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ranchgirl's avatar
ranchgirl
Aspirant
Jan 24, 2020
Solved

N300 WNR2000v3 Firmware upgrade - will I need to reconfigure router?

I haven't updated the firmware on my N300 WNR2000v3 router since I first set it up in 2013.  The router has been working just fine.  All I have connected is one Surface laptop, one printer and one ip...
  • antinode's avatar
    antinode
    Jan 25, 2020

    > [...] I guess I was unnecessarily concerned about my old router and
    > slow internet.

     

       Digital TV uses digital compression to cram a higher information rate
    into less bandwidth.  Old analog TV (US, NTSC) used a 6MHz channel.
    Nowadays, with computers at both ends, that same bandwidth can
    accommodate much better picture and sound.  Happy viewing.

ranchgirl's avatar
ranchgirl
Aspirant
Jan 24, 2020

Thanks for your reply.

I believe that all of my WNR2000v3 router settings are default settings.

When I purchased my router, my ISP at the time was Wildblue (a satellite based provider) and a tech came to the house and set up their dish, modem & my router.

Two years ago, I switched to DSL with my phone company. They provided their DSL modem and a line filter and just connected my router to their modem.  The DSL set up was very quick, they didn't look at the settings or make any changes to my router ... and everything has been working at 10 mbps as promised.

My Fire TV Stick should arrive today.  I will try it first without doing the WNR2000v3 firmware update. Hopefully, the video streaming will be good ... I've read that at 10 mbps you can't get 4k HD ... but I'll be satisfied with just HD.

Worst case would be that I just need to buy a new wireless router.  Can you recommend which router I should buy?  I only have a few connected devices and the fastest speed I can get will be 25 mbps ... maybe by the end of the year.

Thanks again!

 

 

antinode's avatar
antinode
Guru
Jan 24, 2020

> [...] They provided their DSL modem [...]

 

   Has it a maker and model number?

 

> [...] I will try it first without doing the WNR2000v3 firmware update.
> [...]

 

   Sounds reasonable.  I wouldn't expect a firmware update to make a big
difference in performance, but you might kill some time by perusing the
release notes fof the firmware versions since yours.  Usually, they're
uninformative, but you might get lucky.

 

   Visit http://netgear.com/support , put in your model number, and look
for Downloads.  (For older versions, under Firmware and Software
Downloads, look for "View Previous Versions".)  Find the kit(s).
Download the kit(s) you want.  Read the "Release Notes" file for
instructions.

 

> [...] Can you recommend which router I should buy? [...]


   With (slow) DSL service, the router's capabilities may matter little.
I'd wait and see if you experience any problems which you can blame on
the router.

  • ranchgirl's avatar
    ranchgirl
    Aspirant
    Jan 24, 2020

    The DSL modem is a VisonNet model M405E.

    I'll wait and see on doing the router firmware upgrade ... and I'll check out the release notes before I upgrade.

    I read that older routers do not support the "ac wifi standard" and that "ac wifi" helps with speed?  

    I'm guessing that my WNR2000v3 doesn't do the "ac wifi"?

    I also read that routers with 5 GHz (a dual band router) also help with speed?

    So, with only 10 mbps available from my ISP, I'm just trying to get every bit of that 10 mbps to support the Fire TV Stick.

    I appreciate your advice.

    Thanks!

     

    • antinode's avatar
      antinode
      Guru
      Jan 24, 2020

      > I read that older routers do not support the "ac wifi standard" and that
      > "ac wifi" helps with speed?
      >
      > I'm guessing that my WNR2000v3 doesn't do the "ac wifi"?

       

         All true.  Might all be irrelevant, too.

       

      > So, with only 10 mbps available from my ISP, I'm just trying to get
      > every bit of that 10 mbps to support the Fire TV Stick.

       

         Sure, but a bottleneck is still a bottleneck.  With a new router,
      your wireless stuff could be "ac" on 5GHz (instead "n" on 2.4GHz), but,
      for communication with the outside world, I'd still expect your (slow)
      DSL service to be your bottleneck.  Infinitely fast wireless speed

      wouldn't change the speed of your ISP connection.

      • ranchgirl's avatar
        ranchgirl
        Aspirant
        Jan 25, 2020

        I set up my Fire TV Stick 4k device and it's working great with my WNR2000v3 router and my 10 mbps DSL internet.

        I didn't do the router's firmware upgrade and see no reason to do it now.

        I'm surprised that I don't have any issues with the video streaming.  I guess I was unnecessarily concerned about my old router and slow internet.

        I appreciate your answers to all my questions.

        Thanks!