Advice for a new Dual Band N router

Hi all I am looking to upgrade from my current Linksys WRT54G v4 to a Dual Band N router. The WRT54G is a good router, but my needs have increased since I first got it. I have read the charts and reviews so much my head is swimming. I have also looked at the buying guides but could still use some general direction. Here are the things I am looking for:

1. A good stable connection. My house is 1756 sq. ft., as a traditional 2-story house with an addition built onto the back. We use Roadrunner cable internet with a Motorola Surfboard modem.
2. Connections: I have the following connected (so far):
(a) Laptop (I will need to get an N adapter for it)
(b) 2 Vizio Internet connected televisions
(c) Nintendo Wii
(d) 2 HTC smartphones
(e) Epson wireless All-in-One
There is always the possibility of adding something more in the future.
3. My usage is mostly streaming and internet usage, whether streaming directly to the televisions, or hooking up the laptop to them. File sharing isn't something I generally do.
4. We do not have any landline telephones (cordless or otherwise) so interference isn't as much of an issue.
5. A USB port to attach an external drive would be nice, but not a necessity.
6. Nothing will likely ever be hard wired to it so gigabit ports are not a necessity either.
7. Open source firmware is nice, but with the options most routers offer now, I don't consider it a necessity either (although I'm not quite up to speed on how to work QoS either).
8. Orientation is not a problem as I can place it horizontally or vertically.
9. I've been partial to external antennae, but with the advancements in internal ones, I don't think this is much of an issue either.
10. Of course, I'd like to keep my price point under $100, but if I need to go a little over to have the connectivity that I need, I can do what I have to do.
11. I am not brand specific. I've had good luck with my Linksys, but I would entertain any brand.

Any assistance I can get from you folks would be appreciated.

 

Here are some i'd recommend, they are a bit pricier than what you may want to pay though.

Netgear WNDR3700
Linksys E4200 v1
Linksys E3000, less range than the E4200, but still excellent throughput

There are others as well, when Downloads gives his suggestions, you'll be all set to make a choice .

 

These are what I've been thinking about:
NetGear WNDR3700v2
NetGear WNDR3800
NetGear WNDR4000
NetGear WNDR4500
Linksys E4200v1
Asus RT-N56u

I'd always thought that Netgear was flaky, but it appears they all can be flaky now I don't mind to pay a little extra if it means we'll have a stable connection with good range. Having all those things running off of it is a big concern, although most of the time they all won't be operating at the same time (It's generally a TV, the laptop, and a phone simultaneously).

But, I'm also not stuck on any of these routers shown above either

 

This. All I hear about are these three. I have a Linksys E4200v1 myself and loving it.

 

Thanks for the recommendations so far I have asked for advice in another forum as well and wanted to post something here related to the responses there. I am not interested in buying and returning a bunch of routers to find the one that will work for me. I am looking for some advice from those who know so I don't have to hit and miss. Thanks again and I look forward to more recommendations

 

Might as well tag this in here too. I'll need to upgrade from a Broadcom 4312 to an N adapter. The Intel 6200 looks like it would work as I only have two antennae. Here's the questions:
1. Are there any other brands as good/better than this card?
2. My current card is full sized but the 6200 is half sized. Are the full-to-half adapters ok to use, or is there another solution?

 

Yes, you can use half to full height adapters as long as your antenna wires are long enough. There are some other good wireless adapters, some Atheros ones (i have to stretch some as they have some pretty crappy ones too), however Intel is the brand i see recommended the most often and my 6200s have been treating me well so far.

My recommendation is the 6200 or 6300 if you feel like wiring a third antenna.

EDIT: If you are a linux user, Atheros has better drivers at the moment i think. Also, make certain your laptop manufacturer doesn't whitelist wireless adapters.

 

I run Win7. What do you mean by "whitelist" wireless adapters? It's an HP dv5-1235dx.

