New Router.

Gary · Nov 26, 2009, 00:07:17

Well today I recieved a shiny DGND3300 dual band router. It has full ratified N goodness on either 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz frequencys.

I have mine set up so my iPhone and Playstation and Justina's laptop run off one ssid running 2.4Ghz WPA2 personal, and the iMac is running at 300Mbps on the 5Ghz spectrum also using WPA2 Personal 256 bit encryption.

The router has WPS for devices that use that function, and twin guest accounts on both 2.4 and 5Ghz, these are separate from your network so you can allow a guest to use your Network without letting them onto where your machines are. It has auto upgrade firmware (you can turn that feature off) and a power switch (at last) The router has QOS which is configurable and WMM for wifi as well. The firewall is Nat and SPI with Intrusion detection and prevention and Denial of service attack prevention as well. There are parental controls and a "safe user" so no one can change said parental controls.

The router can be used as a basic NAS as it has a USB port for storage, you can specify what can connect for safety, the version I have is the WND3300v2 which is just the UK variant but it has double the memory so making the basic NAS functionality pretty fast.

Throughput seems good, it uses a Broadcom chipset I believe again, but I am not sure which one. The GUI is simple and a breeze to set up, the lights are now coloured on the front of the router so you have blue and orange LED symbols to signify wifi is on, blue being the 5GHz orange for 2.4Ghz, you have green for power and Internet and DSL. and the power symbol turns red if there is an issue.

The router has eight internal aerials for better reception and adjusts power by auto sensing obstacles and changing the power in each aerial for maximum benefit, supposedly. There is a function to use the router as a repeater as well if you need to extend your network. So far it does seem to work well, and the 5Ghz goes through three solid brick walls and I get a maximum signal at my Mac, the same for the 2.4Ghz signals. The DGND3300 is Windows 7 compatible and totally Mac friendly as well, you can use IE, Safari and Firefox to set it up.

I will put it through its paces over the week but so far I am very impressed with its features and usability. and having true dual band simultaneous coverage is great, its good to have the 5Ghz range pretty clear of interference, if only for the time being.

Simon · Nov 26, 2009, 00:26:22

Nice report, thanks Gary.

Gary · Nov 26, 2009, 06:42:00

Quote from: Simon on Nov 26, 2009, 00:26:22
Nice report, thanks Gary.

Thanks Simon, In my sleepiness I forgot to say it has the traditional 4 port auto sensing 10/100 ports, a gigabit version will be coming out soon but thats at a premium, and not something I personally need

somanyholes · Nov 26, 2009, 07:24:58

QuoteThe router can be used as a basic NAS as it has a USB port for storage, you can specify what can connect for safety, the version I have is the WND3300v2 which is just the UK variant but it has double the memory so making the basic NAS functionality pretty fast.

Have never heard of this being done on routers before. What a great idea for the home environment.

Steve · Nov 26, 2009, 07:45:08

Apple's been doing it for a while with their Time Capsule and Airport Extreme routers and will even allow use of a usb hub so you can run a couple of printers off the router

Gary · Nov 26, 2009, 09:17:11

Quote from: stevethegas on Nov 26, 2009, 07:45:08
Apple's been doing it for a while with their Time Capsule and Airport Extreme routers and will even allow use of a usb hub so you can run a couple of printers off the router

Doesn't the airport extreme have no user interface as such?

Tacitus · Nov 26, 2009, 09:31:00

Quote from: Gary on Nov 26, 2009, 09:17:11
Doesn't the airport extreme have no user interface as such?

There's a setup utility for configuration, which I think is on an included disc or download from Apple. AFAIK you can't set them up via a browser. If you're on 10.4 or earlier, you will also need the Airport Disk Utility.

Gary · Nov 26, 2009, 09:35:22

Quote from: Tacitus on Nov 26, 2009, 09:31:00
There's a setup utility for configuration, which I think is on an included disc or download from Apple. AFAIK you can't set them up via a browser. If you're on 10.4 or earlier, you will also need the Airport Disk Utility.

I think that would bug me, I like the web browser interface, Although it looks to be a good router, I prefer a a page with stats etc and options to play with, sad I know

Steve · Nov 26, 2009, 09:40:16

No web based user interface,but quite a comprehensive user interface via Airport utility if I understand your question correctly. The upside for me is the presence of Gigabit ports,a multifunction USB port and on my LAN its far more stable than any Netgear home router I've used, the downside is the cost,further increased by the lack of an adsl modem, for Windows users the lack of SPI and UPNP.

Gary · Nov 26, 2009, 09:52:38

Quote from: stevethegas on Nov 26, 2009, 09:40:16
No web based user interface,but quite a comprehensive user interface via Airport utility if I understand your question correctly. The upside for me is the presence of Gigabit ports,a multifunction USB port and on my LAN its far more stable than any Netgear home router I've used, the downside is the cost,further increased by the lack of an adsl modem and for Windows users the lack of SPI.

I think the lack of SPI, has it got wireless QOS? and an inbuilt modem is a killer for me, also I don't need gigabit for a TV and playstation 3 and Blu ray player connections, the DGND3300 is new so I will see how it behaves but its more stable on the wireless than my DG834N ever was using 802 n as far as speed is concerned, time will tell though

Steve · Nov 26, 2009, 10:02:58

AEBS no QoS, but it is white with a very shiny logo and if you place it near the door you can use it as a hand warmer when you come in.

Gary · Nov 26, 2009, 10:04:44

Quote from: stevethegas on Nov 26, 2009, 10:02:58
AEBS no QoS, but it is white with a very shiny logo and if you place it near the door you can use it as a hand warmer when you come in.

I can use the Netgear as a toasted sandwich maker when its laying down, hence I use the vertical stand

Rik · Nov 26, 2009, 10:18:06

Thanks, Gary, useful to know about. How's its line performance compare to other routers you've used?

Gary · Nov 26, 2009, 10:36:10

Very good, Rik. It has not changed my stats at all really, I have a slightly better SNR upstream by 1 db with it, but it is behaving very well, and reporting my ATT as 32db downstream with a snr of 13.1, the same as my 834N, the smaller Netgears like the DG834G V3 and V4 and V5 all reported this differently, they seemed to be a bit hit and miss, its logging is much more verbose as well, showing which devices connect by their mac code in the router stats.

Rik · Nov 26, 2009, 10:38:09

Thanks, Gary, it may become the new 2700.