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.

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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.

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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.

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ASUS RT-N66U Dual-Band Wireless-N900 Gigabit Router

• 3 x Detachable antenna for 2.4GHz/5GHz with peak gain 3dBi/ 5dBi
• IPv6 support; VPN Server Support
• 802.11n: up to 450Mbps ; 802.11a/g: up to 54Mbps; 802.11b: up to 11Mbps
• Supports Ethernet and 802.3 with max. bit rate 10/100/1000 Mbps
• 4 x LAN ports for 10/100/1000 BaseT
• 2 x USB2.0 support got Printer sharing or HDD sharing

Well, as mentioned in another review, the firmware in the initial shipment of these (3.0.0.3.72) is broken. Not buggy, not unstable, but broken. You CANNOT connect to the Internet with the factory firmware, at least in the initial release. I purchased one, returned it in exchange for another one, and the second one had the exact same problem. As discussed on this here:

You must manually enter a URL then change to a language other than English, then update the firmware. (The current version from the ASUS website is 3.0.0.3.90 as of 1/13/2012) Of course, that means you need to download the firmware first, since you can't connect to the Internet with the factory firmware. And of course, a router is required for most people to access the Internet, so... well, you can see where I'm going with this.

After the firmware update, things were much better. I had the Internet connection set up in a few minutes, and the speed was unbelievable. Certainly the fastest consumer wireless on the market right now. It has nice features, like 6 different SSIDs for guest networks (3 for each band.) You can choose whether or not to give those networks access to your primary network, and since you can set up multiple SSIDs, you can have different settings for each. It also has parental controls, good QoS, a VPN server and some other nice features. It supports Zoneedit for dynamic DNS, so I was pretty happy about that. (Neither the Cisco or the Linksys models I have tried do.)

One feature that's present in the Linksys E4200, but not on this router, is an SSL web GUI. I work in IT, and it bothers me administering my firewall over plaintext HTTP. Probably not that big a deal to home users, but I don't think it's that difficult to implement an HTTPS server for the admin GUI. It also makes this unit completely unsuited for deployment in a business environment, where security is paramount. I'm hopeful that it'll be in a future firmware update. I could probably use this router for a lot of small-business clients.

As far as wireless range goes, this blows away both the Cisco E4200v1 and the Netgear WNDR3800, both of which I tested in the same placement as this one. I get full signal in all corners of my house, which isn't too big, but both the Netgear and Cisco routers got medium signal in the corners of my house. I have 5 wireless devices and 6 wired devices, and speed thus far has not been a problem. I stream video without drops and file transfers are quick. No complaints.

I really wish ASUS hadn't made the error of shipping this with broken firmware. They will undoubtedly have a return rate nearing 100% until they get the new firmware on shipping units. Had it not been for this, I would easily give this product 5 stars. If it had HTTPS on the GUI, I'd say it's a perfect device.

UPDATE 10/12/2012

So they fixed the firmware issue within a couple weeks of release. Now, they've released a firmware upgrade that adds HTTPS functionality. I'm upgrading my review to five stars!

UPDATE 11/16/2012

I changed the title of the review, because, other than price, there is no longer any reason not to buy this product. It is the best wireless access point on the market, save for the new ASUS RT-AC66U, which is just an updated version of this product. (New radio, supports a new standard that nobody uses yet.) I don't use it as a router, so I can't qualify those features, but as far as range, features and consistent connectivity, you can't beat this product at any price.

Buy ASUS RT-N66U Dual-Band Wireless-N900 Gigabit Router Now

I got my shiny new RT-N66U today from Amazon.

I do networking for a living and figured even though I'd seen reports of the shipping factory firmware being broken in English mode, it would be no problem.

WHAT A PAIN!!!!!!!!!!! Come on Asus!!!!

The short and sweet version of how to get your router up and running with 3.0.0.3.72:

*Download 3.0.0.3.90 firmware from

*Extract RT-N66U_3.0.0.3_90.trx to somewhere on your computer

*Log in to 192.168.1.1 (User:admin Pass:admin)

*Complete the initial setup wizard using any info you want. Just GET THROUGH IT. It will display a broken page at the end.

*Enter 192.168.1.1 in your web browser

*Click on "Administration" on the left

*Click on "Firmware Upgrade" on the top tab

*Switch the language box in the top-right-hand corner from "English" to something else. I used French.

*Upload RT-N66U_3.0.0.3_90.trx

***WAIT FOR IT TO FINISH***

*When it's complete, choose "English" again from the language drop-down.