 

Whitelist means that the laptop BIOS will only work with certain wifi adapters that are "whitelisted" by the manufacturer. HP is known for doing this. There are often BIOS hacks to work around this issue.

 

How do you find out if your laptop whitelists them then, aside from trying a new adapter? Is there a setting in the BIOS I should look for?

 

Nevermind, I think I've found my answer. It appears that mine is whitelisted, but I've found the modded BIOS. I hate crap like that... its why I hate iAnything devices...

On the original topic, @Downloads, any suggestions on a router?

 

With price bracket of up to $100 Netgear WNDR3700 would be my choice unless you can get one of those heavily discounted E3000 which are not as good as WNDR3700 but very good nonetheless.

 

I'm also trying to make a decision on a new wireless router, here are my choices with comments:

$100 - WNDR4000 - Broadcom chipset, 7 internal antennas, 300 + 450 dual band (Lots of technical features even though I don't need 450 @ 5Ghz and has range is pretty good)

$100 - E3200 - Broadcom chipset, 6 internal antennas, 300 dual band (Linksys known for solid stable firmware and has excellent range)

$100 - WNDR3700v2 - Atheros chipset, 7 internal antennas, 300 dual band (Very popular router and has good range)

Of the three above routers I'm leaning towards the Linksys E3200 the most, it's hardware is nearly identical to the higher end E4200 and very similar to the WNDR4000 minus the 450 dual band. The wireless range better than the two NetGear routers above and only slight less than the E4200, NAS speed is a bit slower than the WNDR4000 but faster than the WNDR3700v2 even though all the devices in my home are wireless.

If anyone has any thoughts, all are comments welcome.

 

I can go over $100 if something would work better. I'm also considering the E3200 as well. It looks to be a pretty decent one too.

 

There's no real difference between E3000 and E3200- both use the same main chip the same amount of RAM and have very similar Wi-Fi range and throughput.

Simply buy the cheaper one.

@Nemix77

E4200 and WNDR4000 use exactly the same hardware but Linksys has better range.
E3200 uses basically the same main chip as WNDR4000 and E4200... and Asus RT-N16 and E3200 and Netgear WNDR3500L and so on... It's not a very powerful main chip either.

BTW Atheros main chip used in WNDR3700 is better in terms of mini-NAS than Broadcom one mainly because Atheros is faster (680MHz vs 480MHz)

 

@ downloads

The E4200 and WNDR4000 are indeed very similar, the main differences between the two routers is the antennas, ram brand used (Windbond/Hynix) and firmware.

The same can be said about the E3200 which is very similar to both the E3000 and E4200 but it's more of a step up from the E3000 and closer to the E4200 in terms of onboard chips part number.

Here's a chart:

CPU - E4200/E3200/E300 = Broadcom BCM4718
Switch - E4200/E3000 = Broadcom BCM53115, E3200 = Broadcom BCM53125 (Newest)
Ram - E4200/E3200/E3000 = 64MB Hynix
Flash - E4200/E3200/E3000 = 16MB
2.4Ghz - E3000 = Broadcom BCM4322 (oldest?), E4200 = BCM4718 and E3200 = BCM47186 (newest?)
5Ghz - E3000 = BCM4718 (oldest?), E3200 = BCM43236 and E4200 = BCM4331 (newest?)

From the chart above both the E4200/3200 uses the same 2.4Ghz chip and the E3000 uses this chip for 5Ghz instead, on the 5Ghz both E4200/E3200 uses very similar chips in number but you have consider that all three E3000/E3200/E4200 routers use different antennas (something I couldn't get all the info on).

Now all this only makes sense if you consider the E3000 is EOL product and will probably have no more firmware updates from Linksys, where as the E3200 which is more similar to the E4200 is a current supported product and will continue to have firmware updates.

If you can get the E3000 for 2/3 the price of the E3200 then I'd say it's a deal but if they're are closely priced the E3200 is more future proof and has better hardware in comparison to the E3000 as far as I can tell.

