NETGEAR RangeMax Wireless-N300 Gigabit Router with USB WNR3500L

by Netgear

Product Details

• Item Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B002RYYZZS
• Item model number: WNR3500L-100NAS
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (231 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #730 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
  • #52 in Electronics > Computers & Add-Ons > Networking Products > Routers
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 7, 2009

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

The NETGEAR WNR3500L RangeMax Wireless-N Gigabit Router with USB delivers outstanding network performance, both wired and wireless, and has advanced features for users who demand the most from their router. This open-source router is customizable, making it perfect for developers and enthusiasts who want to develop their own custom firmware for specialized applications.

RangeMax Wireless-N Gigabit Router with USB At a Glance: Outstanding performance with a 480 MHz processor and 64 MB RAM. Open source and customizable letting you develop and run custom firmware and apps. ReadySHARE USB for easy wireless network storage. Four wired Gigabit Ethernet ports.

Develop custom firmware for this open-source router. View larger.

Quality of Service (QoS) automatically prioritizes your network traffic. View larger.

Fast Speeds for HD Video and a Leg Up on the Gaming Competition
The WNR3500L supports Wireless-N and features a 480 MHz processor with 64 MB RAM and 8 MB of flash memory to provide enthusiasts great performance. The router has three internal antennas and delivers up to 15 times the speed and 10 times the coverage of a Wireless-G router. With the WNR3500L, you'll have no problems surfing the Internet, downloading large files, making Internet phone calls, and streaming music and video. Gamers will love the advantage they get from the lag-free connection, and media enthusiasts will love the HD video streaming capability.

The Quality of Service (QoS) feature automatically prioritizes your network traffic to ensure that your applications get the bandwidth they need for smooth operation.

Four Wired Gigabit Ethernet Ports
For computers that need the security, consistency, and ultimate speed of a wired connection or don't have wireless capability, the router also features four wired gigabit Ethernet ports.

ReadyShare Easily Shares External USB Storage
A built-in USB port and NETGEAR's ReadyShare technology lets you easily connect a USB storage device and share it with anyone the network. This is great for consolidating all your digital media such as music and photos in one place so everyone on the network can access them.

Push 'N' Connect for Easy and Strong Security
Once your network is set up, the router's Push 'N' Connect feature takes over. To connect a new device on your network, you simply push a button on the router, and your device is automatically and securely configured and connected to your wireless network. This means that the days of having to remember complicated security keys and passwords are over. Push 'N' Connect works using WiFi Protected Setup (WPS). For wireless device without WPS, the router also supports WPA-PSK, WPA2-PSK, and WEP security.

The router also provides double firewall protection and denial-of-service (DoS) attack prevention so you can feel safe about your privacy and personal information.

Open Source for Customization and Development
The WNR3500L router was made specifically for enthusiasts and developers, offering a community Web site (www.myopenrouter.com) and development partner program that provides forums, blogs, documentation, applications, and other downloads. The high-performance hardware, including a Broadcom 480 MHz MIPS processor, 8MB Flash and 64 MB of RAM, lets you easily run even business-class applications.

Popular Linux firmware DD-WRT, Open-WRT, and Tomato are all compatible with the router and available on the community Web site.

The NETGEAR WNR3500L RangeMax Wireless-N Gigabit Router with USB is backed by a one-year warranty.

What's in the Box
RangeMax Wireless-N Gigabit Router with USB (WNR3500L), stand, Ethernet cable, setup CD, power adapter.

		Wireless-N Routers Comparison
	Speed	Coverage	Simultaneous Dual Band	Streaming Multimedia	Gigabit	ReadySHARE USB	Multiplayer Gaming	Parental Controls	Wi-Fi and Power On/Off Buttons
WNDR4000	450 + 300	Best
WNDR3700	300 + 300	Best
WNDR3400	300 + 300	Best
WNR3500L	300	Better
WNR2000	300	Better
WNR1000	150	Good

Product Description

Gigabit Switching with Wireless-N for Faster Network Performance, Wireless-N technology for faster wireless speeds and range, Four Gigabit Ethernet ports deliver ultra-fast wired connections, ReadyShare provides fast and easy shared access to an external USB storage device, Live Parental Controls powered by OpenDNS blocks unsafe internet content and applications, Broadband Usuage Meter ensures daily, weekly and monthly measurement of Internet traffic with customized alerts.Features: Multiple SSID support - set an additional wireless network for guests with restricted access to other computers in your network , Smart Wizard installation CD and multi-language support make setup easy, Automatic Quality of Service (QoS) for reliable Internet, voice and gaming applications, Configurable as a wireless repeater for extending range, Push 'N' Connect and Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) ensure a quick and secure network connection.NETGEAR Green Gigabit Ethernet conserves energy, Convenient on/off switch helps conserver energy , Packaging manufactured with at least 80% recycled materials.Open-source Router, Community and Development Partner program, Open-source Wireless-N router with Gigabit wired ports for Linux developers and open-source enthusiasts. Open-source community website and development Partner program with downloadable applications, user guide, forums, blogs and downloads at www.myopenrouter.com, High Performance Broadcom 480 MHz MIPS 74K CPU, 8 MB Flash and 64 MB RAM to even run business-class applications, Popular Linux Firmware-DD-WRT, Open-WRT and Tomato available on Open-source community website, NEW Development Partner Program-development partnership with several 3rd party software vendors to develop custom applications on WNR3500L. Please visit www.myopenrouter.com to join the partner program and see the custom applications that are released or under development.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

186 of 188 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Good Mid-Range Wireless Router, April 29, 2010

By 

Matthew K. Morgan (Ruther Glen, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: NETGEAR RangeMax Wireless-N300 Gigabit Router with USB WNR3500L (Personal Computers)

I recently purchased one of these routers as a replacement for my Linksys WRT54GL, a stalwart in the realm of home networking. My Linksys router is healthy and it works but it does not allow me to set up DHCP reservations without a 3rd party firmware update, and it does not support Wireless-N. After searching for a good balance between functionality, quality and price I settled on this router by NetGear. So far I am very pleased with this unit, though I had some minor issues when setting it up.

