Customer Reviews

Buffalo Technology AirStation High Power N300 Gigabit Wireless Router & AP WZR-HP-G300NH (Black)

5 star:		(93)
4 star:		(44)
3 star:		(20)
2 star:		(31)
1 star:		(73)

 

 

Pros:
Excellent Range - even with existing Wireless G clients
Gigabit ethernet ports
Network Attached Storage
VPN Endpoint
Excellent web interface with help along the right column

Our house is like a wireless black hole. We have tried multiple Wireless G routers and cannot get a strong signal throughout the house. If the router is in the center of the house, we usually get a 11 mbps connection from our Wireless G clients. If we put the router at one end of the house, we do not get a signal at the other corner. We don't live in a huge house by the way. With this router, we get a full strength signal through the house, regardless of whether it is placed in the center or in one corner. I assume it's due to high gain antennas plus the built-in power amplifier. The range of our Wireless-G network has been extended greatly without even having to upgrade our computers to Wireless-N adapters. Most Wireless-N routers transmit in the 100 mW range (e.g. Linksys WRT610N, D-Link DIR-825). This router transmits above 800 mW, close to the legal limit of 1000 mW. You can look up the transmit power of all routers on the FCC web site. Excellent product!

Update on September 1, 2009: Buffalo has confirmed a bug in the router. It sometimes loses the ability to connect to wireless clients. It seems to happen to me once every 1-2 weeks. I have to reboot the router to correct. They assured me that the first firmware update will correct it. The significant speed and range improvement for me makes it worth dealing with this minor issue.

Also, a positive review from Small Net Builder (formerly Tom's Hardware): [...]

Update on October 29, 2009: Updated firmware (v1.65) is available on the Buffalo Technology website. My router is running it, and so far I have not seen any issues.

I bought this router after considering EVERY other one on the market as of this review date regardless of price... Literally EVERY other router, from Linksys (610) to Netgear (3700) to D-link (855, 4500, 4300) to Belkin... I do NOT regret it for a second. Every other router seemed to have it's minuses and was more expensive than this one. After a small setup glitch with my comcast modem I've been up and running for weeks with a full signal everywhere in my 2-story house. I have the router in my basement and I still get a full signal on the opposite end of the house on the second floor. For (...) this was the best purchase I've made this year.

On top of this with the newest (1.70) firmware everything seems to work very well and the news just keeps on getting better... Buffalo just announced last month that starting this summer all new firmware for all of their wireless routers will be based on the awesome DD-WRT firmware! This is an industry first that should not be overlooked. Buffalo tech just shot way up on my tech list of best brands. Here is a link to the press release: (...)

The only complaint I have about the router is that it only supports drives with a fat, fat16 or fat32 filesystem... This sucks if you're downloading (or want to share) any files bigger than 4gb.

Overall do NOT hesitate to purchase this router, you will not be disappointed.

The product description, and the other reviews here, say a lot.

But most of them seem to be missing a few points, which I think will be useful to anyone who is thinking of buying it, or who has already bought it.

Most people will be able to use the standard firmware just fine. It's not a problem. DD-WRT, in my experience, wasn't all that great, but was easy to install. Installing Gargoyle massively improved my experience with this router, over either the default firmware OR DD-WRT. Google it, and be prepared to do a lot of digging on their forums. It's worth it, if you're tech-savvy enough.

For those complaining that you aren't getting any benefits over your old G router:

1. Are you using Wireless N compatible cards in your computers and devices? If not, you won't get much of an improvement.
2. Is the router set to WEP encryption? If so, the whole network will drop back to a weird version of Wireless G. Use WPA2-PSK, and you'll notice an immediate doubling in speed.
3. What channel width are you broadcasting at? If you're using 10, you'll be getting G speeds and range. If you're using 20, you'll be getting 150-ish at most. If you're using 40, you'll get your full 300 and amazing range, no problem, unless your wireless card is capped at 150 (some are, check the specs).
4. Lastly, what channel are you on? If you're on a crowded channel (try using InSSIDer or NetworkStumbler), you'll want to change it. 6 is the default, but you may have better results on 1 or 11. If you can afford it, using a spectral analysis tool (MetaGeek's Wi-Spy tool is about $99) can help sort out interference in a crowded area, as microwaves, mice, and even LCD monitors can cause interference.