Here in Canada the lowest priced E3000 is $80 and the E3200//WNDR4000/WNDR3700v2 is $100, given this for me the E3200 is the my first choice simply because I only care about a stable and excellent wireless range @ 2.4Ghz (I have nothing connected wired), my second choice is the WNDR3700v2 but I'm really unsure about the firmware stability for NetGear products (something I don't want to deal with).

 

I would agree in general about E3200 and E3000 apart from the thing about better hardware- it's virtually the same.

I have a different point though- go to smallnetbuilder and compare throughput in location F (the far-away one )
WNDR3700 clearly beats both E3000 and E3200 there- that's why I'd favor WNDR3700.

As for antennas and amps- that's what makes E4200 better than WNDR4000- these are SiGs if I remember correctly.

Anyway- all routers takes into consideration at this point are good so whichever you choose it's gonna end well for you.

 

What is the difference between 2.4 Ghz and 2.4 Ghz 40 Mhz B/W? The E3200 is higher than the WNDR3700 on 2.4, but the opposite on 2.4 40 Mhz?

 

From Small Net Builder.

Location F 2.4GHz Downlink Throughput - E3200 = 18.3 and WNDR3700v2 = 10.4

Location E 2.4GHz Downlink Throughput - WNDR3700v2 = 21.2 and E3200 = 18.8

Location D 5GHz Downlink Throughput - E3200 = 20 and WNDR3700v2 = 16.1


From CNET.

2.4GHz Wireless-N Performance (Range) - E3200 = 40.4 and WNDR3700v1 = 29.44

2.4GHz Wireless-N Performance (Throughput) - E3200 = 57.44 and WNDR3700v1 = 55.44

5GHz Wireless-N Performance (Range) - E3200 = 53.8 and WNDR3700v1 = 40

5GHz Wireless-N Performance (Throughput) - E3200 = 95.3 and WNDR3700v1 = 60


From PCMag.

5Ghz Wireless (Throughput) at 30 FT - WNDR3700v1 = 117 and E3200 = 79


I put up the numbers for both location E and F and lower FT ranges on 2.4Ghz because all homes have a different infrastructure but the throughput and range numbers area clearly in favor of the E3200. Some of the benchmark comparisons is between a E3200 and WNDR3700v1 and not v2 which to my knowledge are very similar is terms of range/throughput but both WNDR3700 versions still have less range/throughput than the E3200. On the 5Ghz range/throughput the E3200 is just slightly better than the WNDR3700v2 but both are not as good as the older E3000 on the 5Ghz band.

I'm not trying to sell or indorse in a brand or product but as I've said before for me the E3200 better suits my usage pasterns since I have no wired connected devices and do not care for 5Ghz (even though my laptop supports 5Ghz) in which case the E3200 still slightly edges out the WNDR3700v2. I'm well aware that the WNDR3700v2 has a better CPU which is better for Torrent downloading and heavy simultaneous connections tasks however this is more for users with at least one desktop hard connected to the router (as server or dedicated downloading PC) and does not apply to my usage patterns.

You really can't go wrong with either router as the range/throughput on 2.4/5Ghz is very close between the two routers with the E3200 being on top but since Linksys is known for more stable firmware and priced the same as a WNDR3700v2 (usually Linksys is more expensive) my choice still favors the E3200 even though I think the WNDR3700v2 is a better wired router and has a bit more features. I'm currently just waiting on a coupon being sent to me via email that would make the E3200 $20 cheaper than the WNDR3700v2 and this would seal the deal for me.

 

It's even more complicated than that- you've compared 20MHz channels instead of 40MHz channels which you would use when trying to achieve the highest throughput.
With 40MHz channels it looks like this:

Location F 2.4GHz Downlink Throughput - E3200 = 6,5 and WNDR3700v2 = 13,7

Location E 2.4GHz Downlink Throughput - WNDR3700v2 = 16,6 and E3200 = 8,3

Location D 5GHz Downlink Throughput - E3200 = 4,7 and WNDR3700v2 = 33,9

In all cases WNDR3700v2 scores significantly better. It doesn't make it better though- 20MHz channel is better for range- usually in poor signal conditions you get more out of it than out of a wide channel.
But would you set a 20MHz channel just to improve browsing speed far away from the router at a cost of significantly decreasing it near the router?

