Anything better than the Netgear WNDR3700?

[philpoe]

Hi All,
I'm looking for a new wireless router, and I'm new to the use of 3rd party firmware on routers. After learning about Gargoyle, and it's dependency on OpenWRT, I searched their compatible devices, and it seems that if I'm using wired (PCs, printer) + wireless (laptops and a wii) hardware, that the WNDR3700 is the best "reasonably priced" model out there. I was otherwise looking at the likes of the Asus RT-N16, Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH and the TP-Link WR1043ND. The Netgear seems to be the only one offering gigabit LAN, simultaneous dual-band radios and USB 2.0 ports.
Am I on the right track, or have I missed anything? My current set of laptops all have wireless-N, but the Wii is G. For performance sake does that mean a 2nd G access point? What about for devices that are "draft" N?

Any help appreciated.

[DoesItMatter]

TP-Link WR1043ND <--- Still a work in progress, but should get better

Main thing to be aware of with 5GHZ is this

Beneficial in that it does not suffer from all the interference
on the 2.4GHZ spectrum - LOT less interference.

Disadvantage in that range is at least 1/2 what G-ranges are

I have a Netgear WNDR3300 - running DD-WRT

I have the 5GHZ band on that for a Wireless-N laptop - no issues

I use the 2nd radio - Wireless-G for my Wii connection as well

That way neither interfere, and I get max bandwidth for both.

No Gigabit on these, but I do not do much file sharing between
the computers @ home - so 100mbit is perfectly fine for me.

IF you want longer range, and are in the suburbs with not alot
of wireless interference around - go for 2.4 GHZ Wireless-N

If you are in the city or a congested wireless area - you may
definitely want to consider the 5GHZ Wireless-N bands.

[philpoe]

Thanks for the reply.

So if I understand correctly, a router with 2 radios can serve different wireless specs, ie 2.4GHz for G and 5GHz for N?
I have a wired PC, NAS, network printer, and I think that I'd like to dedicate a draft-N laptop as an HTPC once it's repaired. I'd like to use gigabit for the PCs and NAS since I'll likely be serving video files. The Wii is G, but the other 4 laptops are N. Now that I think about it, there are iPods and cell phones to consider. I think that they are all G.

My understanding was that in order to get the maximum bandwidth to a wireless N device, the 2.4GHz and 5GHz radios would combine to aggregate bandwidth. Is that the case?
I would consider keeping a separate G router (I have one collecting dust) for the G devices.

As far as range goes, should I look into routers with external antennas or consider the antenna mod for the WNDR3700?
I am in the burbs and am looking for a little more range. Our current G router can't reach the back yard (which I find surprising).
As far as interference goes, we have wireless phones that may compete. I have to check their spectrum again.

Thanks again

[philpoe]

For those interested and as of yet unaware, the D-Link DIR-825 sports the same Atheros AR7161 chipset as the WNDR3700, and has 2 external antenna as opposed to 4 internal for Netgear. The D-Link has a 2nd USB port as well. CPU speed is the same 680MHz, and has the same 64MB RAM and 8MB flash as the WNDR3700v1, while v2 has 16MB flash.

Stepping down from those, the Atheros AR9132 based TP-Link TL-WR1043ND seems a likely candidate, depending on what I learn about aggregating the dual radios and the hardware support of the laptops.

Still learning...

[philpoe]

Short summary of what I've learned for fellow newbies:

WNDR3700 looks like the best bang/buck and > DIR-825 because of better performance and range even with internal antennas. V1 outperforms V2, but is becoming rare except perhaps as refurbs. Firmware replacement probably helps performance differences between Netgear and D-Link, but I couldn't find a comparison review with 3rd party firmware.

If you're mixing G and N devices, get 2 radios, 5GHz for N, 2.4GHz for G, but they don't have to be in the same device. It may be less expensive to find a 5GHz N router and chain a G router (like the $0 cost one I'm trying to replace) as an access point.

For wired access, gigabit ethernet will be forced to 10/100 when interacting with those devices, such as my existing NAS and printer (or chained 10/100 wireless router). NAS can be changed to USB drive on the router, but the printer can't be avoided so far. Hopefully when the slow devices are quiet, the rest autonegotiate back to gigabit. I may have to give up the gigabit requirement or find a way to bridge the 2 levels of wired clients without affecting their throughput.