Netgear N600 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit ADSL+ Modem Router (DGND3700)

Netgear's N600 Wireless Dual Band Router ADSL2+ combines two functions in one unit: it acts as both a router and a DSL modem. While most Americans use cable modem services for broadband Internet connectivity, DSL is the second most widely-used connection service, particularly in rural part of the country. It is still the primary way to connect to the Internet in many parts of the world. The N600 lets users extend their DSL connectivity throughout a home network to wired devices connected via its Gigabit Ethernet ports. And it's fine wireless router, too.




Another bonus of having a two-in-one device like the DGND3700? It integrates two pieces of hardware into one, so less clutter. It also provides a heftier feature set and more management options that the router that the DSL providers usually give with their service. Finally, the simultaneous dual-band means users can take advantage of the 5 GHz band for multimedia streaming or online gaming.


Of course, conversely, if for whatever reason the DGND3700 had some sort of hardware failure, you are out both your DSL modem and your router. Netgear's hardware has proven to be pretty reliable,
though.

Netgear touts the N600 Wireless Dual Band Router ADSL2+ as having some unprecedented hardware and that its specs are the first of its kind in the market. For example, according to Netgear, this is also the first router on the market to use NAND flash versus NOR. NAND flash memory allows for higher storage capacity over NOR. That may be, but I did not notice any performance gains over Netgear's N600 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router (WNDR3700) or N750 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router (WNDR4000) routers. In fact, the DGND3700, while still a very good performer, did not have as robust throughput at the 5 GHz band as the N750. On the other hand, the N750 is scorchingly fast—no other router we've seen can touch it on certain measures. In fact, the N600 Wireless Dual Band Router ADSL2+'s performance results are still tops among comparable routers. It's performance is about the same as the quite good Cisco Linksys E3000 High Performance Wireless-N Router

The big plus with this router is its ADSL modem and router combined functionality. It's not a router for the networking faint-of-heart, as setting up a DSL modem can be tricky. Netgear provides a hotline number for users stuck on setup as well as what information users need from their ISP to setup the DGND3700. Also, perspective buyers must ensure that their DSL service is compatible. Many major carriers are supported: AT&T, Verizon, Qwest, CenturyLink and EarthLink service will work with the DGND3700.

Specs and Setup:
The router does not differ much from the WNDR3700 or WNDR4000, at least on the outside, anyway. Inside, the DGNG3700 has 128 MB flash memory, 128 MB RAM and a dual core processor (400 MHz each). The WAN/LAN ports are all Gigabit Ethernet. There is of course, an ADSL2+ port and two USB 2.0 ports (for storage devices).

The setup process is a little different from the WNDR3700 and WNDR4000. No CD ships with the DGNG3700—which means it does not come with Netegar's new Genie app for setup. Setup is still pretty straightforward; physically connect the modem/router to your DSL line or cable modem, connect a computer that you will use to configure the device to one of the device's LAN ports and then open up a browser to get to the Web management interface. The URL and admin password are included on the router's included documentation. Within the management interface is Netgear's Setup Wizard. It walks users through the configuration process. The wizard can detect the type of internet connection you have (it detected mine correctly) or you can opt to manually configure.

While the setup process should be simple for those who have setup a router or two, I found applying configuration settings within the interface a bit more sluggish in response time than I did with the N600 and N750.