So the story goes on

Anyway- no point in dragging this. Decisions have been made- I hope everyone's pleased with their purchases.

40Mhz is a wide channel- two 20MHz channels bonded together to improve throughput. It works fine near the router- bumps the speed from 63 to 81mbps for WNDR3700 and from 61 to 77 for E3200.
The problem is it works the other way very far from the router- E3200 goes down from 18mbps to 6mbps while WNDR3700 still goes up from 10 to 13.

That's why WNDR3700 was my recommendation.

 

I would have to disagree with the above statement comparison between 20/40 width. As I know it 20Mhz width is better for 2.4Ghz and 40Mhz is better for 5ghz but this is not in the case for WNDR3700v2 but still with the 40Mhz @ 2.4Ghz on WNDR3700v2 vs 20Mhz @ 2.4Ghz on the E3200 the E3200 is better. However 40Mhz @ 5Ghz is in favor of the WNDR3700v2 but still not at match for 20Mhz @ 5Ghz on the E3200, simply put the WNDR3700v2 favors 40Mhz on both bands and the E3200 favors 20Mhz on both bands and as to my knowledge 20Mhz is more friendly (does not interfere) width towards neighboring wireless devices such as home phones, microwaves, cell phones and other wireless routers in the area.

But as you've said decisions have been made and no point dragging this any further, I've already made up my mind on the E3200.

No hard feelings and thanks for all the info.

 

I bought a refurbished E4200 off ebay straight from cisco ebay store for $99 including shipping. Had it for a month, worked fine so far. Cisco still has them listed on ebay for that price.

 

The biggest bulk of our usage takes place further from the router, so this is the kind of info I was looking for

 

Update:

I took downloads advice and ordered the WNDR3700v2 over the E3200, I couldn't get the coupon for the E3200 so both were exactly the same price. After careful research on both routers I concluded the WNDR3700v2 is better value for the money and the interface maybe better for me coming from a DIR-655.

Hope the router turns out good.

 

I sure hope it works fine otherwise I'm the one to blame

 

Not really no, in the end the decision was mine.

You just helped me look at making the decision from a another perspective and in this case I think it's for the better.

 

Let me throw a wrench in the thread and derail the train.

I have/had an asus rt-n56u but since my third unit just came from RMA and died within the day I set it up, I am going to have to buy a new router. I would have started a new thread but everyone's already here and the title is perfect so sue me.

Here's what I need:
USB with dlna sharing that actually works with PS3 and maybe even Xbox
Smooth gaming
Ability to set up a stable webserver via port forwarding/virtual server
Simultaneous dual band is a must
Prefer something that takes advantage of my Intel 6300
Range of about 100ft through two walls at most
Possible upgradeability to DD-WRT in the future if I don't like stock FW
Stable as a rock. Stability is the highest priority

And here is what I'm looking at, bear with me I've been looking at a lot of routers lately and I'm bitter because 802.11ac is so darn close.
NETGEAR WNDR3800-100NAS
NETGEAR WNDR4000-100NAS
Asus RT-N66U (kinda)
Linksys E4200V2 (pricey...)
NETGEAR WNDR3700v2 (where to buy?)
D-Link DIR-827

Did I miss any good ones? I think I'm leaning towards the Netgear 3800 or 4000. Are there any features I'll miss coming from my RT-N56U? It used to work I swear, so I know what the features are

sorry if tl;dr but I'm kinda in rant mode over this. Not happy about my webserver downtime going on a month now and I won't settle for the piece of crap 2wire modem ATT Uverse gave me. Thanks

 

Skip D-Link- they are far worse than Asus when it comes to firmware quality.

