Best Overall Router?

I realize it's a subjective question due to many factors,but this is what I have and am very interested in your input please......As follows,2 new 50 inch samsung plasma's,1 60 inch Pioneer Elite,3, gaming consoles,2 Ipad2s,3 Ipod touches,3 cell phones,1 oppo blu ray,4 laptops 1 with killer 1103,1 6205,1 6250,and 1 with a 5300.Big family alot of tech in the house and right now all are running on a Netgear 3700 rev2 with new cat 6 cable.I will use as always mostly for internet on all I listed and alot of gaming and usual stuff like netflix and youtube hulu etc..........I am happy with how well the netgear has served me........I see alot of geat info on NBR,I want to get the best possible experience out of my gear.Thank you, every one. My son is on his console's constantly,especially with BF3 and UC3 and with- MWF3 and a few other big titles coming out soon.

 

You can't do a lot better than the 3700 honestly. Check this thread out: http://forum.notebookreview.com/networking-wireless/618479-best-wireless-router-out-there.html.

You already have one of the highest end routers even with newer models out. Put all 5GHz compatible equipment on 5GHz and the rest on 2.4GHz. It will help with preventing your networks being crowded with a lot of devices and will give overall better throughput to each device connected to the network at the same time compared to the scenario where everything is on 2.4GHz. I wouldn't change your router just yet, wait for at least another refresh. The new high end models don't really offer much over the previous ones. i.e. the Linksys E4200 has 450mbps support on 5GHz, but it is essentially a supped up E3000.

The only reason that would warrant a change would be connection dropouts. You could download inSSIDer and check if there are networks in range on the same channel as you are and change to a less crowded channel. Channels 1, 6 and 9 are preferred (2.4GHz) since they don't overlap at all. I'd be surprised if there was another 5GHz network in range of you.

 

Agreed- you're already using one of the best routers around.
I wouldn't replace it- you may want to tweak settings though.

 

Thanks for the quick reply's.I knew when I bought the 3700 it was the best at that time,and maximum pcs best of the best for so long.I was just wondering,knowing how fast tech changes and now that most houses are (connected) Ie.Tv game, consoles,etc,and as you see in my description I have so much going on in my house.I use the 5ghz on most since there's not yet atleast a gazzilion people on it.And some of my device's are 2.4 only,I agree the 3700 has served me well I have zero drop outs and excellent connections,also having highest speed service in NY helps I guess.I was going to use a repeater or upgrade to the 4200.Thank you for saving me some money guy's.Tijo,& downloads I appreciate the suggestion and I have the same opinion as you,I guess I wanted to hear it,You understand." Alway's learn something new everyday.!"

 

Tweaks I have yet to do beyond basics,I also run latest stable firmware,I was considering 3rd party wrt or the like.I'm open to any suggestions.Thanks again.

 

3rd party firmware usually offers more features but the trade-off is less performance (throughput) so I don't think it's a good idea.

Wi-Fi cards in your notebooks seem OK, you may want to update drivers and make sure that channel width in advanced settings (available via the device manager) is set to AUTO or 40MHz.
Another thing apart from adjusting the wireless channel is router placement- sometimes moving is just slightly goes a long way.

 

No, definitely not true. My throughput is definitely higher.
The only thing is that to bring it to full potential (and troubleshoot any config failures) you have understand as well as able to manipulate the system very well.
For OpenWRT you have to be a commandline shell pro and understand the Linux/UNIX system very well, it is afterall Linux.
Now I am running ipv6 dual stack via tunneling (and my ISP doesn't support ipv6).
I am not sure about the level of code maturity of OpenWRT for the Netgear Router OP has because I don't own it/tried it.

 

There have been several tests including ones done by smallnetbuilder on DD-WRT and Tomato.
I've also seen comparisons concerning several routers including WNDR3700 that have been slower with all third party firmwares than with a factory one.

As for a TP-Link TL-WR1043ND we're both using OpenWRT is actually faster in terms of wireless throughput compared to a stock firmware but then again DD-WRT is slower.

I stand by my assessment that 3rd party firmwares do not- in general- improve neither throughput nor range although there are off course cases where they do- mostly when stock firmwares are overall useless or certain releases are buggy.

 

Thanks again for the input guys.

 

You mentioned you have a rev. 2? FYI the rev. 1>rev. 2. I am not 100% sure why, as I have a rev 1. But I see a lot of complaints on the netgear forums regarding the rev. 2.

I also have a e4200, and for my uses the e4200>wndr3700. My uses being mainly file transfers to a server on the 5ghz band.

For firmware you could check out the new gargoyle firmware, I think it is compatible with the rev. 2 .

With all the being said, if it isn't broke don't try to fix it

 

Opensource firmware vs stock depends on a lot of things, currently there is lots of complaints about wifi driver especially on broadcom based router and some atheros wifi router, have better or worse performance depends on the specific build.

Distance if using big name brands then yes opensource gives you lots more distance as you can adjust transmit power TX and a few others vs stock that does not have this feature.

@OP it works for you then do not mess with it do not load anything else, once a month pull the power cable on the routers if needed to get rid of static / get a new isp ip, otherwise do not touch or mess with it and no reason to replace anything.

I had a 2x 3700 and both had pencil length signal after ~2 days of usage so no netgear for me. Some of my wifi cards is broadcom based and there used to be issues with broadcom wifi firmware hacking broadcom wifi router firmware and other way round 2+ years ago in linux so maybe that was it for me somehow.

@OP your wifi cards should not have this effect on the 3700 / 4200.

 

@MadRocker

That was a knows issue with some WNDR3700. There was a more or less precise method of guessing which ones would die based on serial numbers but admittedly it's not what you expect from a high ens router.

This has been fixed and current version WNDR3700 v2 does not have this issue at all.