*Go back to 192.168.1.1 and complete your initial router configuration.

The good news is that after I got 3.0.0.3.90 on the router all seems to be running smoothly.

I was replacing an ASUS RT-N56U and I have found so far:

*SIGNIFICANTLY better range on both 2.4 and 5ghz bands (Maybe 3-6db increase at an 80ft distance)

I'm hoping that when I get a wireless adapter that supports 450Mbps that I'll be able to see the huge difference.

I like the way it physically looks (Like some type of network Samurai device) and I love that I can swap out the antennas as I see fit. It looks pretty bad-ass actually.

It's been running smooth for a day now.

The specs on this thing are awesome. I just can't believe that Asus would let it ship out with severely broken English firmware. Oh well that's what I get for buying a product the day it's released lol.

The bottom line is that if you're into this kind of technology, the initial configuration pain shouldn't be a huge deterrent to you. Third-party Broadcom firmware support will be abundant for this router soon. There are already a few releases out there for you to try like TomatoUSB.

The 2.4ghz range increase was noticeable for me. 5ghz was also increased, but still has a smaller range footprint than the 2.4ghz band.

If you are not comfortable with this kind of work, maybe wait a few months for Asus to ship some units out with the firmware upgraded for you.

I would have given this router 5 stars if it wasn't for the shipping firmware bug. Asus, you get 4 stars for making me work.

Update to come in a few weeks of operation.

Update 1/19/12: Just using the built-in wifi radio on my Samsung Galaxy S2, I was able to use my router nearly a block away from my house on 2.4ghz. The router is near a window and this was almost line-of-sight.

I plan on playing with the DLNA features in the next day or two. I'll post how that goes.

So far so good! Love it!

Update 1/23/12: I've been busy the last few days but I wanted to check in and say that this router has been running 100% rock solid and the wifi range increase has been DRAMATIC for me. I love the looks and function of this unit and plan on recommending it to any friend who asks.

Pick one up, you'll love it.

Read Best Reviews of ASUS RT-N66U Dual-Band Wireless-N900 Gigabit Router Here

Edit 2 (2012-02-25). Here is an update now that I have owned it a while (5 1/2 weeks):

1. FYI Asus is releasing firmware version 102 on Monday (those who have been able to get a hold of that version in the meantime said it works great and has resolved the few issues that remained, which affected some users, depending on which advanced features they needed).

They have been very quick, compared to other networking companies especially, to release new firmware after getting bug reports and working on the fixes ().

2. As an update, my RT-N66U has been up (without a reboot) and running stably since I first configured it 5 1/2 weeks ago. (It does get rebooted to load the new firmware of course, just like a Windows PC needs a reboot after installing updates).

3. No wifi disconnects to date!

4. Smallnetbuilder.com has posted test results and it is, as of now (February 25 2012), their top performing router in terms of wireless (wifi) performance overall. It performed great in the far locations that no other N900 router could get a signal.

It beats my prior router (E4200 v1) handily in overall wifi, with a nice boost in the far locations as noted by Tim as well.

Original (January) Review, including an associated edit about the power button):

Edit to add a tip For anyone who thinks their unit is DOA, be sure to turn the tiny power button on the back on. It is the same color as the router and very small, so it is easy to miss.

I noticed it when attaching the antennae, but I can see how people could easily miss it.

Perhaps I am one of the lucky ones. I had no issues updating the firmware to the latest version from the version that shipped with the router, with it set to 'English'.

I used a PC running Windows 7 32-bit and Firefox 8.0.1. I hooked it up to my cable modem and desktop PC and rebooted the equipment as needed. I then went into the configuration GUI, configured my wifi (2.4 and 5 GHz) and then simply clicked on the 'update firmware' button it downloaded the firmware and updated it. The one caveat is that initially a progress bar appeared. Toward the end of the process the web config screen went blank and stayed that way, so I was not sure if it had finished or not. I opened a new window and tried surfing the internet and it worked fine. To be safe, I left the other window open for a while (the one I had used to update the firmware).

PROS:

Great wifi performance relative to competition (signal strength and throughput) on BOTH bands (on par with my Amped Wireless R10000 and actually beat my Linksys E4200 v1).

Fast CPU and lots of RAM to handle multiple connections and heavy loads

Seems stable so far (only had it hooked up about 20 hours so far so time will tell)

Native IPv6 support

Dual band concurrent wifi

450 Mbps max (under ideal conditions) on both bands

2 USB ports for a host of extra sharing and streaming connectivity

Solid build quality (the weight of this tells you there is a lot under the hood and the ports are not flimsy)

Gigabit WAN and LAN ports

Beam forming tech. seems to really work.