Linksys E4200v1 is actually better than v2 unless your primary objective is to share HDD over USB. Other than that it has 450mbps on 2.4GHz band (which you won't be able to use unless you live in the middle of a desert) and a higher price-tag.

 

Downloads, i'm curious, do they still produce the v1. I'm feeling an itch to get a new router even though i don't need it and if i do, it has to be the v1...

 

All our local stores (US) still sell the Linksys e4200 V1.

Fry's Electronics
Staples
Best Buy
Newegg Newegg.com - Linksys E4200 Wireless N Router Maximum Performance Dual-Band IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n

I was curious about Downloads comment: "Linksys E4200v1 is actually better than v2 unless your primary objective is to share HDD over USB". I have the v1 and have no problem sharing an external HDD. Is it that the v2 has a higher data throughput for the HDD on USB?

 

Yes v2 uses the same main chip NASes are based on so it can achieve up to 20MB/s write/read on NTFS partition.
That's a lot faster than any other router.

 

@ downloads

I got the WNDR3700v2 setup but running into some minor problems.

- I cannot connect to the 5Ghz band. My Centrino 6205 WiFi card does not see the network.
- I only connect to 150mbps on the 2.4Ghz and not 300mbps even though configured as 300mbps on Netgear router
- I'm not sure if I'm connect via 20 or 40 Mhz channel, I cannot find the option to change the channel to 20 or 40 Mhz in the routers settings and my Centrino 6205 is set to Auto

 

If the router is set to 300mbps- it's 40MHz, Intel set to auto is OK too.
The problem is probably caused by other networks around which causes the router to default back to 20MHz channels.
That's how it's supposed to work according to Wi-Fi alliance certification.

More pressing matters seem to be lack of 5GHz (can you check with another card?) and more importantly slow Ethernet speed.
I have no idea what;s wrong with Ethernet speeds though- you should check another cable and make sure that DIR-655 wasn't configured in any special way to work with your (cable- I assume) modem.

 

Assuming your router is working correctly and another pc can see your 5Ghz band, make sure in device manager for your Centrino 6205 card that in properties/advanced the wireless mode is set to: “Wireless mode 802.11a/b/g” (should be the default).

If 802.11a is not included your card will not see the 5Ghz band.

 

Hi,

This thread seems to have good advice. While at it, I am also thinking of upgrading my Linksys WRT54GC router. The goal of the upgrades are:
1) Get faster speed, current router is only g. My laptop has intel 6230 wifi card, and I also have Macbook Pro 2010, so I believe it can be faster.
2) Better range/signal especially since there are a lot of wifi signal in my apartment. My current router for some reason can't cover the entire apartment reliably.
3) Would like to share files, mostly pictures and some documents, that is stored on the network between Windows laptop and Mac laptop. I am not sure what is the best way to do this, but at the moment I am thinking of having the shared files in a 2TB WD external drive with USB 2.0 that will be shared using a router. I am also thinking of using a dedicated NAS in future, so a gigabit port is preferable. I am also planning to backup both laptops to this shared drive.
4) As reliable wifi connection as my current router. I have not reboot my Linksys for at least six months.
5) I want to get a multifunction printer that I want to share on the network in future. So it will be nice if the printer can share the printer through usb (not absolutely necessary).
6) I prefer to have the router works out of the box without installing 3rd party firmware but it will be nice if it can support 3rd party firmware just in case.

Based on what I read in this tread, here are my options:
1) Netgear WNDR3800. I like the features in this router, particularly the ready share printer but more expensive than the 3700.
2) Netgear WNDRMAC. Seems to have feature between WNDR 3700 and 3800. I found that it is cheaper than the 3800 but not much info on this model.
3) Netgear WNDR3700. Great performance and features based on many reviews I read.
4) Linksys E3200. Had a good luck with Linksys brand, and this model seems comparable to the Netgears above.
5) Open to other model.

Also, I had good experience with Linksys and Zyxel router as they don't require reboot when I use them. My past experience with Netgear and D-Link is not as good. However, I don't mind using any brand as long as they are reliable.