Check into all of the above, and you'll likely fix a lot of your problems, and realize that this is a pretty beastly machine. It can also handle a ridiculous number of open connections, which is best showcased when running servers within the network, or using any type of torrent application (which, of course, you're just using to patch World of Warcraft or download totally legit files)--the previous wireless router (a Linksys) in this household would often make it to about 300kBps in torrents, then slowly drop for a few minutes, then ramp back up. With this router, it can quickly reach the max bandwidth allotted by my QOS settings (5MBps) and stay there.

Also, there's the obvious stuff: You need a fast internet connection to get fast internet. If your connection is slow, or just bad, your router won't fix anything, or make it any faster. The router will only help with the network's stability and INTERNAL speed, which, while worth it, won't mean much more than shaving a couple of milliseconds off your ping (which is just fine for gaming) and keep your connection from dropping. If you know enough to care about your internal network speeds (home/business LAN servers, NAS, etc.), I don't really need to explain the benefits to you.

My only complaint? I wish I could install my own antennas. It's a little odd, to me, that the highest-power model, with the most features, has hard-wired antennas. They work okay, especially after careful tweaking of their positions, but I'd really prefer to install my own. All the computers in a relatively large brick house with a lot of thick walls get great signal, and my brother's iPod managed to get a relatively good signal about a quarter of a mile away. This means you DEFINITELY want to secure your network, though (I mentioned WPA2-PSK, above).

I was wondering when someone would come out with a Wireless-N version of the Linksys WRT54GL Open Source router. Buffalo seems to have done it. The WZR-HP-G300NH is a combo wireless gateway/router/switch that supports Wireless-N with a 400 mHz processor and it has Gigabit LAN and WAN ports! The icing on the cake is that Buffalo and DD-WRT have entered into a joint agreement. Buffalo will sell and support this box with DD-WRT firmware starting in July 2010. This is HUGE news! DD-WRT firmware is awesome!

I had no problem flashing my version A0 D0 unit directly from Buffalo firmware directly to DD-WRT firmware using the Buffalo Web-GUI.

However, be advised:

1) DD-WRT software has so many features that it takes a good bit of knowledge to configure this unit properly.
2) I only use this unit as a switch and for Wi-Fi. I have Fios, so I can't use it for my gateway.
3) Reportedly the problem of flashing DD-WRT firmware to hardware version A0 A3 models has been fixed.
4) Current DD-WRT firmware (July 2010) is beta. Many users have reported that when using DD-WRT firmware they cannot connect and maintain wireless-N connections at 300Mbps. (It connects at 300Mbps, but then drops to and stays at 130Mbps. Stock firmware supports 300Mbps much better than current DD-WRT. Hopefully, future releases of DD-WRT will fix this problem.)

When I bought this router, my intention was to upgrade my gear from a cheap ($40) Linksys WRT54GH (Wireless G + 4-port 10/100 ethernet LAN). My original plan was to get a Linksys E3000. But when I saw this router from Buffalo, which has similar capabilities at half the price and good reviews too, I gave this a try. And was I wrong for making that decision. My cheap old Linksys was outperforming this supposed-to-be-gigabit router, except for the range.

Now my Buffalo Router is on its way back to Amazon --- it is not working as it should be, thus it is defective (even after I upgraded the firmwasre). I bought a Linksys E2000 instead and now my network is running smoothly again with an improved wireless range.

Here is the setup that I used as basis of my review. The following lists the devices that are simultaneously connecting to my router:
* Wireless Access
- 2 Laptops (Wireless N)
- 1 Dell Streak (Wireless G)
- 1 iPhone 3G (Wireless G)
* Ethernet
- WD TV Live Plus
- Seagate GoFlexNet (gigabit NAS device)

PROS:
-----
- Easy to setup.
- Wireless range is very good.
- Administration page offers more advance configuration settings. Even provides list of connected devices.
- Nice form factor

NEUTRAL:
--------
- Provides both "easy" admin and advanced admin configuration facilities.
- Provides NAS capability. However, it is tedious to manage user logins.
- the device does not heat up, just normally warm
- NAS drive capability does not support NTFS formatted USB drives. I had to reformat my drive just to test this.

