Netgear WNDR4500 vs R6300 ??

Hi guys,

My old Netgear RangeMax router is not cuttin' it anymore, so I'm on the hunt for a replacement. Looking for something with lots of range that can be used throughout a large house -- and in the backyard if I'm really lucky!

Any thoughts on the Netgear WNDR4500 vs the new Netgear R6300 ??

Pros? Cons?

Thanks in advance!

 

Neither. You are looking for good range and both those routers are undistinguished at best.
You best choice would be a Linksys E4200 v1 with ar better range than both Netgears in question.

Consult this chart.

 

Thanks, I'll check it out. Any other opinions?

 

I'm in the same boat I think my E3000 is overheating.

I traded my E3700 to a neighbor and I can see it from a pretty good distance away at my house.

I also have installed a few ASUS routers with external antennas in the other neighbors and they have good range. (I put one in their main house and one in an outer building as a bridge/repeater.)

Cisco currently has the E4200 reburbished for $79.99 + tax

 

If you want range, i'd look for something with replaceable antennas and with a good radio as well. The thing is that most high end routers now use internal antennas, like the E4200.

Maybe Downloads knows of one.

The other question is, do you want or need 5GHz?

 

Thanks, but it's not JUST about range. I need something that will play nice with multiple laptops in the house (3 currently) plus multiple Apple devices (2 iPhones, 1 iPad, 1 iPod Touch), a PS3 and a TV. Plus I'd like to be able to plug an external drive into it to share data.

After doing a bit more research the Netgear R6300 doesn't actually look too bad, overall, but ??

 

Ah, i see, then yeah, go for a high end router, the E4200 would do everything you want. Note that however, any router will be rather slow with a HDD connected in terms of data transfer between the network and the HDD so depending on what you want to do for network storage, you might be better looking at a true NAS.

 

Okay, thanks.

 

Just as a clarification, when i say slow, i don't mean excruciatingly slow, but a NAS will offer better performance than an external hooked via USB to a router.

 

how is the WNDR4500 not cutting it anymore, lol, that's a fairly new router with all good reviews. Though I just upgraded to WNDR3700 and that thing rocks, heh.

anyways, if you want range then you may look at the Amped Wireless - they do claim must stronger wifi amplifiers than the competition, though I read some people are not so happy over newegg. Heck I was about to buy one of those to try it out. But then I went the cheap route, lol.

 

WNDR4500 uses a Marvell CPU i think which has noticeably lower routing performance over the Linksys E4200v1, the v2 uses the same Marvell chip. External drive performance is better, but you end up loosing on the most important function of the router, throughput and range. In the end the price/performance ratio just isn't there for the WNDR4500 compared to the alternatives. It's not a bad router in itself, but you can find better for the same price or less.

 

I think WNDR4500 is Broadcom based.

 

Downloads, which unit would you suggest now (based on the extra info I added in post #6 above)?

Thanks.

 

My bad, if downloads says it's broadcom based, then he's probably right, he knows his stuff more than i do. Haven't had much time to keep up with the new routers.

EDIT: Just verified, broadcom, yay!

 

I stand by my original recommendation. You need a good router with good range and E4200 v1 is the way to go.
It's no some average router with good range- it's top notch router overall but what makes it perfect is very good range on 2.4GHz band (which is limited to 300mbps but is too overcrowded to get any higher) and at the same time you get three stream performance (450mbps) on relatively free 5GHz band (which in turn offers much shorter range).

I would go for an original v1 (it's not called v1- it's called E4200 with no sufix). A refurbished unit is a good idea- you can cut costs at virtually no risk.
I re-read post 6 and E4200 would handle your usage pattern with no problems at all.

 

I have to agree with downloads, 802.11ac is still in it's infant (draft) stages and as such, right now you're paying for a not so large increase in throughput. I'd end up going for a good broadcom based unit too, manufacturers are used to working with broadcom CPUs while most routers with Marvell CPUs suffer a loss in routing performance. I'd say it's due to less experience writing firmware for those. As a comparison, at home, i got 5 comps hooked to the wireless alongside 3 game consoles and an ipod. My E3000 never let me down and never dropped connections even under these load conditions. I don't see why the E4200 would be any different. The E4200 has excellent range though and since that's a must for you, i'd go for that instead of an ac router. Once the kinks are worked out of AC, then you might want to get a new router again.