What would be a good router to get in my case? Do the 3800 and the MAC perform similarly as the 3700? Does it worh spending ~$30 more getting the 3800 over the MAC?

Also, I would appreciate if someone has good suggestion on what is the best option to share files on the network and also do backup.


Thanks!

 

Thanks downloads and deeastman.

I'mma give a router another shot before I return it this weekend.

Update:

Finally got the router up and running as is should. I couldn't see the 5Ghz network because my "wireless mode was set to 802.11g" only on my Centrino 6205 for the DIR-655, changed it to "wireless mode was set to 802.11a/g" and got connect to 5Ghz which got me 4/5 bars from my laptop's location in the home which is same as DIR-655 on 2.4Ghz pretty impressive.

My Logitech Revue and other laptops which had problems with slow speeds and even wireless disconnection got solved by changing the throughput on the router back to default 130mbps (a/b/g/n) instead of the 300mbps (n only) I initially set it as 300mbps since I all the wireless devices are N compatible but I guess at least one of my devices did not like that setting with the router.

My temporary wired PC's download speed came back and is now faster than the DIR-655, I guess maybe I just needed a hard reboot of the router after initial firmware update out of the box and changing basically all the settings on the router to match my home network's setup, I gave up yesterday and repacked the router ready to bring it back on the weekend and today magically everything seems to just work.

My impression of the router after getting everything working as it should is very positive, the router is very fast and the wireless range is a better than that of the DIR-655. Even on 5Ghz the range and throughput is very impressive, if all stays well until this weekend I will probably keep the router however more testing is needed to determine that for a final decision.

PS.

I have one more question:

How to access the router setup page (192.168.1.1) on wireless?

I simply can't do it on my laptop although it was working yesterday I think.

 

Nemix77,
I have the Linksys E3200, that you mentioned as a replacement in link #13. I like it, but because of my Y470's Intel 1000 b/g/n card, I don't have the 5 GHz connection. Still, on the lower band, I get 144 Mbps N-connected speed, and pretty decent range. I'm thinking about getting a new WiFi or WiMax card in my Y470, but you know all about the hassle to buy a Lenovo approved FRU card from their outlet store.

I don't know what's the geek issue about 300-400 Mbps speed, going to the router. Unless you have other devices connected to that router, and you need mega transfer rates to those devices, speed is a mute point. I have a modem/router, provided by my TWC ISP. This "pipe" limits me to 30 Mbps down, and 5 Mbps up stream to the net. My 144 Mbps speed is more than enough for handling file transfers, and backup data, within my local network.

The one problem this E3200 router continues to have is the logging. The incoming log does not work. There is nothing logged to it. Never has, and never will. I've worked with Linksys, via chat, and e-mails, and they have not solved this issue. They had me change the MTU from Auto (1500) to a number of different numbered settings. Nada, zilch, nothing changed in the incoming log. I even RMA'ed, and returned my original router, and the replacement E3200 they sent me has the same problem. The other 3 logs (outgoing/security/DHCP Client) work. Only the incoming log is filled with a whole lot of nothing. I use to have a Linksys BEFSR41v4, 4-wired router, that had an excellent logging system. All you had to do was set up a folder to store the router logging programs in, and turn on the logging.

I don't know why this has been such a problem for Linksys. I think they maintain the E3200 logs internally on their chip. Before, on the BEFSR41v4, they exported the logs to a folder on the system you set up, to run the logging programs.

If you, or anyone who's using a E3200, and have the incoming logs working, please let me know, and what you did to get them working.

I sure would appreciate the help.

Cheers!

DragonRider

 

Thanks for the insight on the E3200 Dragnoak .

I've just ran a couple stress tests on the WNDR3700: Torrent downloading, downloading a 5GB ISO from Microsoft, watching 2 hour long movie YouTube and playing a game of League of Legends.

