NETGEAR WNDR3400 Review (N600 Dual Band Modem Wi-Fi Router)

The Netgear WNDR3400 is an N600 Wi-Fi router that has gained a lot of popularity in the wireless world. Particularly, it is one of the best wireless routers for gaming PCs. It offers excellent wireless speed.

The Netgear WNDR3400 comes with an affordable price and uses a dual-band system, which speeds up to 300 Mbps per channel. The N600 router is best for multimedia streaming and online games.

Besides, the Netgear WNDR3400 uses 2 channels simultaneously, which allows clients to avoid signal interference and network traffic. It offers the ReadyShare Program, which you can use to share files with devices in the same network.

Also, it comes with the parental control feature, which is quite decent and helps you monitor your kids’ internet usage. With all the existing Netgear routers, the WNDR3400 comes with the Genie app that offers convenient configuration.  

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Specifications

Size: 6.89 x 4.52 x 1.0 inches

Antennas: 3 internal  

Wi-Fi Spec: 802.11a/b/g/n

Ports: 1 x USB 2.0

Peak Performance: 300 Mbps on 5 GHz

Range: 1,200 sqft.

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Unbox Video

Netgear WNDR 3400 Unboxing

Networking

The Netgear WNDR3400 has an excellent all-around wireless performance on the 2.4 GHz radio band 5GHz radio band. It also has a great wireless range, particularly on the 2.4 GHz radio frequency band. It lacks the Gigabit Ethernet, which is a downside in terms of networking. The storage speed performance of the router is also mediocre.

With the Netgear WNDR3400, you can stay connected with your network devices and media. It offers 2 separate Wi-Fi networks for both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz band. We tested the device for the 5 GHz radio band.

At a close range of 5 feet, we measure the speed of 185 Mbps. At 15 feet, the speed was 122 Mbps and at 30 feet, we measured speed of 74 Mbps. This is not bad for a router of N600. The advanced QoS technology offers high priority to steam media applications for smoother video streaming and online gaming on the low latency.

Next, we tested the device on the 2.4 GHz radio band. We measured the speed of 72 Mbps at 5 feet. Also, the speed of the router at 15 feet was 47 Mbps. Then, we increased the distance to 30 feet and recorded an average speed of 29 Mbps. Again, it performed well on 2.4 GHz. So, the performance of the router at 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz radio band were quite satisfactory.

Design

The Netgear WNDR3400 (N600) is a stylish router with excellent design features. It is a lightweight router measuring 6.89 x 4.52 x 1.0 inches. The weight of the device is 0.50 pounds. It comes with 1 USB 2.0 ports of the IEEE 802.11 a/n 5 GHz and IEEE 802.11 b/g/n 2.4 GHz. Moreover, it has 4 ports including 4 LAN and 1 WAN Ethernet ports. The ports come with excellent auto-sensing technology.

Besides, this is a dual-band router, which looks like a member of the Range-Max router family. On top of the router right in the middle, you will see a big blue button with 8 LED light indicators, which represent the antennas’ directions. Like most access points and routers, the WNDR3400 has internal antennas, which make it tidier and compact than routers with external antennas.

The blue button on the front of the device is for the Wi-Fi setup. You can press it to start a two minute time window to enable the entry of WPS-enabled devices into the network. Also, on the back of the router, it has 4 LAN ports, which is used for wired clients and 1 WAN ports, which you can connect to the internet source, i.e. any broadband modem. Unfortunately, these ports are regular 10/100 Mbps Ethernet. You will see a Wi-Fi On-OFF switch near the ports. Also, there is a USB 2.0 port for an external HDD for the network storage feature of the router.

Moreover, on the front side of the router, you will see an array of LED light indicators, which shows the status of the power and the network ports, the USB port, and the internet connection. Finally, the Netgear WNDR3400 has 2 detachable feet, which enable the router to mount in the vertical position.

Hardware

When it comes to the hardware features of the Netgear WNDR3400, it has TX/RX Wi-Fi transmitters and receivers respectively. It has 2.4 GHz (2×2) plus 5 GHz (2×2) radio bands. The device is powered by a 32-bit powerful MIPS processor with a clock speed of 530 MHz. The CPU of the device is backed with 64 MB of RAM and 8 MB of flash memory. It comes with advanced QoS. Also, it supports WMM based QoS.

Installation

The installation of the router requires you to connect the device to the PC or laptop through the Ethernet cable. The next step is to open the web browser and type 192.168.1.1 in the address bar. This will lead you to the router interface. You can also type routerlogin.net to access the web interface.

In the next step, you need to enter the login credentials. If you are setting up this router for the first time, you can find the credential on the back of the router. Now, go to the advanced tab and click the setup. Once you are there, you need to start the internet setup settings.

Next, choose “NO” if the setup asked you to use login credentials for the internet connection. In the next step, you need to choose the dynamic IP address, which is CenturyLink ISP in most of the cases. If you are unsure, you can choose “Get Dynamically from ISP.”

In the next step, you need to use the OpenDNS servers that are 208.67.220.220 and208.67.222.222. Now, enable the NAT and use the default address for the router and save. Next, go to the ADSL settings and click the advanced tab to setup. For the multiplexing method, you will see different settings. We recommend you to choose the LLC-based.

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What We Liked  

• Steady connection
• Excellent performance
• Durable and long life
• Great management tools

What We didn’t Like

• Setup is difficult
• Lack of Stability