawned on me...get RID OF THE DVD's!

I set about ripping them all to ISO using Anydvd in the thoughts that I would get a good player and just do without the DVDs entirely...but which player to get? I spent a lot of time reading reviews of every player that is currently out there and it turns out that there are VERY few players that will play an ISO with full menuing (so that it looks like you just inserted the DVD into a DVDplayer). There are lots that play ISO video, but very few with menuing....and even fewer that support Blu-ray menuing...actually I only found two that do. This one, and a DUNE player. Well, the DUNE is nearly 2x the cost of this which lead me to my purchase of this NEOTV.

WOW! Every day I am reading and trying new things with this little box. I have almost 500 DVD's ripped to ISO including several dozen blu-rays all sitting on a NAS that I have in my basement. After folling some very useful instructions I found on the internet for setting this up I can view every DVD in my collection as a cover view and select a DVD which then brings up all of the information on that DVD including actors / year made / directors / genre / etc all with a beautiful backdrop of a scene from the movie. I can even play a trailer before launching the actual ISO. And once I launch the ISO it is just like I had thrown a DVD into my old DVD player. It comes up with the full menu including all special features and etc. I can sort and search by actor / by title / by director / by genre and when I do I see the beautiful poster art for each dvd before I select them. And honestly it was SO easy to set up!

Even with my internet search and following the instructions on the internet (and downloading some free software) within 3 days I had 500 DVDs set up (the maximum my NAS holds right now) in this way. It is simply incredible and really impressive to show friends when they come over...you want to watch a movie...here let me bring up my collection here on my TV so you can choose...oh you never heard of that one? Let's bring up the synopsis...want a trailer? Here you go! Okay, now lets watch the movie!

My new Media room is the future with this little NEOTV...when my kids are older they won't even know what a DVD disk is anymore...thats a movie on dad's neotv right?

Read Best Reviews of NETGEAR NTV550 Here

Last year, I purchased a Samsung LED HDTV and was pleasantly surprised that it could play both streaming video (like Netflix streaming) as well as AVI and MKV files from my PC and my NAS. Although the Samsung HDTV plays a lot of formats, there was a subset of files it just didn't like, particularly certain hi-def or high bitrate files. DVD ISOs and Blu-ray ISOs didn't work either.

So the search was on for the "One box to Rule them All!"

I did a ton of reading and even tried a few boxes like the WD HDTV Live Plus, but all of them had various failings. (Too expensive, difficult menus, stuttering and audio drop outs, no ISO support, etc. etc.) The Netgear NTV 550 is the first box I have found so far that has not disappointed me.

Here are the things that made the top of my list:

Plays *everything* that I've thrown at it: AVI, MKV, MP4, DVD ISO, Blu-ray ISO (with Full Menu support, too! Awesome!)

Visually pleasing menus that are snappy, responsive, and easy to navigate

HDMI, Component, two USB 2.0 ports, SDHC card slot, eSATA, Optical audio out.

DLNA, SMB, and NFS network support

No stuttering or audio drop-outs on high bit-rate video (fixed via firmware released on Feb 28th, 2011)

Jump forward / backward in video file to specific time (hh:mm:ss)

Good remote control with nice smooth buttons and faux-rubberized case. (It feels really nice in the hand.)

Price has dropped $60 since I purchased it. Very affordable now.

Stupidly easy to setup.

Things to be aware of:

The firmware is still being actively developed by Netgear. This is both good and bad. It's bad because right now, this player is missing one or two minor features. But on the plus side, it is pretty much bug-free and is pretty well polished.

This player was supposed to have Netflix streaming support, but the company has since announced that they will NOT be including support for Netflix (due to some technical difficulty with the video chipset.) That said, Netgear has shown over the past year that they are committed to improving this player over time. The next firmware update is slated to appear February 2012!

Cinavia (DRM) was talked about early on. Some other Amazon reviewer has written about this and tried to stoke much Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt about this. Apparently the movie studios were pushing hard to get media box makers (like Netgear) to include this DRM into their firmware. As of this moment, Netgear has NOT included this DRM and as of late, there has been no further mention of it. Whether they follow through on it remains to be seen.

I give it a 5 because it currently meets all my needs perfectly and it keeps getting even better with each firmware release.

Want NETGEAR NTV550 Discount?

The first problem I encountered was with RGB cable connection. Looked like overscanning but Tech support could not determine why. By accident I decided to connect with HDMI cable and that fixed the problem.

The second problem is that this player is not compatible with many formats.

The problem was that I could not play standard AVI files which I played for years on Linksys Media Extender and Sony PS3 without any problems.

