Customer Reviews

NETGEAR N600 Wireless-N Dual Band Router with 4-port Ethernet Switch and USB Port

5 star:		(122)
4 star:		(41)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(22)
1 star:		(71)

 

 

We've had this router for a couple weeks now, and I must say I'm nothing other than happy.

One person streaming movies to Xbox, playing shoot-em-up game on PS3, and surfing the web all at the same time and everyone is happy. I didn't have any trouble with setup (I did not use the setup CD). Instead, our old router was a netgear and I just copied most the old configuration and used my brain to figure out the new wireless settings. (they're not so hard)

My only complaint is the ring of blinking blue LED's on the side. In a dark room they are a bit irritating. Maybe there's a way to turn them off?

Oh, and I decided on this router over the next wndr3700 because we don't need a gigabit wired network in the house. So far as I could tell, that was the only difference and I couldn't see paying $70 more for something we wouldn't use. I don't even think our computers have gigabit ethernet on the built-in network cards.

I bought the N600 after having problems with the signal from Linksys e1000 constantly dropping the wireless signal after only one week of use. The setup out of the box is relatively simple as you have the option of using the setup disc or logging in online and setting up from there. I tested them both, but opted for the disc setup. The bridge setup for the PPPoE settings was fast and the connection test is automatic which is very convenient. There are a couple of minor tweaks to make such as clicking the radio button which establishes a constant internet connection, nothing too heavy. I liked being able to assign my own SSDI network name and password upon setup--which is something Linksys did not offer. The router does not have pre-drilled holes for wall-mounting--what I prefer--but I solved that issue by spending $1.97 on two large strips of commercial velcro from WalMart and sticking the router on to the wall next to my modem. Simple.You also have the option of turning the router off from the back and also turning off the blue circular light on the top exterior by gently pressing it for 2 secs and releasing it.

I run a wired laptop, two wireless laptops, an Epson 610 wireless printer, my Blackberry Curve, and one Wii connection via this router. I'm very partial to the HD setup as I stream Netflix via the Wii regularly. Both wireless laptops (XP and W7) picked up the signal immediately and the range is excellent throughout the house--four strong bars. Not bad without an antennae. If you have a 6 DECT phone, you will need to unplug the main phone from the base prior to establishing the wireless network and plug it back once the wireless network is setup. For whatever reason, having the phone plugged during the initial setup interferes with the signal upon setup. There were no issues with signal interference when I plugged the phone back in.

I had a Belkin router for 5 (problem free) years before trying the Linksys e1000 N router which proved to be a headache due to its limited range. The N600's wired and wireless connections are both extremely fast and when streaming video--especially via my Wii--I noticed the difference in HD video quality immediately. To date, I've streamed movies from Netflix, printed documents from my wireless laptop, while streaming music from Pandora on my Blackberry and have yet to have an issue. Also, if you are adding a wireless printer for the first time to your network, you will still need to unplug your 6 DECT phone prior to setup.

I need to add that the best feature--in my opinion--is the USB/Readyshare connection which allows you to hook up an external hardrive for sharing between multiple PCs in your home. I no longer have to drag an external drive with extra files from one computer to the next. I just click on the Readyshare icon on whatever PC I'm on and there everything is and there is no lag time in downloads. Storing files from my laptops to the readyshare drive have proven to be easy, as I just move them from the folders of whatever device I am working on to the readyshare drive by dragging them.

This router has exceeded my expectations and I would recommend it as a solid "buy" for a very reasonable price.

This product worked great for about 2-3 months then I had to reset the router sometimes. About 5 months after I bought this router, I had to reset it 4-5 times a week. It will not stay connected with my phone, laptop, or my computer (hardwired). I know it is not my modem because when I reset it, I connect with any or all of my devices. I called customer services and they said that they can NOT help me unless I pay for their customer services which only last 90 days. They wanted to charge me $40(1-time trouble shooting services), $69(6 months), or $99(1 year). You must also realize that the product is warranted for 1 year and I explained that to the lady and she would not help me unless I was willing to pay at least $40. I am not willing to pay this because it only cost $79 from Staples. At this point, she hung up the phone on me. I was shocked. I wasn't hollering or anything at her. I just wanted an explanation. Well, I will never buy another NetGear product. I am going to try to return it to Staples. Do NOT buy any NetGear product unless you want this kind of service.
I did call back and the second person seemed to be helpful but he ask for my ID # from my previous call and he asked for a moment to read the service call and he never returned to talk to me and he never hung up either. I am really done with this company. Don't buy it!!!

I bought this as a replacement for the Belkin N1, which wouldn't reach upstairs and would drop signal strength just 30-40ft away from the unit.

The connectivity is great, I receive full signal strength at the other side of my house, and it was painless to set up. I actually started the setup downstairs and while it was checking for firmware updates (which is what it does before it lets you do anything else with the setup) I went upstairs to see if I could get signal bars. To my surprise, I had full signal strength AND I was instantly online ... no setup required. :-)

Great product, extremely easy-to-use and set up. Highly recommended.

