Netgear DGND3300 Product Details
The Netgear DGND3300RangeMax Dual Band Wireless-N Router with Built-in DSL Modem features both a DSL modem and a dual-band Wireless-N router built into a compact, attractive device. Instead of requiring a clutter of wires and the need for multiple outlets, the Netgear DGND3300 lets you share a DSL Internet connection and create a wireless network that offers fast and reliable connections for everyone on your network.
Dual Band Wireless-N for Better Performance
Thanks to Dual Band Wireless-N technology, the DGND3300 delivers exceptional wireless performance by avoiding interference from household devices such as baby monitors, microwave ovens, and cordless phones. The RangeMax Dual Band Wireless-N provides up to 23 free channels (versus just three with regular Wireless-N), and the DGND3300 also has eight internal antennas for optimal wireless connectivity.
With speeds that are up to 15 times faster than Wireless-G, the Netgear DGND3300 will give you the bandwidth to stream higher-quality videos and media and experience better online gaming. Automatic Quality of Service (QoS) ensures prioritization of voice, video, and gaming traffic.
The RangeMax Dual Band Wireless-N DSL Gateway is compatible with 802.11n draft 2.0, as well as 802.11n/g/b at 2.4 GHz, and 802.11n/a at 5.0 GHz. For optimal performance, use this gateway with a RangeMax Dual Band Wireless-N Adapter such as the NETGEAR WNDA3100 USB 2.0 Adapter.
Push-Button Network Security
he NETGEAR Push ‘N’ Connect feature lets you create a secure wireless connection using Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) by simply pushing a button. In addition, WPA2-PSK, WPA-PSK, and 64- and 128-bit WEP provides wireless security. The router protects against Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks and supports a double firewall for protection from the outside world.
Save Space with Integrated ADSL Modem
The DGND3300 measures just 8.8 x 1.2 x 6 inches (WxHxD), thanks to an internal antenna design that helps keep the overall size small. Since it combines both a DSL modem and a wireless router into a single device, the DGND3300 lets you save space and outlets, and it eliminates the clutter of power and Ethernet cables. The sleek, black design of the DGND3300 makes it easy to find a place for in your home, and you can place it either horizontally or vertically on the included stand.
The modem is compatible with major DSL Internet providers and supports ITU 992.1 (G.dmt) Annex A, ITU 992.2 (G.lite), ITU 992.3 ADSL2 (G.dmt.bis), and ITU 992.5 ADSL2+.
Go Green with the Netgear DGND3300
NETGEAR is devoted to doing its part for the environment. This device’s power supply is Energy Star compliant and the package is manufactured with at least 80 percent recycled materials. An on/off switch on the device lets you save energy when it’s not in use.
The NETGEAR DGN3300 RangeMax Dual Band Wireless-N Router with Built-in DSL Modem is backed by a one-year warranty.
What’s in the Box
RangeMax Dual Band Wireless-N Modem Router, Stand Clips, Ethernet cable, DSL Cable, Power Adapter.
Does the Netgear DGND3300 work with Charter Cable?
No. This model is exclusively for DSL service and only works with DSL providers. Cable internet providers such as Comcast & Charter require a cable modem in order to receive an internet connection.
Does the DGND3300 have WiFi built in?
Yes! This model comes equipped with a complete, dual band router already configured and built in. No need to purchase an additional router unless you’d like to extend your network over more sqft.
