Netgear N600 DGND3700

[Jesse3793]

Hello, i have recently purchased and setup a DGND3700 to my home network and found the unit to be performing quite well, however we have a large home and there are areas that the Wi-Fi signal is very weak and is causing issues with downloading emails etc. Is there any product that i can connect into the network to boost the Wi-Fi signal? Cheers.

[nemmerle]

You can buy another DGND3700. Or you can buy the equivalent router, without the modem. The WNDR3700 should (like the DGND3700) have a wireless repeater function which just acts as a repeater for your existing wireless networks on both 2.4 and 5.0GHz.

Netgear also have some "Range Extenders" (http://www.netgear.com.au/home/products/wireless-range-extenders/WN3000RP.aspx) which do the same thing, but this only uses the 2.4GHz frequency band, which is not much good if you want to use 5.0GHz.

There are a number of similar products from other vendors. Alternatively, you could use a powerline adapter/router which uses your home power lines to connect back to your DGND3700. Usually good if you want to connect a fixed device back to your network, such as a TV, XBox, PS3, Foxtel box, etx.

[Scubbie]

There are several choices.

HomePlugs (or PowerLine adapters) can be used to link two points in your home via the electrical cables. This means that you do not need to run Ethernet cable all around your home, which some people do not like.

If you do go for a pair of HomePlugs then you would be advised to consider whether to plumb for a pair that support a 1Gbit connection or the more common 100/200mb/s connection.

Some HomePlugs actually have WiFi access points built in. This would mean that you would get your WiFi coverage quickly at different points around your home.

WiFi Extenders have also been mentioned. Whilst all the current ones only use the 2.4GHz channels, I don't think that this is an issue for most people at the moment. Essentially a WiFi extender would sit within the WiFi range of the DGND3700 and provide an access point for you Laptop, etc.

As for using a 2nd router, I composed a guide which is specifically designed for a Sky Router to be the main router, with any other router as the alternative. If you happen to have a spare router, then the guide could be useful for you. A Sky router has a default IP address of 192.168.0.1 and the guide make use of this fact. Take a look at the thread and document to see if it helps:

http://www.skyuser.co.uk/forum/asking-help/41883-how-connect-two-routers-together.html

[jmizoguchi]

also you may like this

open-mesh.com

products will install clean look on outlet and expand with multiple AP unit


Although I would agree on Scubbie on power line suggestion. Without loosing the throughput and wifi at remote end are best way to do it

[theTechman05]

It seems to get overlooked but have you looked into MoCA. If you have cable connections in your home , it can be used to extend your network. The only downside with the alternatives is to watch if there are sleep options as they use power when you aren't connected (timer perhaps for MoCA, while I don't know how reception will be affected on power line networks.)

I used MoCA where ethernet was not an option for a time and had no problems whatsoever (just depending on where you live security options are built in and off by default).

If its still the same price powerline adapters are still about $100U.S. but Netgear MoCA is 79U.S.D and dropping.

Just my two cents (if you want the full dollar you have to watch CES and see if Netgear releases MoCA 2.0 since it should have power saver options and gorgeous speeds[ if you can't run cat 6 through your home :rolleyes:]).