Netgear N600 DGDN3700 Wireless N ADSL2+ Modem Router Review

[Apoptosis]

Netgear N600 DGDN3700 Wireless N ADSL2+ Modem Router Review

Delivering the first dual-core processor in a home router, the Netgear N600 DGND3700 offers 2 USB ports, CD-less installation and an Ethernet WAN option for Fiber/Cable broadband access (with a cable/fiber modem needed), or a built in ADSL2+ Modem for DSL connections. With both Wireless N 2.4Ghz and Wireless N 5Ghz signals available; this router can broadcast over a long range or a short range with incredibly fast speed. Today we'll be benchmarking this router against some common routers on the market.





Article Title: Netgear N600 DGDN3700 Wireless N ADSL2+ Modem Router Review
Article URL: http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1659/1/
Pricing At Time of Print: $157.99 shipped

[Major_A]

I recently installed a Linksys E2500 dual band router. I've had mixed results with the two bands. One computer will not connect on the 5GHz band with anything faster than 24Mbps. Swap out the adapter connect to the 2.4GHz band and I'm at 144Mbps.

I bought a new mPCIe adapter for my netbook, Centrino 6200. I connect to the 2.4GHz band and the adapter sits at 144Mbps. Switch over to the 5GHz band and it shoots to 300Mbps. I thought they were both 300Mbps speeds, just serving different frequencies? So why does one not max out my card's connection?

[Tator Tot]

I recently installed a Linksys E2500 dual band router. I've had mixed results with the two bands. One computer will not connect on the 5GHz band with anything faster than 24Mbps. Swap out the adapter connect to the 2.4GHz band and I'm at 144Mbps.

I bought a new mPCIe adapter for my netbook, Centrino 6200. I connect to the 2.4GHz band and the adapter sits at 144Mbps. Switch over to the 5GHz band and it shoots to 300Mbps. I thought they were both 300Mbps speeds, just serving different frequencies? So why does one not max out my card's connection?

2.4Ghz can travel far (think a large ranch style house) while 5Ghz can send more data over a short distance (IE: condo, apartment, or duplex.)

What you're probably running into is a case of the router being close enough to the receiver so that it can take full use of the channel and get 300Mb/s bandwidth to it. More often then not, you'll actually hit a limit between 135Mb/s and 150Mb/s on a 2.4Ghz signal, no matter how close you are.

WiFi is a lot like SATA in that, we haven't found or adapted a technology that can fully take advantage of available bandwidth. UDP, TCPIP, etc; are all like Hard Disk Drives in that they're not optimized for such speed and not able to take advantage of the amount of throughput provided.
Right now, we're waiting on a network protocol that will actually allow us to use such bandwidth.

There was talks of a Media Protocol being developed that would be entirely for Flash, Images, Video Streams, Music Streams; etc. Though, I've not heard more about it.

Also, what metric are you using to gauge these numbers?

I actually threw an array of tests at these routers and used the average for the results.:
Netperf
NetSpec
NetTest
TCCP
& DBS are some of the free tools I used.

Passmark (if you have their software) also has a Wireless benchmarking tool.

[Major_A]

Just going by the signal strength in the wireless properties. So basically what you're telling me is the 5GHz band is essentially useless (house is ~ 2500 sq/ft)? Is there a reason then Samsung is so adamant about the dual band tech with their wireless adapter?
http://www.samsung.com/us/video/tvs-acc ... 9ABGNX/XAA

This is what's plugged into the back of the 46" Samsung. I purposefully connected it to the 5GHz band over the 2.4GHz band. Since the house is full of wireless towers, laptops and smartphones all running on the 2.4GHz band. But what you are saying is I'd still be better off using the 2.4GHz band, correct?

Thanks for your insight as usual.

[Tator Tot]

5Ghz isn't useless; it's great for small apartments, or on the large scale; if you setup a LAN with many WiFi Bridges.
The 5Ghz signal (naturally) can't travel as far as the 2.4Ghz one does because of the wave it creates. There's no real way to get around that.