 

Okay guys. Thanks a lot...

 

Oh! One thing I forgot to mention is that I might go with a Mac for my next laptop. Would that change anything here? (I've never used a Mac before so I'm not sure)

 

No it wouldn't. Most features are not system dependent and those that are are well covered- router manufacturers can't ignore the popularity of Macs.

 

Shameless plug for the ASUS Dark Knight RT-n66u. I have only had it for three weeks, but its performance and stability are amazing. It also offers unprecedented (at least in my history with routers) control over my network.

 

Do you have stock in Asus?

 

Asus routers have pretty good hardware, but Asus has always been lagging behind in terms of firmware. The RT-N66U is a good unit, but it still has subpar Asus firmware by default. Great buy if your only alternative is D-Link, if it's also like it's older brother the N56U, it will be able to handle a ridiculous amount of simultaneous connections and have excellent overall combined throughput. Where it will fall short though is individual throughput and likely range too compared to the E4200v1. Note that is all compared to other high end routers like the E4200 and equivalent offerings from Netgear.

Still a very good router, only you can find better for the same price from Netgear and Cisco if you don't want to enter the realm of 3rd party firmware.

 

Have to disagree. The ASUS is penetrating stucco and concrete more effectively than the NetGear 3500, 3800, 4000, and 4500 and the Cisco E4200/4500, all of which my family or I have owned at some point. The NetGear and Cisco products have difficulty connecting to my most distant security cameras. Combine that with features that actually work, such as QoS, and I will be literally unable to go back.

Edit: I have never tried the 6300, but I hear its performance compared to other routers depends on your frequency of choice.

 

Hmmm... interesting...

 

After reading about some of the crazy things Cisco routers have been doing lately (privacy issues, etc, etc) I'll think I'll be avoiding the Linksys routers!

 

Please elaborate on that.

 

I had a WNDR4500 N900 that kept having problems with keeping connected to a DNS server, had to reset the router multiple times a week despite keeping up with the latest firmware. Replaced it with a R6300, problem solved.

WNDR4500 Great router when it kept its fill but when it'd drop it it'd drive me nuts, and I believe it was a bit faster in the 2.4 ghz band then the R6300.

 

Indeed, the only issue i can think of was the WPS security breach which affected pretty much every WPS router out there.

 

I'm on an iPhone so finding the articles isn't as easy, but here are a couple:

http://www.extremetech.com/computin...tory-monetized-and-killed-at-their-discretion

http://arstechnica.com/information-...ice/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pulsenews

 

Thanks Docrock. If I see a promo for the R6300 I'll probably grab it and give it a shot.

 

That concerns their Cloud Service which is not available in any routers I recommend. They have already corrected- what they call a mistake -but Cloud Service and privacy don't go in the same sentence- Google drive TOS or Dropbox accounts being available for everyone are just two other examples.
That doesn't affect E4200 in any way though.

 

Yup, only the new routers from cisco (after the Ex200 series) are affected by this.

 

Just an FYI I just setup my E4200 I purchased and I must be missing a setting or something my streaming video services (Netflix, Vudu, etc.) are buffering way too much and my internet speeds are awful slow.

 

Are you on 5GHz or on 2.4GHz?
Make sure you use WPA2+AES as encryption ans that WMM is enabled.

 

I use both bands one on each laptop and the bluray player which is having the buffering problems is hardwired.

I'll double check the encryption and WMM settings.

Thanks.

 

If the issue is over Ethernet WMM can't affect it.
Test transfers over Ethernet between wired clients- it's very weird to have issues like that over Ethernet (Unless the cable is shot)

 

One thing that noone has mentioned is the idea of range extension. When you get a new router, make sure it supports WDS and then use your current RangeMax one as a WDS node for more range.