Linksys broke so I bought NTV550. The same files would not play anymore.

1. I called tech support many times about the same problem. Every single time the voice quality was good initially until I was transferred to Level 2. I simply could not hear much on the other side. No matter how many times I told them that, I was ignored.

Also, many times I was told that I am going to be transferred to Level 2 directly yet I had to go through the menu and press 4 and 4 again.

Finally one of the "tech" told be that I will be called back within 3 hours but I did not receive a call and after few more calls I finally received a call back a week later. Surprisingly the voice quality was good if tech calls me. There is a something wrong with their phone system.

2. After finally I got to talk to technician from Level 2 I was redirected to forum where one of the techs suggested to download and use software to convert my files to another format. Whoopee!!!!!! I knew that from very beginning. Why did I need to talk to anyone.

Netgear making incompatible Media player is the problem.

Anyway, even though suggestion was posted recently all download links were broken.

I managed to find this software but it was impossible to use so I dug up my old software and successfully converted my files to another format, still AVI but different codec.

Needless to say it will be my last Netgear product I bought especially because support is in India and most techs don't speak good English.

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As a former owner of the first generation media player appliance that practically started it all (affordable, powerful, simple), the Western Digital WD TV HD 1080P Media Player, I have been holding out for a very long time in getting a replacement. I've tinkered with XBMC software on the PC, played around with different TV and Bluray player content streaming capabilities, and sometimes used the Sony PS3 for displaying some of my music, movies and photos. I have also been reading up on the standalone media players such as the Roku XS, WDTV Live, Iomega Screenplay, AIOS HDMC, UEBO, etc. There are so many standalone media players coming from China or Taiwan now that is difficult to keep track.

The problem I found with those solutions is that they each have their own limitations. For example, in order to use XBMC, you need to build your own mini-PC for use as an HTPC which means that there is the overhead associated with the operating system that the software runs on. After that, you still need to worry about the hardware and device drivers to allow for digital audio output. With TV and Bluray players, they are great in providing a lot of streaming content as a bonus to playing BD movies, however, their support for being able to play all the different types of media formats on an attached local drive or external NAS storage is very limited or non-existent. With other standalone media players, they have tons of online content to play from but they are not able to handle local content properly. My main goal in getting a media player is to be able to play DVD or BD ISO files properly complete with menu display, chapter support, and digital audio surround. Most media players just don't do this very well.

Enter the NETGEAR NeoTV 550 NTV550 Ultimate HD Media Player. After scouring through different reviews, I discovered that this player has been able to support BD ISO files and menus for quite some time now. I heard it was buggy at first but later firmware updates had resolved it. I understand it doesn't have WiFi built-in but, to be honest, I don't think streaming HD content wirelessly is a good idea in the first place. For best performance, I believe that an HTPC-compatible media server should always be wired. Media clients can be wireless if chosen. I initially purchased the AIOS HDMC player but after many exhausting hours of trial and error, I discovered that it was just not ready for my specific needs. That is why I purchased the NeoTV at the same time for comparison (see my review of the AIOS at AIOS HD Media Center, Full HD 1080p, Gigabit Network, USB 3.0 data, Flash Reader, 3.5" SATA 2).

In addition to my review between AIOS and NeoTV, I found some very useful features of the NeoTV that I didn't find with AIOS. One key feature is being able to cache movie thumbnails on a hard drive, USB flash or SD card. This is great in that it allows for extremely fast browsing after the media metadata has been cached. Another key feature is being able to secure specific CIFS shares with a password on the NeoTV itself. Instead of having to type a username/password to connect to a private CIFS share everytime, the NeoTV maintains a constant connection to the share but authorized users will need to enter a 4-digit PIN to access it. Those with a need to lock down their sensitive media collection will find this very valuable.

One thing that is starting to get annoying is that the NeoTV randomly hangs from time to time. It happens most right after I play the online media content. A quick hard reboot puts everything back to normal. Another strange phenomenon is when I set the Auto FPS to enabled. After stopping a movie that has been playing at 1080P at 24FPS/Hz, my Samsung LCDTV goes blank indicating the mode is not supported. Changing the Auto FPS to disabled fixes the problem but now all my movies are displayed at 1080P 60Hz which I noticed doesn't look as smooth as when the 24 frames per second matches the 24 refresh hertz. I understand that there will always be a quirk within all media players and can probably live with this (until the next firmware update at least). Even though the NeoTV doesn't provide all the online content like other players, the fact that the NeoTV properly plays all my movie ISO files from the local hard drive or from a remote CIFS share has me sold. I finally found something that allows me to play my movie collection with minimal cost, complexity and effort.

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