which one's better for wireless gaming/downloading?

In terms of specs, which one of these two is better?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122326

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833127243

1.) Does the location of the antenna make a huge difference? The first one is internal and second is external.

2.) What's the point of having a USB port on a wireless router?

 

1) netgear would be better

2) USB is for printers or external hard drives

 

Check out www.smallnetbuilder.com they have a table comparing features and performance. Just keep in mind it does not cover reliability, so don't look a Belkin unless you want trouble.

Of those you picked I think the Netgear is better.

 

wow that netgear one looks nice! is that a new model? i need a new n router for my new place soon. how does that first netgear router the OP posted perform?

 

Netgear, Netgear Netgear.
The WNDR3700 is one of the better routers on the market, as mentioned, no one knows of longevity, but based on previous Netgear, it should be fine. The other router comparable at the moment is the Linksys WRT610N, which is my preferred router. I don't think you can lose with either.


D-Link on the other hand...
Nope, not buying another until they can prove they have mended their ways.

 

That means you are never going to buy one. DIR-655 is supposedly one of their better routers and if I'm not mistaken you've had your share of experience with this "marvel"

BTW- I totally agree Netgear is pretty much impressive. If I was to buy a good dual band router I'd go for Linksys WRT-610N or Netgear WNDR-3700.
If 5GHz band is not needed one could consider Asus RT-N16

 

I'm still deciding how to properly dispose of it without hurting myself or anything else. A friend may have access to a steam roller, that might do it.

Agreed

 

I have the DGL-4500 and I love it. I get coverage everywhere in my house (2500 sq. ft.) now with no drops and great speed. I have 10 devices connected to it with a combination of wired/wireless and it has been smooth sailing. I even stream netflix on my ps3 wirelessly without a problem.

 

does the netgear WNDR-3700 need a reflash to really unlock the router's potential? or is it a straight out of the box performer?

i have a linksys wrt300n at home that was crap before a WRT-DD reflash. it was workin great for almost a year. since then it's been actin retarded sometimes, so i think it's time to upgrade. the wrt300n did keep me at a nice 130 mpbs when it did work tho. i was lookin for a more hassle free router, that could achieve greater than 130 mpbs, with my next purchase.

 

WNDR-3700 works straight out of the box however that's actually its greatest drawback. Netgear works fine with stock firmware but so does Linksys WRT-610N and the latter is DD-WRT capable while Netgear is not.

 

DD-WRT isn't a requirement, as long as the new router works reliably straight out the box. i had to resort to DD-WRT reflash with my wrt300n cuz it was complete crap on the OEM linksys firmware. after the reflash, my wrt300n's throughput and reliability issues were really reduced by 10 fold.

i love how the WNDR-3700 looks with it's provided stand. if it can be a hassle free router that i don't really need to reflash or config to get efficient performance out of then it's enough to fit my bill. i just ask that it provides 130+ or greater mbps and has a good enough range where it's not droppin my wireless connections.

 

I understand your point but you never know what trouble you could run into or how good firmware support is going to be in future, that's why DD-WRT is an added benefit. Buying a router that supports it is an insurance of sorts.
Besides you need to keep in mind that Linksys is known for very reliable firmware and if it happened to them it can happen to Netgear too.
That said I do not intend to discourage you from buying WNDR-3700, it's definitely one of the best routers out there.

 

Once again I have to agree with everything Downloads has said.

I too own the wrt610N for the reasons he mentioned here, I wanted that little insurance policy. In the past i have had routers that just couldn't handle certain settings I wanted or needed, and sometimes the firmware was just plain junk to boot. I wanted something I could re-flash if I had to. The 610 also had already gotten a decent reputation before i bought mine (the V1 was pretty good, v2 is even better) so I knew it would be a safe bet. Meanwhile the WNDR3700 was new (SHINY!) and darn impressive on tests, it was also new and unproven with no alternative firmware on the way. Some claim they will have it at some point, but I wouldn't count on it based on past experience with the hardware.


Also, while some will point out the 610's poor test scores on smallnetbuilder and other places, this was on a V1 router with poor firmware. The firmware has been improved A LOT! They used to run hot, now they run cool and people have seen an increase in rates and power. The V2 as mentioned is even better. One other thing I found with mine compared to my other routers was a drop in ping from my old D-link and Netgear, in many situations I dropped 20ms or more.

As for the WNDR3700, it's now a bit more mature and while I have not kept up with it, I have heard of a few minor problems (every router has them, the 610 does too so I'm not being biased).

If I had to do it over again, I would buy the 610 for the main reason I bought it last time, alternative firmware. I will probably never again buy a router I cannot reflash with different firmware. I haven't changed mine yet, but I know I can if I need to. The last router I bought I couldn't and it had some of the worst I have ever seen. If the 3700 had that option though, I'm not sure which I would chose, the 3700 for something new, or stick with tried and trusted...

 

i definitely see both of yur points, and they are appreciated. +rep'd both of u guys. i know what u guys mean by crappy OEM firmwares as i have a linksys WRT300n. the WRT300n's OEM firmware was just crap. i would get really bad range, bad connection speeds, and alot of drops. i was literally about to take the router into my backyard and play a little target practice with it.

i then reflashed it with DD-WRT and it really saved that router's life. it was literally a night and day difference. i was connected at a steady 130mpbs and rarely had any drop connections.

 

Surprised you had bad luck with the wrt 300n , I had great range and speed with it , better than the wrt 600n I upgraded to . The 600 went south in 1 1/2 years , kept dropping the 5 mhz band every 12 hours .
OP go with the netgear , have had great luck with 3700 in the past 6 months , as long as you do not use the traffic meter . Seems if you use the traffic meter router shuts down every 2 weeks or so .
Other than that it has been a speed and range champ

 

I'd suggest looking into Tomato if you've gone the DD-WRT route. DD has beyond bloated code and forces you to restart to change just about any setting. Tomato simplifies the interface and gives quicker access to features that most users need, and lets you change settings without constant hard reboots. It helps that the interface is much easier to work with as well. I'm currently running tomato 1.27 teddy bear no usb mod on a linksys wrt54gl from way back when, and it's still going strong. I try DD every so often to see if it's changed, but tomato still runs cooler than DD ever did, and never reboots on its own.

*edit*
qos, graphing and bandwidth monitors are also very nice feature that work much better on tomato than dd.