Up to 6 Guest networks

Upgradable antennae

Big bonus It also seems to have resolved an issue with Netflix cover art not loading for some titles that was an issue when using my Amped (perhaps the Amped had one setting affecting it or something got cached).

CON:

WPS is enabled by default. Make sure to turn it off to protect yourself from the WPS exploit (at this time as of Jan 19 2012 this issue affects any router with WPS enabled)

Minor things that could be improved (not sure I would call them cons so I listed them separately):

Web UI says 'enabled' for guest wifi (should say 'enable'), so I thought they might be on by default. Then when I thought I disabled it (selected 'off'), it seemed to keep broadcasting (as per Windows). I went back into the config screen and was able to disable it the second time. Will have to see if I can recreate this.

Firmware update window goes blank at the end of the upgrade (would prefer to have it reboot back into the config GUI one can be sure it has complete updating).

I will update this review (if I get a chance) after running it longer to note the stability. So far I have not noticed any wireless disconnects. It runs warmer than my Amped R10000 (which runs cool) but is not hot. It is doing more work, which explains it.

It is not cheap but then again neither is the competition.

The exception is the Linksys E4200 v1 'manufacturer refurbished' model with a manufacturer warranty, free shipping and a return period. That unit is only $99.xx with free shipping directly from Cisco. I bought a new one when it came out and was not impressed with its long range performance, especially given some of the great reviews it got.

The competition (aside from the RT-N66U so far in my limited experience with other units and going by reviews) is not really any better though (tried the Zyxel NBG5715 with initial firmware at the time). For $100 the E4200 v1 is not a bad router for those with lesser needs (in terms of range) and a smaller budget.

The Amped R10000 is also affordable and nice too (great wifi range and very respectable wireless throughput it beat my E4200 v1 on 2.4 GHz), depending on your needs (i.e. it has no gigabit, no IPv6 [yet], no USB and no 5 GHz).

All in all I am very impressed with the Asus.

Want ASUS RT-N66U Dual-Band Wireless-N900 Gigabit Router Discount?

I purchased this router 6 weeks ago. The setup was fine, although the more you use the user interface, you'll find it can be a bit buggy sometimes, even with the latest firmware. At Week 5, the router randomly lost ALL settings and had to be setup once again. I did this the first time and thought it would be a one-time occurence. Unfortunately, it was NOT. For the next week, I spent countless hours setting it up just to find it would randomly loose all settings and need to be configured again, as if I was hooking it up for the first time. I tried updating the firmware, recovering and resetting the device, even tried switching out my DSL modem, just in case that was the issue. SO frustrating! Since it had been more than 30 days, I couldn't exchange the item and had to reach out to ASUS for support. I filed a ticket that the router was defected and received a long email with troubleshooting recovery steps to run through before I would "call the router defective" (according to an ASUS rep). Well, after a ton of steps that included downloading new firware, new utilities, installing utilities, forcing router into recovery and attempting a firware restoration, the router got stuck at this stage and NEVER came out!!! I finally called ASUS rather than work with their email support and the tech had me run through 3 different processes to try to recover the router. None worked. The saddest part is that eventhough I spent nearly two hundred on this router and countless troubleshooting hours, the BEST ASUS could do to stand by their product was ask me to ship it to them for repair. Estimated 7-10 business days for repair and refused to send a replacement router prior to receiving the defective one. I was so surprised at the poor level of customer service for such an expensive and 6 week-old router. Even my Trendnet Gigabit Switch that went out allowed me to put down a deposit via credit card so that the new item could be sent out asap while I shipped back the defective. And that was for a product 1/8 the cost and older! ASUS loses major point with me on standing by their product to support a customer when things go wrong. Their recommendation to me when I said what will I do without a router for about 2 weeks? ASUS said: Go out and buy another one with your money, if you can and keep the receipt to return to the store when we send you a replacement. How inconvenient and what poor support of customers! I've had BUFFALO and Linksys in the past and cannot believe how ASUS turned out. 2 Stars only because the router is fast when it works, but not much else.