The WNDR3700 passed with flying colors, no lag in my game whatsoever. I'm going to keep testing it for a couple more days but so far it looks like a keeper.

I turn off all logs in every router I've owned, IMO a useful feature but not needed. I also turn of uPnP, QOS and any other features I find not useful with my home network to free up resources on the router.

This why I never really had any real problems with the DIR-655 except for the fact the D-Link router is dated and has slower hardware, otherwise wireless connection and the range has always been very good on the DIR-655.

 

I've gottqa throw in a hat for the 3700. I've had one running for months both on DDWRT Firmware and Netgears Firmware. One heck of a reliable router, and has an impressive range, to boot. I've got a Centrino 6230 in my laptop, and I can go from one end of my house to another (1580Sq Ft single story) and not lose coverage or go into speeds that affect service. I love it!

 

How can I tell is this is the v1 or v2?

newegg

 

That's v2.

 

The Cisco-Linksys E4200v1 can handle 16 simultaneous wireless connections without my guests (party) complaining or having me to reboot it I also still have a Netgear WNDR4000 (unplugged) - it's ok too. The E4200 actually has a more sophisticated/useful parental control (time schedule) but otherwise they both are fine.

 

Hmm are you sure? I just noticed that in the details tab, under packaging it says "N600 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router (WNDR3700v3)".

 

Well in that case- I was wrong.
You asked if it was v1 or v2- it definitely wasn't v1 so it had t be v2 but apparently v3 has the same box design.

Sorry- my bad.

 

Update:

The WNDR3700v2 has been running very stable for 48 hours straight no hiccups, slowdowns or drop connections.

My only complaint about the router is that I cannot access the web gui via wireless, found out I have to connected wired.

I really like the WNDR3700v2 but thinking of returning it for a WNDR3800 which is essentially the same router but has the new Genie interface which can be configured over wireless connections.

 

There should be a setting somewhere that enables/disables wireless config access.

 

Really, which setting is it?

Can you find out and let me know?

Thanks in advance,

 

I was looking for it but it's kind of hard since I cal rely only on screenshots.
There are two possibilities- either these is such an option and it is enabled by default preventing you from accessing the router via Wi-Fi or- if these is no such setting- wireless access is enabled by default.

If these is no such setting to change and you still can't access the router via W-Fi there has to be some other issue/setting preventing you from doing so.
As far as I know other users can access their WNDR3700s via Wi-Fi no problem,.

 

I can't access the Netgear web UI either in 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz however, I can do it on my old DIR-655 so I know it's not a Windows service or setting preventing the my laptop from communicating with the WNDR3700.

If I remember correctly I think I was able to access Netgear's web UI on the first day of setup (the one I gave up on) but since then I cannot access it anymore.

Edit:

I found the setting "Enable Wireless Isolation" when turned on does not allow wireless clients to use the Netgear web UI, I think this is a bug in the firmware and will be reporting this to Netgear since I always turn on "Wireless Isolation" on all my previous wireless routers and never had a problem with accessing the router web UI via wireless connection.

Update:

I just submitted a support ticket to Netgear regarding the matter and hopefully this can fixed via new firmware update in the future, I think Netgear may have did this on purpose to block the Guest Network clients from accessing the web UI.

This is a good security feature but is flawed since most users have probably changed the default password for logging into the web UI in the first place so guest clients cannot access the router's setting regardless and if the user wants to isolate wireless clients on the network the user will not be able access the web UI via wireless connection.

 

Nemix,

Good find, I just bought and set up the same router. I was able to get wireless set up as well, then made some changes including the one above that you found disables the web ui. Last night I saw your post and thought mine seems to work ok over wireless, then I could not connect either. I will be changing the enable wireless isolation back for the time being.

So far I am liking the router, it was a real struggle to decide between the Netgear wndr3700 and a refurb Linksys 4200v1 for the same price. I just got my $20 worth of staples rewards for recycling a bunch of ink cartridges so I ended up with the Netgear for 79 bucks. It is a V2 unit.