I would trust a product that had almost entirely positive reviews if on a retailer's site that clearly published negative reviews when they were submitted.
See Newegg for example - Plenty of scathing 1-star reviews of items, so I'm inclined to trust something that has a decent number of 5-egg reviews.
I've had the same experience as you, even with direct line of sight the WNDR3300 has very poor range/performance. Going back to the store in a day or two.
Netgear's WPN824 used this exact system, licensed from Ruckus.
It didn't actually work that well. I'm getting far better results locating an amp and sector antenna connected to a Buffalo unit in the corner than I did with the WPN824.
802.11n fundamentally does beamforming plus some other neat tricks. That said, it needs clean spectrum to run - it's basically pointless in the 2.4 GHz band unless you're in a farmhouse somewhere, and any solution needs external antennas to match a good G unit with amp/antenna.
All crippled by internal antennas. N-2.4 is notorious for dropping performance significantly when any legacy devices are present - it uses basically the entire band, meaning you can't channelize either.
I HAVE run tests comparing the following: A Buffalo 802.11g router with a 500 mW amp and sector antenna vs. A Netgear WNDR3300 (5 GHz capability giving N the space it needs to breathe - total cost more than the G router + amp/antenna)
The N-5 solution stutters MORE when trying to stream HD MythTV recordings despite having a direct line of sight to the router (the G-only system is behind a wall) due to the low transmit power and poor antennas. N-2.4 with internal antennas would be even worse due to all of the interference, 2.4 GHz is getting crowded where I live.
You'll be lucky to ever see more than 100 megabits full duplex with the wireless in an isolated area. (Just like 20-25 megabits real-world was about all you'd see from G). Especially without external antennas which this box doesn't support.
Forget about outperforming a solid G router with a sector antenna and an amp if you're running 2.4-N with internal antennas.
You need gigabit wired? Total cost of my Buffalo, Hawking sector antenna, Hawking 500 mW amp, and an 8-port gigabit switch was less than this box and will consistently outperform this router wireless-wise in anything but the cleanest of RF environments.
And anyone who has a real need for N will know enough that N in the 2.4 GHz cesspool is pointless - To get full performance you need to get away from all the legacy crap, which means moving to 5 GHz.
No, he's going to stay away from THAT manufacturer's open-source routers because of their history of marketing units as open-source that barely met the definitions and were basically NFG.
Compared to, say, the WRT54GL - Not nearly as aggressively marketed as open-source (other than that "L", in fact stock FW is the same VxWorks-based FW as on other new WRT54G units), but it's a proven functional technical solution that didn't get replaced by the manufacturer within months.
Critical missing features: 1) External antennas. Internal antennas = sucky RF performance. 2) 5 GHz N capability. The 2.4 GHz band is a crowded cesspool already, and N wants even MORE spectrum than B/G does.
Between this and a WNDR3300, I would reccommend the 3300. That said, that's only given a choice between these two units and is 100% based on the futility of trying to run N in 2.4 GHz for anyone that doesn't live in an isolated house in the boonies. Given my experiences with the WNDR3300, I would reccommend against buying *either* product due to the fact that both are affected by issue 1.
Get a solid G-only router for 2.4 GHz, and for N add a 5 GHz Ubiqiti access point. That's what I'm doing if I don't find a miraculous solution to the fact that even with clear line of sight, the 3300 gives less throughput than a solid G unit with an amp/sector antenna due to lacking external antenna capability.
Yup. It sucks that we can't buy their products in the U.S. any more, but I'm rooting for them for fighting the patent trolls when everyone else gave in and paid the ransom.
It's discontinued and the replacement has a LOT of known issues with DD-WRT and Tomato.
The WNDR3300 is much better supported by DD-WRT but so far doesn't provide much more performance than my G-only Buffalo WHR-G54S + amp + sector antenna, even at 10 feet LOS where signal strength shouldn't matter.
I'm probably going to return the WNDR3300 and order a Ubiqiti 5gig-N AP and hang it off of one of the switch ports of the Buffalo.
As I understood it, it's usually the other way around. Any b/g in range will severely degrade N. Especially if the G router has a 500 mW amp and a sector antenna on it.:P As a result it's basically pointless to run N unless you're in an isolated area or you run it at 5 GHz.
That said, there's something seriously wrong if he only sees 10-11 megabits over 100BaseT ethernet so maybe he meant megabytes.