Mindi O. –
I was a bit skeptical after reading some of the reviews posted but after a lot of research and seeing both good and bad in every router/modem combination I decided to jump in and buy this one in an attempt to to solve my AT&T DSL disconnection problems. I am really glad I did now! I did not attempt to use the software disk but downloaded the software directly from the manufacturers website, plugged it in, and all was good. If you have ever set up a router before this will be really simple as setup is very basic. The only problem I had was when I set it all up it did not “see” the DSL connection. Problem easily solved by simply unplugging the phone wire from the wall, (including the DSL filter), waiting about 10 seconds, and plugging it back in again. Best investment I have made in a long time! I stream Hulu to my PS3 via Playon, iTunes tv shows to my Apple TV, and share music and videos to 3 laptops, a desktop, an iPhone, and and iPod Touch. This thing has amazing speed! No more video streaming issues or connection problems! As far as heat, I have it sitting where it gets plenty of air and keep room temperature about 72 degrees and it is just barely warm to the touch! No heat problems here! I am very happy with this product. I am running Windows 7 on all computers and all my devices (including PS3 & Wii System, are running “N”. My oldest laptop is about 3 years old. You can get a lemon in anything. The production lines still run on Friday afternoon as well as Monday morning but this is definitely a winner for me! I have had it over 5 weeks now and still going strong!
Steve –
I have used a 2wire modem for 4 years and it did a fantastic job, however as I began to increase my wireless devices in my household, it did not have the capabilities to keep up with the work load.
This Netgear modem was well worth the money. It was simple to set up, took less than 10 min including installation.
The reason I chose the dual band modem, is knowing where the wireless technology is going and this modem/router is ahead of the game. I do not have any wireless N devices yet but I know that I will have some in the future.
This has an option to set the 2.4ghz and 5ghz together, or one on and one off, your choice. I am sure that when I do get wireless N devices it will run amazing.
I am now able to stream movies on wifi, and my wife can use the laptop at the same time. This did not work before it would make the video buffer and lag.
I am using 2 computers and a PS3 wired connection, and 2 Laptops and an Ipod on wifi. Many more wifi devices to come and this will do the trick. It can hold up to 23 channels on the 5 ghz stream and 3 channels on the 2.4 ghz stream.
I am a review buyer and the reviews didn’t do it justice, I hope this helps you.
C. Adams –
Like any dual-band 802.11n router, your connection gets a choice of either the 2.4GHz band *or* the 5GHz band, but you can’t actually use both at the same time with any one client, or easily hop between them like Netgear’s ad and box copy would have you believe. In fact, I had to use the 2.4GHz band because my laptop’s radio wouldn’t see it on 5Ghz. Setup for choosing frequencies is also fairly confusing, and you only get “automatic” with some configurations, not others.
On the ADSL side, the product worked without a hitch on my ADSL2+ line, syncing reasonably quickly. The hidden command-line tools ended up being very useful when I had my ISP play with my noise profile on their end and ended up with SNR settings a bit too low. No web interface to this, though that’s to be expected.
Firewall support is shockingly primitive for this device though, especially when it comes to port mappings. The abilities are all there in the Linux OS behind the scenes, but the web interface is extremely cumbersome here. Thankfully I have simple needs as firewalls go, and the UPNP support appears to work adequately for my needs.
The USB port is now fully operational and worked flawlessly as a windows share when I plugged in a thumb drive, though I would really have preferred having zeroconf printer support. It might be supported, but I see nothing in the web interface that suggests this. I might end up having to use a third party firmware, but support for that tends to be sketchy with Broadcom’s ADSL chipset (which unlike their wifi chipset, has no open-source driver).
The large blue button does flash and blink annoyingly, but simply pressing it for about 2 seconds turns off the lightshow. Pressing it for 5 seconds activates WPS, which I found very handy when connecting the wifi dongle on my TV.
The unit does get pretty warm, so I do recommend putting it up vertically on the stand for ventilation.
Customer –
After using two other WiFi routers in as many years I had given up on maintaining a steady WiFi connection. I finally concluded there were just too many other people in my condo that also had WiFi and especially with the new devices that can switch channels on their own the situation was getting hopeless. Turning my old devices off and scanning for signals I noticed there was always one the was fairly strong, and they weren’t even the closest router in the building. Fortunately it was someone I knew and I asked them what they were using. It turned out to be the version of this device that was just a router (no modem). So I decided to fight fire with fire.
