Cable Router - £120 to spend

It's not a line issue that's for sure simply on the fact that the beefy WNDR and Sitecom routers have no problems at all but the lesser specced routers did have issues.

Like I said my line and LAN are heavily used by multiple clients on G, N and Gigabit wired.

The directional+swappable aerials are nice indeed but not needed on the WNDR due to the range of the stock aerial setup anyway :)
 
mrk said:
For my 20MB line and ultra heavy usage I needed Gigabit, Wireless N, excellent QOS, the option to have 5GHz N-band in the near future, a very stable WAN<>LAN connection and a router that didn't care how may multiple connections were being done - the only answer really was the Netgear WNDR3700 but it's a bit more than £120!
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This is basically my exact requirements except I have the Virgin 50MB line, so I guess this leans it even more in favour of the WNDR3700?

Only problem is I had a dog of a netgear router back in my uni days and I swore never to buy from them again. Is the WNDR3700 really that good? I made need a little more persuading :)

I would also add that I would like replacable aerials as the house is quite large and the standard aerials dont have a high enough gain to reach some bedrooms....

So maybe this swings it back in favour of the Sitecom 300N XR? Although after googling and seeing that it is marketed as 'A Gaming Router', Im a little sceptical. Is it going to be some overpriced, underpowered, LED flashing turd!?
 
It's possible but I live in a 4bedrrom house and I'm able to connect from the furthest room at 54G from my mobile phone while N is even better of course :p

I had a Netgear before, the DG834GT which is provided by Sky, I even modded it with the official firmware instead of Sky's own branded one but that still didn't stop from being crap! - routers like that put people off brands but it didn't stop me getting the WNDR3700 especially after seeing the specs and reviews which were all in favour of it :)

Yeah it costs more than the Asus but it's a solid piece of kit IMO and comes with a whole range of features in the stock firmware.

As for the LED flashing turd comment, lol :D you hardly see the LEDs as they aim upwards and are faint anyway so have to be close to it to see them - I don't know why the market it as a gaming router even though it is fine for gaming, probably because of the built in gaming QOS profiles.

Both routers give me the same wireless G and N range and performance btw, the WNDR is better in that it has a built in NAS for USB2 drives which is very useful.

I'd be happy to do any tests you'd like if it helps in your decision on what you wish to go for but of course I sold on the Sitecom so it would be limited to the Netgear only :p
 
Cheers mrk, thanks to you I will now be spending £140 on my router :p

Think what clinched it in favour of the WNDR3700 is the fact the 300n XR doesnt do simultaneous dual-band wireless-N, something i can see myself needing.

I would ask you to do a distance wireless G signal test, but is probably little pointless as our environments will be every different. I appreciate the offer though :)

So i guess im taking a bit of a punt that the "Ultra-sensitive 8 internal metamaterial antennas fine tuned for each frequency" on the WNDR3700 will be powerful enough...... guess i can always get some usb wireless n dongle's for the machines which struggle to get signal.
 
I'm confident the router's aerials are beefy enough but you may want to look at USB dongles that have big aerials if you do go that route if you have signal issues unless you can go internal PCI cards (the better option!).

Enjoy the router!
 
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I was also looking at the Linksys WRT610N, but now that mrk has mentioned the Netgear WNDR3700, I am curious as to what the differences between the two are?

I plan on getting VM's 50mbit service in the next few months, and have multiple wireless devices around the house. I also plan to stream HD media over Wireless N from my PC to the WD TV Live (attached to the TV).
 
Danger Phoenix said:
I was also looking at the Linksys WRT610N, but now that mrk has mentioned the Netgear WNDR3700, I am curious as to what the differences between the two are?

I plan on getting VM's 50mbit service in the next few months, and have multiple wireless devices around the house. I also plan to stream HD media over Wireless N from my PC to the WD TV Live (attached to the TV).
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I've had mine a month and a day now and not had to reboot once, it's downloaded 510GB over WAN and passed more over the LAN.

Specs wise:

WRT610N:
v1 = Broadcom4705 @ 300 MHz / 8MB Flash / 64MB RAM / 3 internal aerials
v2 = Broadcom4718 @ 480 MHz / 8MB Flash / 64MB RAM / 3 internal aerials

WNDR3700:
MIPS 32bit 680MHz / 8MB Flash / 64MB RAM / 8 internal aerials

Those are the only major differences I can see, the Linksys lies flat only so for heat exhaustion the WNDR is better as it can stand vertical - also the LEDs are clearer and there's a few extra hard-buttons for controlling various functions/power etc.
 
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Right, so WNDR3700 it is, and the WNDA3100 adaptor for my PC as that will be the media server. The amount I was going to spend on the Linksys gear has gone up by around £90, but I want something that actually works and that will last. Everything is slowly moving over to HD, and I want my network to be able to sustain transfers within the LAN as well as from the WAN.

Looks wise I am not bothered, as my router will be hidden away :)

mrk, would you happen to know the answer to this question:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=16035402&postcount=4
 
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Ah yes,

You can specify what mode you want each radio to be in eg: Dual N (one at 5GHz, one at 2.4GHz) or just 5GHz at N speed and 2.4GHz at 54G/150 (half N) or both at 54G only if you don't have any N machines. It's quite customisable.

I set both up to full N speed if the client supports it and it works perfectly for 54G and N clients at the same time.

You also get 2 guest wireless networks as well - I don't know if this is possible on the WRT610N?

Here's a wireless screenshot:

WNDR3700_wireless.jpg
 
I don't think you can do the guest wireless networks with the Linksys, but from what I have read the other options are available.

I am quite liking this actually... I can connect my PC to the router by the 5Ghz radio, and every other device in the house can use the 2.4Ghz radio. Since my PC is the media server, destination for majority of WAN traffic, and the only machine games are played on, it makes sense. The other machines in the house are used for casual browsing, so the 2.4Ghz radio is fine for them.

:D

Netgear should give you commission mrk ;)
 
I've just relayed the specs and differences lol :p

I do like this router though and although I've had many routers over the past few years it's the only one that has everything I need in the official firmware and I've not been longing for a 3rd party firmware to get extra features or stability although I will try them once they are out for this model to see what they offer!

Enjoy the router, I (and my LAN users) will =]

router_wndr3700.jpg

^ Cool thing I found out after RTFM is that on the wired ports, orange = 100MB connected, green = 1GB connected.
 
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I have just ordered my Netgear WNDR3700 and an accompanying USB Adaptor, and am expecting it to be delivered on Tuesday.

My 50mbit VM connection is being installed on the 13th, but I can still test out the transfer speeds, and playback on my WD TV Live :)
 
Khaaan! said:
Post your thought when it's all running!
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Had an issue with a competitor, so ended up ordering from OcUK instead. DPD just dropped off the package, and I am quite surprised/disappointed to find that the router box has been opened before and the router taken out of its bag (the box's plastic wrapping has been removed, and the sticky labels which Netgear use to hold the bags shut had been torn open :(
 
Danger Phoenix said:
Had an issue with a competitor, so ended up ordering from OcUK instead. DPD just dropped off the package, and I am quite surprised/disappointed to find that the router box has been opened before and the router taken out of its bag (the box's plastic wrapping has been removed, and the sticky labels which Netgear use to hold the bags shut had been torn open :(
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I opened mine up today, and looks like it was sealed fine.
 
As long as it is working fine I wouldn't worry!

Also use the built in firmware updater :)
 
The CD is designed for people who want easy set up and dont even know what a 192.168.0.1 ip address is lol.

Personally i always set it via the gui in my browser, but then im a bit of a geek.

Phil
 
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