CONS:
-----
1. BuffaloNAS uses peer-to-peer file sharing, which is usually blocked by firewalls and corporate web filters. Was never able to share anything when i tried it (cannot be accessed) --- my setup is in east coast connected via Sprint, my friend is in west coast using Sprint.

2. Access to attached USB drive is slow (via LAN).

3. Unreliable. When there is "active" traffic in the network, WiFi always drops. Takes me 3-5 tries to have my iPhone get connected (with my old and new Linksys, this is a breeze). Laptops always gets disconnected.

4. Very slow. First I thought it was an issue with my ISP. So I compared the performance with my old Linksys router.
- Access to my GoFlexNet NAS drive is a lot slower with Buffalo (takes more than a second to open a folder). Faster with my Linksys (almost like the drive is connected to my USB).

- While watching Netflix on my WD TV Live Plus: Browsing is almost impossible with Buffalo (Wireless always drops, and when connected, times out most of the time). With my old Linksys, i can still watch YouTube on my laptop, while the other laptop is doing video call via Skype.

- Just to be sure that the router was the problem (so I can decide if I should return the Buffalo router), I made a PING test. The network activity for both tests are
-- The other laptop was just starting to watch a HD video on YouTube (while the video is playing, but still loading)
-- My WD TV Live Plus is playing a video from the GoFlexNet NAS device (about 10 seconds through the movie).

For non-techie readers: Normally, if you PING your router, it should reply quickly, and you should not see a timeout.
i.e. Reply .... time= <<should be less than 30 milliseconds>>

-----------------------------------------------------------------
PING Results for Buffalo Nfiniti Router: Connected via Wireless
>>> see that the response times are very slow, intermittent
>>> this device really has a very bad problem
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\paniol>ping 192.168.11.1

Pinging 192.168.11.1 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 192.168.11.1: bytes=32 time=299ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.11.1: bytes=32 time=47ms TTL=64
Request timed out.
Reply from 192.168.11.1: bytes=32 time=40ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 192.168.11.1:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 3, Lost = 1 (25% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 40ms, Maximum = 299ms, Average = 128ms

C:\Documents and Settings\paniol>ping 192.168.11.1

Pinging 192.168.11.1 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 192.168.11.1: bytes=32 time=3395ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.11.1: bytes=32 time=509ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.11.1: bytes=32 time=220ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.11.1: bytes=32 time=13ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 192.168.11.1:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 13ms, Maximum = 3395ms, Average = 1034ms


-----------------------------------------------------------------
I restored my old setup...
-----------------------------------------------------------------
PING Results for my old Linksys WRT54GH: Connected via Wireless
>>> see that the response times are consistently fast (average < 10 ms)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\paniol>ping 192.168.1.1

Pinging 192.168.1.1 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=21ms TTL=23
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=52
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=4ms TTL=52
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=52

Ping statistics for 192.168.1.1:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 3ms, Maximum = 21ms, Average = 7ms

C:\Documents and Settings\paniol>ping 192.168.1.1

Pinging 192.168.1.1 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=23ms TTL=24
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=52
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=5ms TTL=52
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=52

Ping statistics for 192.168.1.1:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 3ms, Maximum = 23ms, Average = 8ms

I've updated this regularly as time has passed. See below.

Replacing Linksys WRT54G (what a trooper). This is the first day I've had the Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH. Setup done wirelessly via MacBook Pro. Installation CD doesn't have software for Macs. You'll have to connect to the router then follow the setup wizard via your web browser. If your a PC, the software is there. But I can't speak to that as I didn't use it. Anyway... Don't know what the fuss is in other reviews about setup. **Step #1 follow the directions located on the CD, under 'Manual' folder. See Manual Setup. I tried to wing it. That doesn't work. FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS EXACTLY. After that, it works like a champ. The Buffalo UI is friendly, easy to navigate and extensive. I'll be back to update this review as I've had more experience with it. Buffalo Technology Nfiniti Wireless-N High Power Router & Access Point WZR-HP-G300NH.