Update as of August 7, 2012Changing to 1-Star Review

It's now been well beyond the "7-10" business days I was quoted for router repair. :-( I sent in the router (after all of those hours of troubleshooting) for repair by ASUS on July 13, 2012. They received the router on July 19 and since then, the tracking information on it has NOT changed from "In Repair". That's not even the worst of it. I called ASUS to inquire about the delay. Spoke to the Rep #1 who said "we say 7-10 business days but it can be more like 14". Where on earth did he get "14" from, I don't know. I informed him that all of my note and their confirmation email clearly states 7-10 business days. Frustrated, I asked to speak with a supervisor. Even though I've come to learn ASUS supports is beyond sub-par to anything we should expect, I held out a naive hope that the supervisor would once and for all make this terrible situation right for me as their customer. Once again, ASUS shocked me. The supervisor, in a cold and non-empathic demeanor took the phone, let me know the router was "still in repair" and that he could do nothing to speed up the process. He promised to "send an email" to inquire as to any additional information on the status of the router. It has now been an additional 1 week that has passed by. NO router, NO call from the supervisor or ANY other rep to follow-up. Nothing. In my frustration, I asked the supervisor to please intervene in my situation and that all I wanted was to come home and see the router on front stepsdelivered back repaired.

I guess nothing about the customer matters to ASUS. It didn't matter that I paid two hundred dollars for this router, that it was only 6 weeks after purchased when it broke down, that I spent nearly 30 hours troubleshooting via email correspondence, online forums and calls with techs, that I was told to pay to ship the router to them, that I was promised 7-10 business for a returned, repair router but and that it is now August 7, over 1 month since the router first broke down and over 3 weeks since they've had the router physically in their possession for repair, that I called to check on it when it was late, that I pleaded with the supervisor to help me out.

It is certainly clear, by the long line of actions demonstrated towards my case, that ASUS is NOT in the business of doing right by the customer. I will NOT purchase an ASUS product in the future and I advise all those considering an ASUS product to weigh the evidence of my direct experience that has been negative across many reps and all processes related to customer support.

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I've had several highly-rated routers, and this one provides the best feature set and performance yet. I have a house that's kind of long, the family room where the router is in the back of the house, and the living room (where the TV is and where I usually use my laptop and smart phone) is the front of the house. So I always get a strong signal in the family room, and my next door neighbor's wireless signal is always stronger in my living room than my router's. With the RT-N66U, I also have a stronger wireless signal in the living room, stronger than my neighbor for the first time. I'm amazed, have gained about 10+dBm according to inSSIDer over any of the other routers I've had, which leads to excellent wireless performance in my living room. I did notice that the router needs to be "pointed" towards my living room to get this, but that isn't a problem for me, the signal is fine everywhere, but I love how strong it is in the living room. It's also nice to have the guest networks that really work as they should, I have my smart phone using one of those.

It was also interesting getting an internet connection established the first time. I usually have to go through all the settings on a router and make sure that everything is set up right before I can make an initial connection. With this router, it really does a lot of that work. It had me connected almost immediately. I still went through all the settings to make sure that there were what I needed, but having that internet connection so quickly was really helpful in verifying that the router was working.

As far as firmware goes, the newest Asus firmware (RT-N66U_3.0.0.3_102) is doing well for me. There are some problems with it, I hear that the IPv6 support isn't quite there yet, and the DLNA support leaves something to be desired. But again, not a problem for me, I'm not using either of these, so Asus has some time to get those working. If you're in a hurry, you can use tomato firmware on this router, which I hear is working quite well. The IPv6 support does work with tomato firmware, but I'm not sure that the wireless performance is quite as good as the Asus firmware.

This is a very nice piece of hardware, and it is the best performing that I've had. Long term reliability remains to be seen, as usual, time will tell.

Update 3/10/2012: Upgraded to the newest Asus firmware, RT-N66U_3.0.0.3_108, bunch of things fixed, looking even better. Best router around right now!

Update 4/13/2012: Spent a lot of time trying to get my Verizon Network Extender going with the .108 firmware. Asus finally suggested using telnet and clearing the nvram (mtd-erase -d nvram; reboot). This worked, and now Verizon Network Extender is up, too. Great router.

Update 6/1/2012: Up for 40 days now with the .108 firmware, no reboots, no problems. Just keeps working really well. Best router I've had, and I've had a few *smile*.

Update 10/19/2012: IPv6 working with latest firmware (and Comcast). Note that you need a cable/DSL modem that supports IPv6 for this. Much more reliable and functional than previous routers.

