Which is best wireless router choice? Netgear N450 WNDR4000 or N300 WNDR3800 - Page 14

I believe you can do that. I was looking in the Advanced/Security/Block Sites and Services areas. This is used primarily to block sites that you dont want to be able to browse to but in the end should do what you want. This capability is the same in the 3800 and the 4500 routers.

Bob Silver

The recent release of the new firmware for the 3800 addresses primarily the dropped client issue on the 2.4g hz side of the unit. It turned out that it was a rare issue that seemed to coalesce around certain devices and conditions which made it hard to track down and correct. The following is an email I received from the engineers on what was done in this release.


From Netgear Engineering

"In this V1.0.0.32 firmware, mainly we fix below bugs or make some enhancements.

l Fixed - For 2.4G wireless connection, wireless client might be disconnected easily in heavy/noisy traffic environment.

l Fixed router log issue (Stops collecting router logs after a few days.)

l Enhances the NTFS file system write speed for ReadySHARE function.



This firmware release is mainly focus on 2.4G wireless disconnection issue, actually there are three kind symptoms for wireless issues, below is the symptoms and how we fix it.

Symptom-1: if customer's wireless environment is noisy or heavy traffic, the EAPOL (Extensible Authentication Protocol over LAN) packet might be lost between Router and wireless client communication, and after the timeout value is expired the wireless is disconnected.

Solution: We set EAPOL packet in higher transmit priority and also use minimum rate to transmit it. This solution can make sure there is not EAPOL timeout to cause the wireless disconnection.



Symptom-2: if customer's wireless environment is noisy or heavy traffic, the router might not be able to send out wireless beacon frame, currently our router will reset the wireless driver to clean the buffer/queue and also the TSF timer in the beacon will be reset too. For some Intel wireless clients (for example: Intel 5300), it is not happy to see too many times the TSF timer be reset and will send out "deauth" frame to router to cause the wireless disconnection.

Solution: Router don't do TSF timer reset and keep sync with wireless client. Then such wireless disconnection can be fixed



Symptom-3: We see some wireless clients of Android system somehow will send out the wrong AID (Associate ID) to router, because router can't recognize this unexpected AID, then router drop this wireless client.

Solution: Because this is wireless client issue, to have better interoperability, we have a work around solution to by pass this checking. So there is no wireless disconnection because of wrong AID anymore."



I have been running the new firmware for about a week and all has been good. So hopefully this takes care of the issues some folks had experienced.

Please post feedback of your experiences if you will.

Regards,

Bob Silver
Netgear AV Consultant

The router does not support NO-IP.com. In fact I use it myself even pay for the premium service. More legacy for me as i had been using it for years

I have only found DYNDNS.com to work within the router. I use it too. Works fine.

Bob Silver
NETGEAR AV Consultant.

First off let me say that the need for gigabyte Ethernet ports on your home theater gear is not needed so I wouldnt worry about that. As to using a second router as a bridge it depends on the router. Netgear models WNDR3700 and up acn do this but I would not suggest that. It is complex to configure and can have spotty performance sometimes.

Instead what I would suggest is 1 of the 2 products I will list. Both are bridges designed for what you want. They have 4 port switches and will connect to your router to pass both internet and network access to the devices connected to it.

The models are these

1. For wireless N Performance you can use this
Netgear N900 Video and Gaming 4-Port WiFi Adapter Model WNCE4004
http://www.netgear.com/home/products.../WNCE4004.aspx

2. For Powerline connection use this
Netgear UNIVERSAL INTERNET ADAPTER FOR HOME ENTERTAINMENT - 3D
XAVB5004
http://www.netgear.com/home/products.../XAVB5004.aspx

Both devices will give you 4 ports top connect your devices. But the way they connect to your router differs. As I stated one uses wifi and the other Powerline which uses the electrical wiring in your house.

Performance wise the XAVB5004 Powerline device will give you the best performance and highest speed. The only caveat is potential noise in your home ac wiring. The only way to find out is to try it.

So I would buy from a place you can exchange the unit and start with the Powerline (it is also the easiest to setup. You just plug it in). If you have issues then buy the Wifi unit Model WNCE4004 and you will be good to go.

Both units are excellent and were designed specifically for what you need.

Bob Silver
Netgear AV Consultant.

[quote=NallaAVS;21901136]Hi Bob, thanks so much for the detailed explanation. I also need to buy a new N-router to replace an old G-router. What do you recommend? Thanks again.[/QUOTE

I would suggest the following routers for you in order of price

1. Netgear WNDR3700 $99 Had been the top of the line router.
2. Netgear WNDR3800 $149 More advanced version of the 3700
3. Netgear WNDR4500 Netgear's most advanced router with best performance. $179

Check out this thread on the 3800 and 4500
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hlight=netgear

Bob

No problem on the question as much has changed. The 4500 is based on a different chipset then the 3700/3800/4000 routers. The 4500 and R63/R61 are the new platforms that Netgear is moving toward. That said it doesn't diminish the performance of the 3700/3800 family. In fact some features like Video Mode are not included in the newer platforms.

So I would still go ahead and purchase the 3800. The firmware issues have been worked out and it has the latest UI that all the new products support. It supports all the new software features from Netgear's Genie utility and well as Ready Share Cloud. It still remains the most feature packed router in the line. I still think it is a better product then the 4000. And as you can see it is reflected in the price.

The newer routers most significant advantages (aside from the AC spec) is more powerful RF amps. This is only important as far as range is considered. And with that you see about a 15-25% increase from the 3700/3800 products. So if I were you Id buy the 3800.

Bob Silver
Netgear AV Consultant

Yes the firmware issues have all been taken care of. I updated my 3800 months ago and it has been totally stable. So go ahead and update it if you want.

Bob Silver

Hey the old adage applies. "Dont fix it if it ain't broke"! Your conservative approach is always best.

Bob

Yes you can. What you need is an Ethernet cable connecting the 2 routers. Plug the cable into any of the ports but NOT the WAN port on the 3800. Make sure DHCP is turned off on the 3800. Set the SSID to the same as your other router and set the channels on the 2.4g side to the same. For the 5g band you can leave the channel set to auto but make the SSID the same. This will make a seamless wireless network throughout the coverage of both routers wifi range.

If you do not have an Ethernet cable to connect the 3800 you will need to use the 3800 as a repeater. Or if you are buying a new device you can buy the Netgear RPT3000 which is their dual band repeater. The downside to this is the performance of a repeater will be less then an access point as it it essence repeats the wifi signal. Also Netgear recommends using a different SSID like Netgear_ext as opposed to Netgear. This makes it a bit more complex but it works.

Post back if you need more insight how to do this.

Bob

My only caution here is to keep your G wireless net and the N wireless separate. The reason is that that G net could wind up forcing your devices to operate in that mode thus reducing your wireless speed. So I would only use the same ssid for N network devices.

Bob