On the other hand I'd be shocked he saw 6 megabytes/sec over G - Signaling rate is 54 Mbps, but there's a lot of per-packet overhead and it's not full duplex, you're lucky to see more than half that in real-world throughput.
That said, its performance is shit. Even at half the range of my WHR-G54S it provides less throughput. This is despite being line of sight while the G54S is at the back corner of the other room.
Admittedly the G54S does have a sector antenna on it, but the WNDR3300 has no external antenna provisions. This is the most annoying router trend - the move to internal antennas. (Like Linksys and their "saucers").
Do you have a solid G router with USB? Then add a dedicated 5 GHz N access point like one of the new Ubiqiti AirMax units. That's what I'm doing if I don't find a smoking gun that fixes the issues with the WNDR3300 I just tried. (Minimum performance criteria - stream MythTV HD recordings over wireless.)
Netgear has done a shitty job with their open-source routers. With their last "open source" router (I forget the model), the source was barely complete and as I understand it, far less functional than the stock closed-source firmware. For whatever reason, none of the community efforts supported that router.
This unit is $30 more than their dual-band dual-radio A/B/G/N WDNR3300 and only does N in the incredibly crowded 2.4 GHz interference cesspool.
It does also have more RAM/ROM, but 95%+ of open-source router users do fine with a 4/16 config.
I bought a WNDR3300 last night due to the DD-WRT support (which seems flawless) but in general, performance of their internal-antenna N solution is worse (both in range and throughput) than a good solid G router with a sector antenna and an amp. Even with 10 feet line of sight I don't get full signal strength with it.
Back to my original plan - a Ubiqiti Rocket M5. I had heard they were on severe backorder which is why I tried the Netgear, but at this point I'm willing to wait for something that actually works.
Yes, and the more people who are vaccinated, the closer to herd immunity you become.
No voluntary corporate-sponsored vacc program will actually achieve herd immunity, but you're going to slow down disease a lot of 30% of your employees are vaccinated, not just the 5% or less in the high-risk category.
As to the study - I think this is one of those correlation vs. causation issues. The study is worried that seasonal flu vaccine -> swine flu infection. When, in reality, it is more likely that: High risk of any flu infection -> obtaining seasonal vaccines High risk of any flu infection -> contracting swine flu
e.g. those who are most likely to contract swine flu and have it be severe enough to report it are also the most likely to go get a seasonal flu vaccine
While I will second your reccomendation for Brothers, I would not judge HP B&W lasers based on their inkjets.
A few posts here indicate Brother is an equal offender in the "crappy color inkjet" category.
That said, I've got an HL-2070N and it's an incredible unit. Wish I could say the same for my Epson RX-595. 48-bit scanner my ass. They claim 48 bit in all marketing material, but the binary-blob Linux drivers only do 8 bits/color (i.e. 24 bits) and even the Windows drivers seem the same.
I'm fairly certain they are still significantly different in design and technology. HP and Lexmark use thermal inkjet systems (where a small resistor vaporizes part of the ink, shooting out the rest, these are known to wear out which is why the cartridges have integrated heads). Epson and Canon use micropiezo heads, which is why their heads are separate from the tanks.
Are you speaking of an inkjet or one of their networked B&W laser printers?
Pretty much every one of their networked lasers (definately any that are currently manufactured) has PCL emulation, and in addition to that, CUPS supports their native protocol quite well (although I've actually had better results in general with PCL mode.)
Almost all manufacturer's inkjets are POS winprinters - HP's inkjets are crap for the same reasons you bash Brother for, in complete contrast to all of the reccomendations here saying how awesome their B&W lasers are.
It seems to be a general theme that manufacturers that make awesome B&W lasers are still pretty bad offenders in the "crappy inkjet" category.
If you want a good inkjet you need to go with a pro-level Epson or Canon IMO, but a Brother or HP B&W laser will be far less expensive for far more quality if you don't need color.
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That's exactly why I order from NewEgg and not Amazon despite NE often charging for shipping when Amazon is free.
I live in New York state though - Amazon taxes, NE doesn't here.
I would trust a product that had almost entirely positive reviews if on a retailer's site that clearly published negative reviews when they were submitted.
See Newegg for example - Plenty of scathing 1-star reviews of items, so I'm inclined to trust something that has a decent number of 5-egg reviews.
I've had the same experience as you, even with direct line of sight the WNDR3300 has very poor range/performance. Going back to the store in a day or two.
Netgear's WPN824 used this exact system, licensed from Ruckus.