As to why Samsung likes to hype 5Ghz WiFi...I really couldn't tell you. I've not read their marketing behind it, nor really looked at their WiFi product line up to make an accurate guess.

As my tests show from the review, at a short distance; 5Ghz is noticeably faster and it's what I use on a daily basis. But it's highly environmental as for what's best for you.

Most of the time, I suggest 2.4Ghz since it's backwards compatible with Wireless G and most routers can run in Dual Transmission Mode (e.g. WiFi N & G broadcasting at the same time.) It also works out better; as it is for folks in a home and thus 2.4Ghz is more sensible then buying many routers or repeaters to boost the 5Ghz signal.

[Bhench]

Actually the best of both worlds is what you are looking for. 2.4Ghz has better range due to shorter frequency but also has a lot of interference sources such as water (think of leaves on trees) and microwave ovens will kill a 2.4 signal dead. The 5Ghz band has more potential bandwidth due to more channels (23) from the higher frequency and low interference but lacks the distance of 2.4 due to personal radio power limits. 5Ghz happens to be the frequency a lot of radars work on for planes so they do not want you bleeding into their spectrum. By using both your devices can pick what is optimal for any given situation especially if your AP has beam forming and is new enough to drive OFDM. In fact to reach the highest speeds in 802.11n the AP should utilize multiple wide band (40Mhz) channels at the same time to drive over the 100mbps limit of the 20Mhz bands. This is where the 5GHz kicks in and really shines and where 802.11n really gets most of the stats they talk about. 5Ghz is also much less crowded than 2.4. The only bummer is iPhone 4 only supports 802.11n at 2.4Ghz

[Major_A]

Does that Netgear have the the ability to broadcast the 2.4GHz and 5GHz channels independently? Right now I have my router setup to broadcast the SSID for the 2.4Ghz band and also to broadcast the SSID for the 5GHz band. Before I just had them both named the same thing and ran into it just connecting at the 2.4GHz band. But from what you guys have said it probably did that on purpose.

Router WiFi Config:

[Tator Tot]

@Bhench
Well, the big problem for the 5Ghz N stuff is that iPhone 4, along with other popular devices in the mobile sector (and cheap adapters/routers) only support 2.4Ghz
Another issue is all the older Wireless G Devices out there. Most people are still running Wireless G stuff; and because of either firmware (or sometimes hardware) limitations, many router's can't do 2.4Ghz G/N + 5Ghz N at the same time.

@Major_A
Yes, it supports multiple SSID's so you can broadcast many different combinations of N, G, and GN.

[Major_A]

Does anything in that screenshot seem wrong? I had a cheap Belkin N 300 that would have most of my adapters in the 200Mbps range (wireless config). Now the only way they'll get that high is if the adapter is dual band and on the 5GHz channel.

[Tator Tot]

No, but Cisco/Linksys products run on their own proprietary Firmware; so there may be some advanced option that I do not know about.

My best judgement, would be to shoot tech support an email and discuss it with them to see if there is something deeper in the options that you're overlooking.

[Clouseau]

One question: How were you able to get a 5GHz signal from the D-Link DIR655 in the review? It is only fitted with a 2.4GHz radio. Even the D-Link website only lists it as a 2.4GHz radio.

[Tator Tot]

One question: How were you able to get a 5GHz signal from the D-Link DIR655 in the review? It is only fitted with a 2.4GHz radio. Even the D-Link website only lists it as a 2.4GHz radio.

That's actually a good catch, it's actually the DIR-665; a Typo on my part and I'll get it fixed.

[vbironchef]

Ordered one for my sister. Nice review so I had to buy. I believe the model number is DGND3700 not DGDN3700. What's funny is I ordered the router not looking at mine. Come to find out I have a Netgear WNDR3700.