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Medialink - Wireless N Broadband Router

Well, now having the need for a wireless N network I did a bit of research into which router I should buy. After reading so many positive reviews, I kept teetering on whether or not I should try this one out... especially since I hadn't heard of the company and the price point was so low. Eventually I figured "what could it hurt" and ordered it. I immediately got an email from the company thanking me for the order which included the support information if needed. That was a nice touch.

The bottom line is that I'm VERY glad I ordered this. Set up was a breeze if you follow the very simple instructions to the letter. I was up and running in minutes.

My other concern was how well it would sing with my Cisco Wireless N Bridge(The Cisco-Linksys WET610N Dual-Band Wireless-N Gaming and Video Adapter)in my living room which is notoriously finicky with non-Cisco product integration. I'm very pleased to report that it immediately started communicating once set up, and has been rock solid for 3 days streaming Hi Def 720p and 1080p video. The signal strength is fantastic and has out performed other routers I have owned in the past. Time will tell how it holds up over the long run. I will update this post if anything goes awry.

Finally as icing on the cake, the router just looks cool. Thats always a happy bonus!

The only negative I could find is that the tech support line isn't 24 hours. Seeing as how I didn't need it, I suppose that really isn't a negative in the truest sense.

I'm a heavy Amazon user who doesn't even write reviews yet felt compelled to for this gem. A Great product, at a great price, and easy set up. Who could ask for more?

*** EDIT 06/14/11 Wow, there are a ton of comments on my review and I thought it would be a good idea to chime in again. Here we are about 8 months after my purchase and the router is still going strong. I have noticed that there was some signal degradation about 3 months in, but I changed the broadcast channel and it cleared up. Whether that was a fix or coincidence I don't know. As far as I can remember it only dropped once and I had to reset it. Not sure what people are expecting, but I thought (and still think) I got fantastic bang for the buck. And to answer some of the people implying I somehow work for the company that makes or markets it: I absolutely do not! I just was pleasantly surprised and wanted to share.

*** EDIT 09/11/12 I've come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. Well, that's not entirely accurate. Bottom line is my router finally died on me. Not so much "died" as sputtered out a slow pulsating death. My earlier review still stands though, this had fantastic bang for the buck while it lasted and handled download speeds to my wireless laptop as fast as my ethernet wired server. Anyway, I noticed it was bouncing a day ago and called their VERY friendly tech support. They mentioned a new firmware update and gave me some instructions on updating and hard resetting which ended up having no effect on the situation. Obviously, since it was out of warranty there wasn't much else they could do, so I sent them a video of it doing "it's thing" in case they ran across any similar scenarios in the future. I suppose its time to look at a new router. Might still go with this one though. I'll update if I do! :)

*** EDIT 11/20/12 "Just when I thought I was done, you pull me back in!" Have a very relevant followup... It appears that there was indeed a power surge on the circuit that most likely killed the router. After writing my update, I noticed that my Roku player as well as another device I hadn't thought of checking was dead as a doornail. I thought I should update since some were thinking this was a fault of the device. Turns out it wasn't. Makes me feel even better about ordering the replacement. :) All's well that ends well.

UPDATE (12/11/2011): I've had this for about a year now, and I have still never had a problem with it. I've left it on/plugged almost the entire time, but when I've had to unplug it (e.g., to move a computer desk), it has reconnected almost instantly when I plugged it back in. I also added a second laptop to the house a few months ago, and the router is still performing flawlessly. If Amazon allowed it, I'd give this thing another star.

---------------------

ORIGINAL REVIEW:

I took a chance on this a few months ago, when it was relatively new and had fewer reviews. The company emailed me a few days after ordering to thank me and inform me how I could receive assistance if I needed it.

Well, I haven't needed it. In fact, this router is about as "plug-and-play" as a USB drive or mouse. I didn't even follow the Quick Start instructions...I just plugged it in and it worked right away! I previously had a Linksys B router which would drop the connection about once or twice a night. However, the MediaLink router has worked perfectly for months...I haven't lost the connection once! This router will seriously compete with the big boys, and for the price, it is an incredible value.

Pros:

+ Very, very easy to set up

+ Perfect signal anywhere in my apartment

+ Has worked continuously with NO LOST CONNECTIONS in two months

+ Looks very sleek

+ Fantastic price

+ Friendly customer service, although with how well the router works, I may not ever have to contact them again...

Cons:

This is a STRETCH, but the blue lights on the router are a bit bright...it may distract you in a dark environment. However, I am never in the same room as the router, so I do not care at all.

Note: I use a Toshiba Windows 7 laptop, which is the only device that utilizes the router. I haven't tested it with multiple machines or with my Wii or anything.

