Netgear DGND3700

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MurrayM

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#119115 21-May-2013 13:43

I see Dick Smith today are selling the Netgear DGND3700 for $199, which seems like a good deal.

I've been looking for a good modem/router that can do simultaneous 2.4 and 5.0 GHz wireless as I have a mixture of 802.11g and 802.11n devices and my current modem/router can only do 802.11g

Is the DGND3700 a good device? I think it came out at the end of 2011, so are there better devices now? $200 is around the most I want to spend.

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#823097 21-May-2013 18:59

I have had this router for a while. It works great except for 1 small issue which i'm not sure if tis the router or the other end. Maybe once every couple of months it doesn't restart from a dropped connection. Just needs the power turned off and on again and all is good.

DravidDavid

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#823368 22-May-2013 09:07

Some modems will only try and reconnect so many times before dropping. There is usually a setting in the PPPOA section about reconnecting after timing out. Mine is set to 10 but you could probably make it 99 or something so the modem tries a bit more.

MurrayM

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#823419 22-May-2013 10:40

Thanks for the comments. I went ahead and bought one and set it up last night. Everything went find and I was quite impressed with the wide array of features built into the router (well, compared to my old Dynalink!) Turned it off last night (as I always do when I go to bed) and this morning I turned it on and it apparently connected to the internet but neither a PC nor an Android tablet would talk to the router. After waiting about five minutes it all seemed to correct itself and started working ok.

This is the first router I've had with WPS built in and I'm not 100% sure how it's meant to work. I set the device I'm trying to connect into WPS mode and then press the WPS button the router and nothing seems to happen on the router. There's an LED next to the WPS button that is normally on steady, I expected it to flash on and off while it was connecting but it just stays steady when I press the WPS button. The WPS setup does work, the device connects to the router, but the lack of feedback from the router when I press the WPS button seems odd.

nakedmolerat

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#823422 22-May-2013 10:45

I have dgnd3700 for almost 3 years now. Rock solid and currently using it with UFB connection. Didn't need to power off for months.

Press WPS on the router and then get the device to connect to it

Davy

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#823427 22-May-2013 10:49

MurrayM: Thanks for the comments. I went ahead and bought one and set it up last night. Everything went find and I was quite impressed with the wide array of features built into the router (well, compared to my old Dynalink!) Turned it off last night (as I always do when I go to bed) and this morning I turned it on and it apparently connected to the internet but neither a PC nor an Android tablet would talk to the router. After waiting about five minutes it all seemed to correct itself and started working ok.

This is the first router I've had with WPS built in and I'm not 100% sure how it's meant to work. I set the device I'm trying to connect into WPS mode and then press the WPS button the router and nothing seems to happen on the router. There's an LED next to the WPS button that is normally on steady, I expected it to flash on and off while it was connecting but it just stays steady when I press the WPS button. The WPS setup does work, the device connects to the router, but the lack of feedback from the router when I press the WPS button seems odd.

You power off your router at night - that is interesting and I have never thought of it. Is it for power consumption or for security, or both?

MurrayM

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#823430 22-May-2013 10:49

I've managed to find a PDF manual for the router so that should explain a few things for me. It appears that the WPS LED only flashes while the router and the device have seen each other and are setting themselves up (i.e. it won't start flashing immediately).

MurrayM

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#823432 22-May-2013 10:51

Davy:
MurrayM: Thanks for the comments. I went ahead and bought one and set it up last night. Everything went find and I was quite impressed with the wide array of features built into the router (well, compared to my old Dynalink!) Turned it off last night (as I always do when I go to bed) and this morning I turned it on and it apparently connected to the internet but neither a PC nor an Android tablet would talk to the router. After waiting about five minutes it all seemed to correct itself and started working ok.

This is the first router I've had with WPS built in and I'm not 100% sure how it's meant to work. I set the device I'm trying to connect into WPS mode and then press the WPS button the router and nothing seems to happen on the router. There's an LED next to the WPS button that is normally on steady, I expected it to flash on and off while it was connecting but it just stays steady when I press the WPS button. The WPS setup does work, the device connects to the router, but the lack of feedback from the router when I press the WPS button seems odd.

You power off your router at night - that is interesting and I have never thought of it. Is it for power consumption or for security, or both?

Both. I also turn off my PC's and other stuff at night, so there shouldn't be any devices connected to the router so no need for it to be on.

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MurrayM

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#824366 23-May-2013 20:04

Arrgghh, this router is giving me grief!