It didn't actually work that well. I'm getting far better results locating an amp and sector antenna connected to a Buffalo unit in the corner than I did with the WPN824.
802.11n fundamentally does beamforming plus some other neat tricks. That said, it needs clean spectrum to run - it's basically pointless in the 2.4 GHz band unless you're in a farmhouse somewhere, and any solution needs external antennas to match a good G unit with amp/antenna.
Try Ubiqiti - my Netgear WNDR3300 is going back soon and I'm going to get in line with everyone else for the backordered Rocket M5 units.
All crippled by internal antennas. N-2.4 is notorious for dropping performance significantly when any legacy devices are present - it uses basically the entire band, meaning you can't channelize either.
I HAVE run tests comparing the following:
A Buffalo 802.11g router with a 500 mW amp and sector antenna
vs.
A Netgear WNDR3300 (5 GHz capability giving N the space it needs to breathe - total cost more than the G router + amp/antenna)
The N-5 solution stutters MORE when trying to stream HD MythTV recordings despite having a direct line of sight to the router (the G-only system is behind a wall) due to the low transmit power and poor antennas. N-2.4 with internal antennas would be even worse due to all of the interference, 2.4 GHz is getting crowded where I live.
So?
You'll be lucky to ever see more than 100 megabits full duplex with the wireless in an isolated area. (Just like 20-25 megabits real-world was about all you'd see from G). Especially without external antennas which this box doesn't support.
Forget about outperforming a solid G router with a sector antenna and an amp if you're running 2.4-N with internal antennas.
You need gigabit wired? Total cost of my Buffalo, Hawking sector antenna, Hawking 500 mW amp, and an 8-port gigabit switch was less than this box and will consistently outperform this router wireless-wise in anything but the cleanest of RF environments.
So? Real-world throughput through 802.11n is unlikely to go much beyond 100 megabit full duplex.
Just like you rarely see more than 20-25 megabits throughput with 802.11g due to all the overhead and the fact that it's a shared half-duplex channel.
And anyone who has a real need for N will know enough that N in the 2.4 GHz cesspool is pointless - To get full performance you need to get away from all the legacy crap, which means moving to 5 GHz.
Guess what - this unit is N-2.4 only!
That's one of the nice things I love about my Buffalo. Brick it as much as you want, a certain poweron sequence will put it into TFTP bootloader mode.
No, he's going to stay away from THAT manufacturer's open-source routers because of their history of marketing units as open-source that barely met the definitions and were basically NFG.
Compared to, say, the WRT54GL - Not nearly as aggressively marketed as open-source (other than that "L", in fact stock FW is the same VxWorks-based FW as on other new WRT54G units), but it's a proven functional technical solution that didn't get replaced by the manufacturer within months.
Critical missing features:
1) External antennas. Internal antennas = sucky RF performance.
2) 5 GHz N capability. The 2.4 GHz band is a crowded cesspool already, and N wants even MORE spectrum than B/G does.
Between this and a WNDR3300, I would reccommend the 3300. That said, that's only given a choice between these two units and is 100% based on the futility of trying to run N in 2.4 GHz for anyone that doesn't live in an isolated house in the boonies. Given my experiences with the WNDR3300, I would reccommend against buying *either* product due to the fact that both are affected by issue 1.
Get a solid G-only router for 2.4 GHz, and for N add a 5 GHz Ubiqiti access point. That's what I'm doing if I don't find a miraculous solution to the fact that even with clear line of sight, the 3300 gives less throughput than a solid G unit with an amp/sector antenna due to lacking external antenna capability.
Every router I have EVER used with stock firmware has been an unreliable POS.
The only reliable router I've ever used (and still use) is a Buffalo WHR-G54S running DD-WRT. Never actually tried the stock FW.
Yup. It sucks that we can't buy their products in the U.S. any more, but I'm rooting for them for fighting the patent trolls when everyone else gave in and paid the ransom.
It's discontinued and the replacement has a LOT of known issues with DD-WRT and Tomato.
The WNDR3300 is much better supported by DD-WRT but so far doesn't provide much more performance than my G-only Buffalo WHR-G54S + amp + sector antenna, even at 10 feet LOS where signal strength shouldn't matter.
I'm probably going to return the WNDR3300 and order a Ubiqiti 5gig-N AP and hang it off of one of the switch ports of the Buffalo.
Yeah, none involve a third radio. Dual-band requires two radios though.