This router did not work well for me at all. I purchased it to replace a 10 year old wireless D-Link router that was working just fine, but did not have WPA encryption and only had 802.11b. After expanding my home network to include several laptops, an Xbox, and an internet TV, I figured it was a good time to upgrade my wireless router.

I had read great reviews of the Netgear WNDR3700 but I decided to purchase the WNDR3400 instead because it was $70 cheaper and the only difference was that it did not have the wired gigabit connection, which I figured that I did not need since everything on my network is wireless except for an old PC that doesn't have a gigabit adapter card in it anyway.

My first impression of the WNDR3400 was a disliking to the glossy fingerprint magnet finish and the fact that you apparently need to mount it standing up on 2 feet for the best antenna coverage. I figured that I'd probably have to duck tape it down eventually if it kept getting knocked over. I also didn't like the huge 8 LED flashing display that lit up the entire room, but luckily you can toggle this off and on by pushing on the display bezel.

I was curious to know if my wireless reception and speed would improve with this investment, so I made sure to check my reception and speeds (using speedtest.net) on all of my devices before and after.

My wireless router is in the basement, and I have a two story house. As I said, I was having no problems with reception of the old D-Link router on any of my devices. The 2nd floor PC (running XP) furthest away from router showed "good" reception , and everything in the basement and first floor was showing "excellent"

The installation and set-up of the WNDR3400 was very easy. I had no problem at all using the set-up CD to get my wireless system up and running. I immediately checked the speed and signal strength of the device using my laptop, sitting by the router. I found that I had the same signal strength and speed as I had with my old router. This was true if I used the 2.4 GHz or the 5 GHz signal. But when I went to the second floor of the house to check reception on my PC and Xbox, I found that the PC did not receive the signal AT ALL, and the Xbox, which had received 4 bars on the old router, was only getting 1 bar on the new router. I tried refreshing the Xbox network discovery several times and the signal alternated between 1 bar, and 0 bars. NOT GOOD.

So I went back downstairs and re-installed my old D-Link router and now everything is good again. I'm really disappointed to find that a device that is 10 years newer, and twice as expensive as my old D-Link router would work so poorly. The Netgear WNDR3400 is getting returned today.

Addition on 4/14/2011

*** I've just had the 2nd router of this model go bad inside of 5 months. After the problem I recounted below concerning the first unit, I got a replacement and put the replacement in service. Last night I needed to reset the router. I unplugged it, plugged it back in, and the power supply failed. I used a previous router for more than six years without a single problem. This model router has now failed me twice in the short span of time mentioned. There are too many competitors in the price range to take a chance on this shoddy model. No wonder they had to offer a 'life-time' warranty on it. They'll be sending plenty of them out. However, you may not want to be without a router for the time it takes them to replace this (if you buy it) when it fails.

Avoid this model like the plague.

*********************************************

I'd had a previous wireless router for years that worked fine. However, some of the latest bandwidth hogging software was starting to bog it down, to the point where I was having to reset it and my computer far too often in order to reclaim a dropped Internet connection.

PROS:
So off I went to get a faster router, and this one did the job I bought it for admirably. Set up was smooth, and both wired and wireless devices worked very well on it. The bandwidth hogs were no longer locking up my network, and rainbows filled the sky.

HUGE CON:
While I was in the setup screen one day to double check my wireless network password, I noticed that a link had appeared announcing the presence of a firmware upgrade. Normally I have found this to be a good thing. My blu-ray player and WD Live TV box normally lean back, smile, and light up a smoke after a good firmware upgrade, and perform well forever thereafter.

Well, not this box. halfway through the firmware upgrade progress bar, the infamous browser "Page not found" screen replaced most of the router's interface. The network was down, the Internet connection was gone, and the router was completely unresponsive. After that, the router would never even respond to its own internal browser link. No amount of tech support or troubleshooting research solved this issue. It had become well and truly a door stop.

WRAP UP:
I exchanged the router for another of the same model. I was pleased with its operation before the attempted firmware update. So I'll live with the new one as boxed, and never be foolish enough to let NetGear try to make it better, ever again. I see from other reviews that this has been a fairly common issue with this router. Too bad I didn't look here first. I bought it at Best Buy without reading the reviews first.

In the end I would recommend that you go with a different router, If you decide to get this one, either never do a firmware update, or do it right away so that if the router fails, you are within the easy exchange period.