Setup of NetGear routers (including this one) is simple and easy. There are two methods of setting it up, using the Wizard CD or going in manually. For users not too familiar with setting up wireless networks or routers, using the CD to get started is a good option. More seasoned users may prefer to work without the CD and work directly with the router. I chose the latter of the two. Even so, tapping in and finding any given setting is relatively easy, everything broken down into several pages. Because the router configuration is accessed through a browser, manipulating the router configuration is very much like accessing a web page and should feel familiar.

The factory-default username, password, and access address are printed right on the router itself so there is no risk of losing this information at any point.

I connected 3 laptops, one at a time, to the wireless network and encountered my only difficulty with moving to this router. Because I retained the network name and key I expected the swap to be seamless and mostly invisible, but my systems each complained when tried to connect, stating that the network configuration had changed even though I retained the settings, the type, key and everything else. To get each system working I had to delete the connection completely, then I allowed each to redetect wireless networks available. Two of them came up without any further incident, but one of the laptops required a reboot before it would properly connect.

Signal strength is important when it comes to wireless networks. My Linksys router gives me very strong signal strength, and I was fearful that this new NetGear router would lack the same power to broadcast. Happily, it broadcasts brightly enough that I have had no problems with connectivity due to losing signals. It is *at least* on par but seems to be stronger. My router lives on the second story of the house, while my personal laptop is in the basement.

As soon as the router was configured and provided a connection to the internet, I logged in ang got a surprise - it is configured by factory default to look for firmware updates every time I log in. This is fine as logging into the router becomes an infrequent activity after a while, though up front it can be annoying to have to wait for it to download and then update itself.

I have had no connectivity issues or drops since setting this router up.

The DHCP reservation and MAC filtering work well, which are the two advanced features about which I care most.

Something I have not seen in any other router up to this point is a USB port. According to the documentation, the router can be set up to provide persistent storage through the network by simply connecting a USB hard drive (or even a thumb drive) to it. I have not tried this but I absolutely plan to put this to work, which will make sharing files between the different computers simple without having to make several copies. It should be noted, though, that this could be a risky practice if using to access the same file frequently from multiple points.

Looking through the options that can be set up, I found a keyword-based page filter, QoS settings and a lot of other features I have not previously seen. For a mid-range wireless router this one has a generous set of features. Of course, the standard features are there - firewall, MAC filtering as mentioned above, different encryption key types and a lot more too.

This is a very nice router with a nice feature set. It is very easy to set up, easy to configure once it's running, and so far has proven to be stable. If you need more than a basic wireless router, consider this one as a good candidate.

===

UPDATE 12-01-2011: It has been over a year and a half and I still have not had any trouble with this router. I have seen some of the negative reviews and detailed reports of issues but I have not encountered any problems up to this point. It has been stable and reliable for me. I have noticed that the surface gets a little warm; I suspect if I kept it in an enclosed area that it could potentially be less cooperative but there's no reason for me to move it as such.

56 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Built with open source in mind, April 19, 2010

By 

Thomas Johnson (Redmond, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: NETGEAR RangeMax Wireless-N300 Gigabit Router with USB WNR3500L (Personal Computers)

It's great to have a router out there that recognizes that customers just want the freaking thing to work, and don't care who wrote or maintains the firmware. With that in mind, I bought this router to replace another Wireless-N router that was simply a nightmare, with glitchy firmware from two years ago, and will now find a new home or function via Craigslist or something.

I was up and running using the stock firmware in about 5 minutes, accessing the router configuration page and setting up a secure wireless network. I didn't try any of the quick-install software - usually like to just set the thing up myself without putting any software on my machine, and for this it worked perfectly.

More importantly, this router is open-source-firmware ready, so if for any reason the stock firmware fails me, I'll have an option out there to try, as opposed to the endless struggles of my prior router.

My setup includes a wired WHS, a Snow Leopard wireless-N macbook, a wireless PC using a 'G' card (Win7), another wireless laptop also using G, a Wii, an XBox using a wired connection, and another wired media-center PC, running Win7, and an iPhone 2G. Powers everything without flaw.

40 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing!, April 14, 2010

By 

Nathaniel Brown - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: NETGEAR RangeMax Wireless-N300 Gigabit Router with USB WNR3500L (Personal Computers)

I was looking for a quality Wireless N router with gigabit connections and DD-wrt compatible. This fit the bill, so I grabbed one to try out. I've tried a Linksys (320N) and a D-link to much disappointment, but this Netgear performs flawlessly. I downloaded dd-wrt firmware for it and never tried the stock Netgear stuff ([...]). DD-wrt performs flawlessly on this! No drops, great signal strength. Took me maybe 20 minutes to set up, from opening box to getting everything online. I run 3 desktops wired, one desktop wireless, and 2 wireless laptops and they all connect without issue. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for Wireless N. I have not tried the USB functionality, as all my data is shared through my computer already.