**UPDATE: Day 5, working GREAT. No partial page loads, as with LinkSys. Smooth sailing thus far. Haven't tried USB yet.

**UPDATE: Day 8, still working GREAT. Setup custom external 750GB Hard Drive to USB port. 250GB is FAT32 partitioned for the NAS. Setup via the Buffalo OS was an absolute breeze. Instantly recognized the 250GB partition and the remaining 500GB partition (which is Mac formatted, thus not accessible via the NAS). Went to Finder on the MacBook and there is was! A shared drive instantly there. I am starting to love this thing. BTW the Hard Drive is a Western Digital Scorpio Blue 750GB SATA. The external case I used is the Macally G-S350SU available at Amazon Macally G-S350SU Hi-Speed eSata/USB2.0 External Storage Enclosure for 3.5inch SATA HDD. The case has that Mac Pro design to it. Took a note from one of the pictures a user submitted on the case's page and put some small reflective Apple logos on either side. What can I say, have a sick love for Apple.

**UPDATE: Day 20, and yes still working GREAT! I will settle this with the conclusion, be it premature or not, that I made the right decision. I cannot say that I've had one issue with this router. My premature conclusion may be due to having SO MANY failings with the workhorse Linksys WRT54G in the previous couple of months. So, no issues at all. Working great. I'll add to this if any problems arise. Otherwise, assume that the Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH continues to be a great router.

**UPDATE: Day 88, and FLAWLESS. One restarted it once. Who knows what that was, could've been hiccup in ISP.

**********************UPDATE!**********************ONE YEAR (app. day 380). Replacing the router. It's been a good router until about 3-4 months ago. So I got about 9 months out of it for $80. Not worth it. Started having problems with download speeds. Using many speed testing sites (i.e. Speedtest.net, Voiptest.8x8.com, Speakeasy.net) the results were universal and consistent. The download tests showed very high spikes, then immediately bottoming out. I mean with a 15 Mb/s download bandwidth via Time Warner I might get 12-13 Mb/s, then it would immediately drop to 2-3 Mb/s, then up to 9-10 Mb/s, and so on. You get the picture. Connecting my laptop directly to the modem, I'd get consistent max speeds (and recently even got 30 Mb/s, don't ask me, i don't know why). Never did I get at or over 15 Mb/s with the router. So, I'm taking the plunge and go with an Airport Extreme 4th Gen. Love all things Apple, so I hope this will be the last time for awhile to be replacing the wireless router. I sure do miss my Linksys WRT54G!

The reviews for this product were helpful . . . except that they were only part of the picture. This is an updated review of the "A3" revision which is shipping.

1) Firmware is 1.72; it updates to 1.74 very easily
2) This hardware version does NOT have a stable upgrade to DD-WRT; there is a pre-beta release that can go on it, but people complain about signal, speed and DHCP issues and lot of people roll back.
3) This is *NOT* an apple-friendly device ** DON'T DISCOUNT THIS UNTIL YOU READ BELOW

As another reviewer said, this is a great piece of hardware (from the specs) but has poor software. This is completely true. The interface is an overly simplified setup that confuses newbies and will frustrate a seasoned user. Items are explained in a sidebar in somewhat simple terms, yet has no indication whether it is common to be on/off etc. The explanations aren't technical enough for you to truly understand what's going on without going to a search engine and reading up on the tech.

Settings seem hidden or just don't exist . . . they have ways to 'turn on' internet protocols (if you want to use gaming protocols or set up one IP as a DMZ) but there's no GUI for common items. The most frustrating thing is that there appears to be some sort of port filtering on the wireless & LAN but no table to tell you what's disabled. This is counter to what I was expecting; every router I've set up previously with a "internet" port allows free communication of the computers on the back-end.

** Apple. Thanks for reading this far; I wouldn't have brought it up without consideration.

Airport express: Can be set up to connect to the wireless lan, you cannot use bonjour (UDP 5353) for a wireless printer; as mentioned above, there doesn't appear to be any way to allow this. Once the express is connected to the network, you can't 'see' it either on the config utility; I'm not sure what port that uses.

