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Forum Discussion
Solved
WDS support for WNDR3700v4 Router
Dear Netgear Software Development Team,
Why you guys removed the WDS support when a router is very much capable to act as repeater this is not fair when i purchased this router WDS is there but now after firmware update this feature is removed please add this feature to router again as this router is very good and performance based router which have 2.4 and 5 Ghz radio so please reconsider about WDS mode and try to add that in next coming firmware update as this is a premium router and costly also and if that feature is not there then it’s like waste of money what we spend on this router I paid $160 in India around 9000 INR were as some other routers which are just $20 costing have that WDS feature so netgear please ad this support again.
Regards,
Birender Singh Budhwar
WDS was useful in its day but it was never fully standardized, so interoperability between vendors was never guaranteed. It is now considered obsolete and insecure, due to most implementations supporting, at best, WEP security or no security at all. Netgear has quite clearly opted to remove WDS from their routers. For wireless repeating, they would prefer that you buy their range extenders.
You can still use your WNDR3700v4 as a wired Access Point. The difference is that you need to connect it to the main router via Ethernet.
5 Replies
WDS was useful in its day but it was never fully standardized, so interoperability between vendors was never guaranteed. It is now considered obsolete and insecure, due to most implementations supporting, at best, WEP security or no security at all. Netgear has quite clearly opted to remove WDS from their routers. For wireless repeating, they would prefer that you buy their range extenders.
You can still use your WNDR3700v4 as a wired Access Point. The difference is that you need to connect it to the main router via Ethernet.
I agree with you but the security of the wireless lan is based on its configurations I am currently using the Netgear WNDR3700v4 as main router and for repeating the signal i am using buffalo router air station W180 works perfectly what needs to be configured is to do a site survey with its WDS and configure the SSID and MAC of the main router and set the WEP or WEP2 key of your main router and you are done so its all depends on how you configure it of you can set a secure VPN within the router to router within your WAN.
If netgear removed the support then i think i have to buy some other router for that purpose.
WEP is fundamentally not secure. It is trivial to crack. WEP2 is not standard and, based on what I've read, is not any more secure. There's no way to run a secure VPN to the WNDR3700v4 via Wi-Fi.
If you are determined to use WDS, then I agree that you will need to buy another router, but your network will not be secure.