NETGEAR N750 Dual Band 4 Port Wi-Fi Gigabit Router WNDR4300 Review

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The Netgear WNDR4300 is one of the best Wi-Fi routers that supports a maximum speed of 450 Mbps on the 5 GHz radio band. Compared to the Cisco Linksys E4200, the Netgear N750 has powerful hardware specifications and excellent wireless speed.

The WNDR4300 works effectively on the 2.4 GHz radio band. It also has a broad networking feature. The installation of the Netgear N750 is also easy and simple.

Although it is an old router in the N series, it still performs well than many other routers in this series. Likewise, it is an affordable router device. So, this is a good investment for both home users and small office users.

The reason why many people buy the WNDR4300 is because of its high-speed on the 5GHz band, which is way better than its competitors like Asus RT-N56U and Linksys E3200.

To verify the claim of the manufacturer, we have made a deep analysis of the Netgear WNDR4300 (N750) router. In this review article, we will share our experience with the N750 router. Read on!

Specifications

Size: 5.86 x 2.99 x 9.21 inches

Antennas: N/A

Wi-Fi Spec: 5 GHz 802.11n dual-band

Ports: 1x USB 2.0

Peak Performance: 750 Mbps (450 Mbps on 5 GHz)

Range: 1,200 sqft.

Unbox Video

Networking

The Netgear WNDR4300 is a dual-band 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz router. It offers a high speed of 450 Mbps on the 5 GHz band, which is a 3-stream standard or 3x3. The 3x3 stream standard is popular for some high-end routers. Fortunately, we also find this standard in the Netgear WNDR4300 Wi-Fi router.

The WNDR4300 can broadcast simultaneous wireless-N signals in both the 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz radio band. Thus, we can say that it is the true dual-band router. This router can broadcast two additional guests’ wireless networks for both 2.4 and 5 GHz bands.

Guest networking is perhaps the most popular feature of this router, which helps create separate wireless networks – enabling the guests to access the internet without local resources like printers and files. We liked the guest networking feature of the WNDR4300. It supports two more networks as well as an unlimited number of clients.

On the other hand, the Linksys E4200 offers guest networking with the 2.4 GHz band. It only supports 10 concurrent clients. Clearly, the Netgear N750 has an advantage over the E4200 router.

Moreover, the WNDR4300 supports both NTFS and FAT32 hard drive file systems allowing you to connect your external HDD with data on it. You can likewise share your HDD with the rest of the network. Also, the router can interfere with compact HDDs powered by USB.

When it comes to file-sharing, the Netgear N750 supports SMB protocol allowing your PC in the network to access the storage using a browser without any additional software application installed. This is valid for Windows operating system. On the other hand, MAC computers detect network storage automatically.

We have tested the device on both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz radio bands. At close range, the device scored 91 Mbps at 5 feet. Also, at 15 feet, the device scored an average speed of 63 Mbps and at 30 feet, the scored measured was 47 Mbps.

Thus, on the 5 GHz radio band, the results measured were good. For us, these results are up to the mark. At this speed, the WNDR4300 could transfer 500MB of data in 40 seconds, which is a good period compared to other wireless routers.

Furthermore, we tested the device on the 2.4 GHz radio band. At 5 feet, we found a speed of 67 Mbps. At 15 feet, the speed was 45 Mbps and at 30 feet, the speed we calculated was 31 Mbps. When we increased the distance to 100 feet, we were surprised to measure the speed of the router, it was 23 Mbps. So, the 2.4 GHz radio band had not disappointed us.  

Design

The Netgear WNDR4300 (N750) has a squared-off shape. It has a sleek design, which does not attract fingerprints. You can place the router vertically and horizontally. You can also mount it on the wall.

On the backside of the router, there is 1 WAN port, which you can use to connect the internet source like a broadband modem. Also, there are 4 LAN ports used for wired clients. Both WAN and LAN ports are Gigabit Ethernet that offers a top speed of 1,000 Mbps. Likewise, you will find a USB port and an ON-OFF button on the backside of the router.

On the front side of the router, you will see an array of LED lights that change color depending on the status of the wireless network, the internet connection, and the ports located on the rear panel. You will see a WPS button near these LED light indicators. The dimensions of the router are 5.86 x 2.99 x 9.21 inches and the weight is 0.9 pounds. There is only one USB 2.0 port.

Hardware

The Netgear WNDR4300 is powered by the Atheros AR9344 CPU clocked at 560 MHz processor speed. The CPU is supported by NAND 128 MB of flash storage memory and 128 MB of RAM. The WLAN hardware is supported by the Atheros Aar9580 and AR9344. The WLAN 2.4 GHz is b/g/n and the 5 GHz WLAN is a/n.

As a result, it offers a good theoretical speed of 450 Mbps on the 5 GHz radio band and a maximum theoretical speed of 300 Mbps on the 2.4 GHz band. The high speeds are achieved because of the powerful Atheros 500 MHz processor.

Installation

The Netgear N750 can be installed and set up easily. It is done through the Netgear Genie software application, which shows similarity to the Cisco Connect application used for Linksys routers including the E4200, which is the direct competitor of the Netgear WNDR4300.

The Netgear Genie setup app guides you through the setup process step by step. It creates 2 main wireless networks. To set up the guest networks, it is important to log in to the web-based interface of the router.

You can do this by opening a browser and type the default IP address, which is 192.168.1.1. Once you are there, you will have many options that help you configure the router according to your needs.

What We Liked

• Dual-band and high-speed
• Guest networking/ Network storage
• Excellent wireless performance
• Multi-OS support
• Affordable
• Easy Installation

What We didn’t Like

• Only storage device USB support
• Poor NAS features

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