Sharing: I'm still trying to track down why one machine can see another but not vice-versa. Windows machines have no issues, which has me confused.

Final thoughts -- some worries:
There may be 'fixes' to the above problems, but they're not within reach of anyone not intimately familiar with this particular interface and a good deal of networking knowledge. The only way to open ports appears to be open them up to the whole internet, which doesn't make sense. This is either a huge oversight or the software itself has mixed-up explanations.

I'm still juggling with the idea of keeping the router -- I'm certain that will last long enough for my wife to ask my why she can't print. Once the DD-WRT version for this particular hardware revision goes to prod, I'm sure it'll be a great setup. My rating will go up when that takes place; normal users shouldn't have to have 10 years of networking experience to set one of these up.

Replaced a 7 year old Linksys WRT54G version 2.0 with this. Did not even give the stock firmware a chance, so I refuse to comment about the functionality of it. Within 5 minutes of opening the package the router was flashed with DD-WRT v24 preSP2. Have been running the DD-WRT firmware on my old Linksys WRT54G for around 5 years and it has performed spectacular. The latest release on the Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH so far appears to be just as reliable as on the old WRT54G.
This is a fabulous router and a great price point! The internal hardware specs guarantee the unit will perform for many years as your bandwidth and throughput need increase. With an Atheros AR9132 chipset, 64MB RAM and 32MB of flash memory on board this unit is currently at the upper level of the home user hardware specs. Better hardware then other routers that cost twice the price. The built in USB port and NAS functionality are also pretty awesome.

As a side note, please be aware to take full advantage of the routers 802.11-N capability, you will need to use WPA2 with AES. Also, running in the 40MHz configuration has increased the connection speed from 130 Mbps to 220Mbps.

Follow Up:
Two days after writing this review I started to notice this unit intermittently dropping wireless connections. Even on the 20MHz setting. Tried it with the vendor provided firmware and it is still occurring. Did a WiFi site survey chose and tried it on 3 different channels (not used in my neighborhood) still dropping connections from several different devices. I had such high hopes this would perform as reliable as my old faithful WRT54G. My hopes have been shattered.

I bought this when my old Linksys WRT54G finally gave out on me. I picked this because it had gigabit switch ports, and MIMO wireless. Also the fact that it supported DDWRT Firmware was a plus.

The installed firmware is loaded with a surprising number of features. Some highlights include...

- The ability to broadcast up to 3 different wireless networks (SSIDs). For example, I have a fully secured WPA+AES wireless network with MAC filtering. The second wireless network only is setup with a passphrase only (no MAC filter) and it has Internet access, but is isolated from the rest of my network. I leave it disabled unless I have friends/family over that want to hop on my wireless. The 3rd is a WEP secured network that I only enable when I want to play online with my DS.

- The ability to connect a USB drive and make it available to any PC on your network as network attached storage. It also has DLNA media server functionality, so my PS3 can detect the router as a media server and play any compatible music and video files. Finally, it can run a bit torrent client and save downloads to the attached drive.

- The other function that impressed me was it can act as a VPN client or server. I haven't used this yet, but it means I should be able to connect to my network at work or alternately, VPN into my home network from anywhere on the Internet and have access to my resources.

Overall, I'm extremely pleased with this router. The MIMO significantly extended the range and signal strength of my wireless and I've had no reliability problems at all. My only (minor) complaint is that some of the explanations for the router configuration really make no sense- I suspect it was written by a non-native English speaker. In a couple of cases I just had to try enabling a setting to see what it did. But really, that's not a big deal.

I have used Linksys 54G, then upgraded to 310N. The 310N was fast but had poor range. I could only get around 15feet of usable range for N-wireless, not acceptable.

After 9months of suffering, i stumbled upon this Buffalo high power N-wireless router. Couldn't be happier. I am able to connect at 40Mhz bandwith for consistent 270Mbps N-wireless with my HTPC 1stair down my house.

Incredible range and consistent speed. Much better than Linksys Wireless N and cheaper too.

Highly satisfied.