As I understood it, it's usually the other way around. Any b/g in range will severely degrade N. Especially if the G router has a 500 mW amp and a sector antenna on it. :P As a result it's basically pointless to run N unless you're in an isolated area or you run it at 5 GHz.
He said megabits.
That said, there's something seriously wrong if he only sees 10-11 megabits over 100BaseT ethernet so maybe he meant megabytes.
On the other hand I'd be shocked he saw 6 megabytes/sec over G - Signaling rate is 54 Mbps, but there's a lot of per-packet overhead and it's not full duplex, you're lucky to see more than half that in real-world throughput.
The WNDR3300 meets all those criteria but USB.
That said, its performance is shit. Even at half the range of my WHR-G54S it provides less throughput. This is despite being line of sight while the G54S is at the back corner of the other room.
Admittedly the G54S does have a sector antenna on it, but the WNDR3300 has no external antenna provisions. This is the most annoying router trend - the move to internal antennas. (Like Linksys and their "saucers").
Do you have a solid G router with USB? Then add a dedicated 5 GHz N access point like one of the new Ubiqiti AirMax units. That's what I'm doing if I don't find a smoking gun that fixes the issues with the WNDR3300 I just tried. (Minimum performance criteria - stream MythTV HD recordings over wireless.)
Netgear has done a shitty job with their open-source routers. With their last "open source" router (I forget the model), the source was barely complete and as I understand it, far less functional than the stock closed-source firmware. For whatever reason, none of the community efforts supported that router.
This unit is $30 more than their dual-band dual-radio A/B/G/N WDNR3300 and only does N in the incredibly crowded 2.4 GHz interference cesspool.
It does also have more RAM/ROM, but 95%+ of open-source router users do fine with a 4/16 config.
I bought a WNDR3300 last night due to the DD-WRT support (which seems flawless) but in general, performance of their internal-antenna N solution is worse (both in range and throughput) than a good solid G router with a sector antenna and an amp. Even with 10 feet line of sight I don't get full signal strength with it.
Back to my original plan - a Ubiqiti Rocket M5. I had heard they were on severe backorder which is why I tried the Netgear, but at this point I'm willing to wait for something that actually works.
Yes, and the more people who are vaccinated, the closer to herd immunity you become.
No voluntary corporate-sponsored vacc program will actually achieve herd immunity, but you're going to slow down disease a lot of 30% of your employees are vaccinated, not just the 5% or less in the high-risk category.
As to the study - I think this is one of those correlation vs. causation issues. The study is worried that seasonal flu vaccine -> swine flu infection. When, in reality, it is more likely that:
High risk of any flu infection -> obtaining seasonal vaccines
High risk of any flu infection -> contracting swine flu
e.g. those who are most likely to contract swine flu and have it be severe enough to report it are also the most likely to go get a seasonal flu vaccine
While I will second your reccomendation for Brothers, I would not judge HP B&W lasers based on their inkjets.
A few posts here indicate Brother is an equal offender in the "crappy color inkjet" category.
That said, I've got an HL-2070N and it's an incredible unit. Wish I could say the same for my Epson RX-595. 48-bit scanner my ass. They claim 48 bit in all marketing material, but the binary-blob Linux drivers only do 8 bits/color (i.e. 24 bits) and even the Windows drivers seem the same.
Where does your HP=Canon comment come from?
I'm fairly certain they are still significantly different in design and technology. HP and Lexmark use thermal inkjet systems (where a small resistor vaporizes part of the ink, shooting out the rest, these are known to wear out which is why the cartridges have integrated heads). Epson and Canon use micropiezo heads, which is why their heads are separate from the tanks.
Are you speaking of an inkjet or one of their networked B&W laser printers?
Pretty much every one of their networked lasers (definately any that are currently manufactured) has PCL emulation, and in addition to that, CUPS supports their native protocol quite well (although I've actually had better results in general with PCL mode.)
Almost all manufacturer's inkjets are POS winprinters - HP's inkjets are crap for the same reasons you bash Brother for, in complete contrast to all of the reccomendations here saying how awesome their B&W lasers are.
It seems to be a general theme that manufacturers that make awesome B&W lasers are still pretty bad offenders in the "crappy inkjet" category.
If you want a good inkjet you need to go with a pro-level Epson or Canon IMO, but a Brother or HP B&W laser will be far less expensive for far more quality if you don't need color.
Fairly certain that in addition to USB->Parallel, there are print servers with parallel ports.
That said it's pretty easy to find a solid networked laser printer for not much more than an LPT-enabled print server nowadays.