WNDR3700v2 (N600) - Can't change wifi region

[matp]

This was covered in another topic which is locked I guess to avoid bumping of old threads or consolidating of information about a single topic.

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Nighthawk-WiFi-Routers/Can-t-change-WiFi-Region/td-p/502266

Of course I am sitting in Germany and ended up purchasing a US-version WNDR3700v2/N600 wireless router.  No problem, it has a universal power adapter (110-240VAC, 50/60Hz input).

The help even reminds me that for legal reasons I must choose the correct region (e.g. Europe/Germany)...however some smart person at netgear decided to disable this form control in this router.  Presumably this was done in an effort to prevent US users from intentionally selecting the wrong region in order to try and force higher (illegal) power output out of the router.  However on the flipside it prevents me from (Iegally) using the router in Europe.  Not sure how netgear expects to prevent these routers from ever being used outside the US since there are many aftermarket and grey market sales channels that are not controlled by netgear.  So in the interest of playing "nanny state" to US users they also force illegal usage for users that end up with these devices in other countries.

This is only a disabled form element and so I can easily re-enable it (e.g. in browser dev tools), change the region and save. You can see in the screenshot I have successfully switched the region from the United States to Europe.

I gave this to a less technical friend and they gave it back because they couldn't figure out how to set the region correctly again after they factory reset it. No real security here with disabled form elements, just crappy user experience.

v1 of this router did not have this form element disabled.  This kind of nonsense drives me batty and is one of the reasons we moved away from using netgear hardware in SMB deployments.

Just a vent I guess as I was trying to gift this today instead of trashing it and remembered why I still had it.  Guess it goes in the trash.

[matp · Accepted solution]

Thanks for pointing me in that direction.

I recall trying telnetenable before without success and as the WNDR3700v2 wasn't listed on the OpenWRT page I assumed it wouldn't work.

Tried it again and was able to enable telnet and get into the box.

Since this router has Atheros chipset I used artmtd to set the region (burnsku is for broadcom) to WW (Europe).

root@WNDR3700v2:/# artmtd -r region
The region number is: 0x0001
REGION: NA
root@WNDR3700v2:/# artmtd -w regionset WW
argv[3] = WW
write region number: 0x0002
Unlocking /dev/mtd/8 ...
Writing from /tmp/temp.img to /dev/mtd/8 ... [w]
The region number is: 0x0002
REGION: WW
root@WNDR3700v2:/# artmtd -r region
The region number is: 0x0002
REGION: WW

I can confirm that the region selection is now enabled and defaults to Europe.

I can also confirm that this change persists across factory resets and firmware upgrades.  

I am finally able to legally operate this thing.  Thanks again for the nudge in the right direction.

[antinode]

> [...] Can't change wifi region

   Possibly interesting:

      https://community.netgear.com/t5/x/x/m-p/1760057

[matp · Accepted solution]

Thanks for pointing me in that direction.

I recall trying telnetenable before without success and as the WNDR3700v2 wasn't listed on the OpenWRT page I assumed it wouldn't work.

Tried it again and was able to enable telnet and get into the box.

Since this router has Atheros chipset I used artmtd to set the region (burnsku is for broadcom) to WW (Europe).

root@WNDR3700v2:/# artmtd -r region
The region number is: 0x0001
REGION: NA
root@WNDR3700v2:/# artmtd -w regionset WW
argv[3] = WW
write region number: 0x0002
Unlocking /dev/mtd/8 ...
Writing from /tmp/temp.img to /dev/mtd/8 ... [w]
The region number is: 0x0002
REGION: WW
root@WNDR3700v2:/# artmtd -r region
The region number is: 0x0002
REGION: WW

I can confirm that the region selection is now enabled and defaults to Europe.

I can also confirm that this change persists across factory resets and firmware upgrades.  

I am finally able to legally operate this thing.  Thanks again for the nudge in the right direction.

[antinode]

> Thanks for pointing me in that direction.

   Thank _you_ for posting that additional information.

> I recall trying telnetenable before without success [...]

   I use the program which I modified: http://antinode.info/nte/