This morning it wouldn't connect to my ISP (TC) at all, even after 6 power cycles and waiting 3 or 4 minutes between each one. The DSL light was coming on and blinking and then staying solid, which the manual says means it has connected to the ADSL port. But then the Internet light wasn't coming on, which the manual says means that it couldn't detect my ISP.

The wireless was working ok, so I was able to get into the admin on it and look at the logs, but they seem quite lacking in details compared to my old Dynalink. My old Dynalink used to say things in the log like "Authentication failed" and such like, but the most I get out of this Netgear is "DSL Down" but no reason why.

So I returned it to Dick Smith and to their credit they gave me a replacement without any questions. The replacement doesn't seem much better, sometimes it will connect ok and other times it doesn't. In six attempts it connected twice. Plugging my old Dynalink back in and it connects ok every time.

I suppose it could be my house wiring, we've only moved into this rental property 3 months ago. Are some modems more susceptible to bad wiring than others? When it works it's great, haven't had any drop outs yet (but only been two days), its just getting that initial connection that's the problem!

Does anyone have any suggestions?

sonyxperiageek

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#824374 23-May-2013 20:10

MurrayM: Arrgghh, this router is giving me grief!

This morning it wouldn't connect to my ISP (TC) at all, even after 6 power cycles and waiting 3 or 4 minutes between each one. The DSL light was coming on and blinking and then staying solid, which the manual says means it has connected to the ADSL port. But then the Internet light wasn't coming on, which the manual says means that it couldn't detect my ISP.

The wireless was working ok, so I was able to get into the admin on it and look at the logs, but they seem quite lacking in details compared to my old Dynalink. My old Dynalink used to say things in the log like "Authentication failed" and such like, but the most I get out of this Netgear is "DSL Down" but no reason why.

So I returned it to Dick Smith and to their credit they gave me a replacement without any questions. The replacement doesn't seem much better, sometimes it will connect ok and other times it doesn't. In six attempts it connected twice. Plugging my old Dynalink back in and it connects ok every time.

I suppose it could be my house wiring, we've only moved into this rental property 3 months ago. Are some modems more susceptible to bad wiring than others? When it works it's great, haven't had any drop outs yet (but only been two days), its just getting that initial connection that's the problem!

Does anyone have any suggestions?

TC? Do you mean Vodafone?

Sony

dukester

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#824376 23-May-2013 20:12

Post your router connection stats. log into to your router and look under the maintenance section, router status the show statistics.
As an example, check this thread http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumId=49&topicId=114917 by me which shows my router stats as a guide to compare. My stats are very good.

MurrayM

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#824379 23-May-2013 20:14

sonyxperiageek: TC? Do you mean Vodafone?

Yeah, Vodafone. I only referred to it as TelstraClear because I guess that I'm still connected to the network that they built and not to Vodafones (unless they've finished combining the two networks into just the one).

DravidDavid

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#824381 23-May-2013 20:19

Check VPI/VCI settings in the modem as well as encapsulation mode.

VPI 0
VCI 100
Encapsulation: VC-MUX (PPPoA)

If the dynalink connects fine it is a setting in the modem. If the modem has been replaced, that eliminates hardware two fold. Next best thing is try another jack point to see if you have any more luck there. I strongly suggest the settings in the modem are wrong in this case if the modem is maintaining a solid connection with the exchange/cabinet.

:)

MurrayM

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#824386 23-May-2013 20:24

dukester: Post your router connection stats. log into to your router and look under the maintenance section, router status the show statistics.
As an example, check this thread http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumId=49&topicId=114917 by me which shows my router stats as a guide to compare. My stats are very good.

Hmm, your status screen looks a bit different to mine. Do you have V1 of the DGND3700? I've got V2. Here's what mine looks like:

DravidDavid

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#824388 23-May-2013 20:26

Those line rates look pretty good. Slightly above average. You should be able to get more at 4db I would have thought.

MurrayM

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#824389 23-May-2013 20:27

DravidDavid: Check VPI/VCI settings in the modem as well as encapsulation mode.

VPI 0
VCI 100
Encapsulation: VC-MUX (PPPoA)

If the dynalink connects fine it is a setting in the modem. If the modem has been replaced, that eliminates hardware two fold. Next best thing is try another jack point to see if you have any more luck there. I strongly suggest the settings in the modem are wrong in this case if the modem is maintaining a solid connection with the exchange/cabinet.

:)

Thanks for the advice, I thought it had to be a settings problem too!

I've just checked and it's set to:

VPI: 0
VCI: 100
Multiplexing Method: VC-BASED (the other option is LLC-BASED).

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