By Ki Grinsing

Overview

There are three simultaneous dual-band wireless routers first generation of Netgear still you can use for a wifi network at home with pretty good performance and affordable price under $90.

How do you compare?

The easiest way to understand the product differences is by comparing features of each product through the comparison table below.

Wireless Standards

Most wireless routers based on 802.11n dual band began to bloom as early as 2009 from the draft 802.11n to the ratified version late 2009 until now that has been using the standard (draft) wireless 802.11ac. The three routers indeed based on simultaneous 802.11n dual band.

LAN & WAN Interfaces

If you mostly use wireless connection for your wireless devices, you can choose either Netgear 3300 or 3400 wireless router which support 10/100Mbps interfaces. WNDR3300 doesn’t support USB port and the price is half as much the price as WNDR3400 with USB port.

If the requirement for Gigabit interfaces exist, the WNDR37Av is your router but the price is almost triple as much the price as WNDR3300 router.

All Ethernet interfaces support autosensing type port means the port can detect the cable type (either cross or straight through) automatically and the system will adjust the system accordingly.

USB Port

Unlike Netgear 3300 wireless router, both Netgear 3400 and WNDR37Av support one USB port.

This generation cannot use the USB port to share a printer but storage just as in the general router with USB port. The last generation of the Netgear router such as Wndr4500 (N900) can be used to share a printer.

Should you need to share a printer, you need separate print server or share the printer in traditional way via a computer. Or you can consider wireless routers with print server port.

WNDR37Av includes one USB port with built-in media server and is DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) compliant. This will help you easily stream multimedia files from USB storage to any types of home theater devices including Blu-Ray player, XBOX console and HDTV.

Advanced Security

For security reason, all wireless connection must be protected by the strongest wireless security encryption WPA/WPA2. Luckily, all the three routers support this type of wireless security encryption for secure wireless connection. However, for connecting the legacy clients the routers support WEP (Wired Equivalent Protection) – a wireless security encryption which is less secure than WPA.

Netgear 3400 and 37av support free live parental control and secure guest network but Netgear 3300 doesn’t. Secure guest network is a feature to let you create multiple SSIDs. You can create guest network each band with different SSID, different password and with limited access right. With live parental control, you can block bad sites for your kids and you can manage remotely from anywhere.

Netgear Green Technology

The WNDR37Av support eco-friendly environment the green technology to help conserve the energy including 80% recycled packaging, energy star compliant power adapter and power & wireless on-off buttons.

Comparison table

The following shows comparison table between Netgear 3300, 3400 and WNDR37AV.

Summary

Depends on your need, which one meets your environment? The price of the Netgear 3300 is around half as much the price as the 3400. The price of WNDR3400 is around half as much as the price as WNDR37Av. Choose one that meets your requirements.