(Also, I've noticed some people responding to other 5 star reviews with accusations that the reviewers work for the makers of the router. Not sure what their agenda is (Linksys employees/fanboys?), but for the record, I do not work for Mediabridge Products, LLC, nor do I know anyone who works for them. I am not receiving any compensation or other such benefits for writing this review, either. I am really impressed with this product, and I rely on reviews before making any online purchase, so I thought I'd contribute.)

Buy Medialink - Wireless N Broadband Router Now

I have to admit I was nervous about buying something that doesn't have a huge name behind it. I've dealt with plenty of routers in my time and some of them are so confusing to configure, and caused so many headaches. When I opened the box I was greeted by a small, light-weight, sleek looking box...I have to say that I was really excited about the internal antenna, those old parallel antenna were the worst thing to look at. Being the typical computer guy I am I didn't really read through the directions, I just grabbed it and plugged it in. I reset the modem, then reset the router (by power cycling, not the reset button on the back) and.......it worked. I logged into the web interface and set up the Wifi security, grabbed my laptop to connect to it and.....it worked.

The wireless N is a thing of beauty for someone that has been stuck with G for so long, it's fast and has great coverage, I was able to get a stronger signal outside than before.

The web interface is very nicely laid out and there are a ton of features

Pros:

Quick setup

very nice looking

lights are not too bright, even though there are a lot of them

internal antenna

affordable

Cons:

no Gig ports

included cat5 cable could be a little longer.

things to note:

I didn't use the included setup disc

I have cable internet and use an older Linksys cable modem.

Read Best Reviews of Medialink - Wireless N Broadband Router Here

Okay. I'm old. I don't understand a lot of gadget stuff. MP3, MP4, widgets...I have no idea what they are and I doubt that the quality of my retirement will be affected by that loss. But I do have a computer at home that the cable guy set up. I can send e-mail, read the news online and have even bought books on Amazon and had them delivered by UPS to my door. It's been a whole new world opened up for me. I'm content with life. Then things got ratched up a level. Santa brought me a Kindle Fire. Looks nice. But I can't do much else than turn it on and off. A wi-fi connection is needed. I mull this over for a few days. How do I get one? Do I call the cable company and pay extra monthly to have them beam a signal toward my house? I don't have a clue. Enter Google. So I learn that I just need a box. It's called a "router" and it plugs into my computer. I consider a trip to Best Buy, but really...my first and last trip there was a torment. Almost seizure inducing. So I do another Amazon search and find it even auto suggested a router for Kindle Fire. I browse the various prices but stick with customer reviews. It's a blind faith thing. And so I opt for this Medialink. 150 Mbps (?). I purchase and Amazon confirms. Then I get another e-mail, this time from Mediabridge Products and it gives me directions to their website and a customer support phone number. Never got that from a seller before. And then it arrives. This old man read the step by step instructions and literally had it set up and running in about ten minutes...well yes, it was quite stressful but only because I had no understanding of what I was doing but I followed the steps and it worked. I have wi-fi and the strength of the signal is good. And the little box? It's. Small and discreet but looks good with little flashing blue lights. I have it on display. It does everything it's supposed to do and it's been problem free. And guess what...I'm writing this review on my Kindle. Thank you Medialink and thank you Santa but please, next year, don't be testing me this much again.

Want Medialink - Wireless N Broadband Router Discount?

I was a little hesitant to order this router since there was no other review, but the price was lower than other wireless G routers, so I thought I would give this N router a try. So far, I am glad I did. I am writing this review from my laptop using the wireless connection right now.

PROS:

-Price (paid $ on 10/2/2010)

-Easy setup. The wired connection was instant, all I had to do was plug the cables. The wireless connection was also a breeze and took two minutes with the included CD wizard.

-Speed! My local network connection is 100Mbps, so I selected this router which is slightly faster (150Mbps wireless / 100Mbps wired) in order to avoid bottlenecks. I am getting download speeds ~0.9 MBytes / second wired and ~ 1.1MBbytes / second wireless with this router, i.e. as fast as I was getting when plugged directly to the network.

-Streams movies without problems.

CONS:

No problems so far. If you like solving problems you may be disappointed.

I have had this router for less than a day, which is not long enough to know if it is stable, but so far so good. I have not tried VOIP yet, but I will update if any problems arise.

UPDATE: VOIP works without problems too. I have had the router for 5 days and still no problems. It performs so well, I have almost forgotten it is there.

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