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Broadband Related => Broadband Hardware => Topic started by: GigabitEthernet on April 13, 2012, 07:18:58 PM

Title: Netgear DGN3500
Post by: GigabitEthernet on April 13, 2012, 07:18:58 PM

The Netgear DGN3500 is a wireless router from Netgear that supports wireless N speeds up to 300Mbps. It also has a gigabit switch with four gigabit ports and USB sharing functionality. The router also has an in-built modem; the modem has an Infineon chipset. It can be purchased for just under £65.

I recently ordered a Netgear DGN3500 to see if it could solve my disconnection issues that were due to the SNR dropping to low at night. I have had only had the router for a few days, but my initial thoughts are good. The router successfully held a 7008Kbps sync at 6dB that dropped to 4dB at night whereas many routers I have tried always drop the connection.

There are many users (including Roseway I believe) that experience PPP drops with this router. With the latest firmware, I haven't experienced any PPP drops that I know of, but I will update this thread if there are any issues.

The gigabit LAN ports are a nice feature, but since I don't do many large file transfers, I haven't been able to test how they perform. If I do run some tests, like before I will update this thread.

The USB sharing feature is nice, but like many routers with similar features, the speed of it is quite slow compared to transferring files from one PC to another for example.

I am facing one issue however, that the web interface seems to lock up and the only way to regain access to it is by restarting the router, it only happens twice a day maximum so it isn't a massive issue, but if it becomes annoying I will consider downgrading the firmware.
If anybody is interested, I am running the Modfs custom firmware because it allows a DLNA server to run (not supported by default) so one can share media to devices such as an Xbox. The firmware also allows one to tweak the SNR margin. This is unusual in the respect that Infineon chipsets (which I believe this router has) don't normally allow SNR tweaks but with this firmware one can tweak the SNR. The lowest it can go is -5dB if anyone is interested. It also saves the setting after a reboot, if you select the correct options.

Overall, I am very happy with this router.

Title: Re: Netgear DGN3500
Post by: GigabitEthernet on April 13, 2012, 08:12:20 PM

I am experiencing a problem with WiFi. The WiFi seems to randomly disconnect. I have only tested this on a Mac so I don't know if it effects other devices as well. If it continues, I might try a factory reset and if that doesn't help, a firmware downgrade.

I'll keep the thread updated.

Title: Re: Netgear DGN3500
Post by: GigabitEthernet on April 13, 2012, 08:18:05 PM

The Netgear web interface has locked up again :(. I think I am going to try a firmware downgrade to see if that fixes it.

Title: Re: Netgear DGN3500
Post by: ben1066 on April 13, 2012, 08:27:14 PM

Shame it doesn't support OpenWRT or DD-Wrt.

Title: Re: Netgear DGN3500
Post by: GigabitEthernet on April 13, 2012, 10:11:52 PM

Well, I no longer think this router is very good. The web interface locked up again and the internet became very slow. This was due to high error counts. In addition, the WiFi disconnecting is annoying.

So, the router is going back to Amazon and I am afraid that like Roseway, I cannot recommend this router.

Title: Re: Netgear DGN3500
Post by: roseway on April 13, 2012, 10:38:55 PM

There was a long thread on the Netgear forum about the DGN3500, and lots of people decided to return their routers. Frankly I'm amazed that it's still on sale, but I suppose some users must have been happy with it.