This worked for about 30 minutes. When I logged into the router to change the password, an automatic update of the firmware started. After this, the router ceased working and there was nothing I could do to fix it. The green power light would only blink. Rebooting or hitting the reset button would not work. I spent 30 minutes on the phone with an almost unintelligible support person who could not resolve my problem but ended our discussion by claiming that routed "needed to rest for 30 minutes - unplug it and call us back in 30 minutes." Stupidly, I did this and spoke with the next nearly unintelligible support person. She walked me through the exact crap the first guy did. Finally I hung up and googled "blinking green power light" for the model number. Turns out, apparently this happens often enough that there is a troubleshooting section in the user manual about this (corrupt firmware) and software on the CD-ROM to address it. However, even after running the software 3 times, it continued to time out and never could fix the issue. Back to the 'shack it will go and cisco will I buy from hereon...

This is a fairly expensive router and after having it for less than six months, I am looking for a new one. The main problem is that the connectivity decides to cut out almost daily. This starts a process of rebooting the modem and the router that can take hours. It is definitely not the ISP that's the problem because connecting directly to the modem still works. I contacted Netgears's "help line" and after about half an hour of navigating their useless computerized menu was finally able to speak with some foreigner I could not understand. What I was able to learn was that I needed to purchase their technical support in order for them to even listen to my problem. This wonderful service came at a very low $70 or so. I would not recommend buying any of their products because they do not want to help with any problems. Instead they will run you around in loops and charge your for services that other companies provide for free. Additionally, their products do not last very long at all.

 

DO NOT BUY FROM NETGEAR! Horrible customer service - worse than horrible! This router worked fine for about 4 months. Then it died suddenly. After checking out settings, etc., I was pretty certain that the problem was with the hardware. Called customer service only to find that they only will offer free support for 3 months, though the hardware is warranteed for 1 year. But they wouldn't even speak to me about the hardware issue until I paid the $100 support fee. And they kept telling me that since the lights were on that it couldnt' be a hardware issue. So I paid the $100. Then the nightmare started. I ended up having to call them about 30 times over the course of a month. The technicians knew less than I do about computers, and they didn't have me do anything that I hadn't already done (except spend a lot of time reinstalling and rebooting). I swear I almost had a heart attack dealing with them. They barely speak English, transfer you a million times, don't follow through on what they say, etc. Even worse, they won't look at or don't keep a record of previous transactions, so every time you call or are transferred, you have to tell your entire story all over again. I have never been rude to customer service people over the phone before, but I ended up screaming and swearing at these people. Even when they said they would replace the router, they would not send me the information I needed to actually get it without many more phone calls. Then, I told them I wanted my support fee refunded since it was a hardware issue and under warranty. That was a million more phone calls, and still it appeared on my credit card report. So back to the phone and explaining everything from the beginning since they refuse to read the records. Maddening. I pray that this one doesn't break, but if it does, I will throw it out and buy another brand. Oh, and the ability to use the second frequency is pretty useless since there are few devices out there that support it. Stay away from this Netgear product and any other!

 

I had bought the D-Link Wireless N 300 Router DIR-615 nearly a year ago to replace my aging Belkin Router which didn't have 802.11n (and also to connect to my Kodak ESP Office 615 all-in-one printer). That router seemed great at first...until I tried to connect my girlfriend's laptop wirelessly. I tried everything under the sun (with the exception of calling the manufacturer's support. I guess my pride clouded my common sense). Since my PS3 connected with no problems, I attributed the issue with her HP laptop. Then a few days later my PS3 refused to connect wirelessly. I had to hardwire it to connect. The printer also refused to connect...but since it gave me a few other problems, I just assumed that it too was flawed, period. I lived with that crap router because the wired connection was just fine.

Fast forward to almost a year later, when recently I purchased my first Android Smartphone. Since battery life is improved when using Wi-Fi I tried connecting with the D-Link...and it worked...for a day. Then it would detect the router, but refused to actually connect. That's when I decided enough was enough.

I decided to get the Netgear N600 because a friend of mine has it in his home, and I had ZERO problems connecting to it on numerous occasions (and he has two laptops connected wirelessly). I also read the reviews here just to make sure this would be a perfect fit. The Verdict: I couldn't be happier with this router. The installation was PURE simplicity (the Router was already on the internet before I barely started the set up CD). I created my Network in minutes...in fact, the only thing that took a while was coming up with a decent passphrase for security purposes. It's that simple. My first test was connecting my Motorola Photon 4G to it...Flawless. I then proceeded to hook up the bane of my existence, the Kodak ESP 6150...which is supposed to be a wireless printer (Which NEVER connected with my D-Link). It worked, Hallelujah (although there was some set-up trouble...but that was all the printer's fault). I also connected my PS3, and that went over very smoothly. Fired up Netflix on it, and I swear this is the fastest i've ever seen it load up. The HD content looked incredible...not a single drop-out (a problem I had with the D-Link router when it was wired).

I hope my long winded review didn't put anybody to sleep...I just wanted to relay my reasons for the purchase and experience with the product. I wholeheartedly recommend this Router. If anything changes, i'll update this post...if you see no updates, it means everything is still rock solid. One last thing...buy Amazon...they deliver!!!