When I looked the price up it was very reasonable (it might have been on sale that week I think) and I also found a sterling review by a well known Open Source advocate. I decided to give it a try. This device did everything I expected and more. I did not use the enclosed software for set-up as I prefer always to use the web browser interface from the very beginning. It is a complex device so there are a lot of settings, although in my case most of the defaults were correct and didn’t need to be changed. It autodetected my PPPoE settings and all really had to do was pick meaningful names for the WiFi networks (I also changed them to hidden for extra security) and set the passwords. Note the use of plural. There are actually four (4!!) WiFi entry points with two internal antennas for each. B/G and N are handled separately and for each of those there is both a “private” and “public” version. The private version allows all the computers on it to see each other, the public version isolates each machine and only allows Internet access. Of course you would at least want to put passwords on the private networks. I recommend passwording all four. When you have guests, just give them the ID and passwords for the public networks and feel secure that any viruses on their machines won’t migrate to yours.
This thing has four wired ports as well, and also has a USB connection for a primitive NAS (network attached storage). I didn’t even notice this last point when I bought it, but as it was there decided to try it. What I found and also noticed documented elsewhere is that it is fairly finicky about which external drives it will recognize. In fact the only thing I got to work was a 4G thumb drive. I suppose it will be a handy transfer or I could leave the router alone running and access it from the road. I can’t say anything about the reliability of the interface though having barely used it.
One thing to note that I had to look hard to find (it’s in the most recent version of the manual under “troubleshooting”): The blue”button” on the side/top has two purposes. One purpose is to sync with other Netgear routers. I’ve never used the feature, but I think you push buttons on both routers within a short period of time and they locate each other and configure themselves. The other “function” is of dubious usefulness and simply lights up some blue lights to indicate activity of the 8 internal antennas (or so they say). The effect of this has caused people to call them “disco lights” as they blink on and off constantly. In a darkened room it can be quite noticeable and distracting. The solution is to simply push the button for about 2 seconds (have to get the timing just right) and the lights go off and stay off, even after power cycles or reboots etc. If you find you miss the blenenlights a similar process will reactivate them. Great for parties.
Also note they always show these things standing on-end. Little clip-on things facilitate this. Make sure you don’t throw them away with the packaging. I suspect it is better for the antennas and also for heat dissipation. Past experience with these things indicates that leaving them laying flat can cause them to overheat and malfunction earlier (at least this has been true for the previous generation of Netgear equipment. They may well have resolved this with the larger box. I put mine on end for reasons stated above.
L. Honda –
I just got this unit tonight and really set it up in about 2 minutes.
I have verizon DSL and just need to know the setting 0/35 and it worked right away.
I just called it the same thing as the previous router and did not need to change anything else.
This is unlike my D-Link unit which was soooo hard to set up (although do-able).
I am very happy with setup.
Speed seems good, wifi and hardline both worked well.
I like it.
Update April 19, 2011, Still working great. Set up with my iphones, laptops, blackberry, and desktop.
All can run at once.
Speed limited by DSL.
Cant tell the difference between hardwire and wireless.
Update August 14, 2011. Still working great.
Bob M –
I installed this modem/router combo for two reasons. First, because I hoped it might eliminate the problem I was having of loosing internet connection several times a week and having to reboot the seperate modem and router. It did just that. It has not lost connection once after being online for several weeks. Second, to eliminate over a hunderd feet of ethernet cable I had running from the modem on the outside wall in one room to my router in another room. My old router would not supply a strong enough signal to the hole house being next to the modem. The NETGEAR did just that. I hope to attach a photo of how much wire I am talking about. I bought NETGEARS Home Theatre Power Line Kit to supply the signal downstairs. You can see my review for that product as well. My original Century Link Zytel 660 modem was a piece of junk. I had to call NETGEAR to get connected. It would not connect automatically, I had to do it manually. Customer Service was great, they got me going in no time.
I tried to attach a photo of the wire saved but I don’t know where it went. To the product page? Not what I wanted to do.
King –
I was having trouble reaching part of my house (upstairs) with a good wifi signal and the phone company had just told me my Westell 327W was too old to receive software update and needed to be replaced. while waiting for their 2nd new router to arrive (the first new one they sent did not work at all)i decided i may need to buy a new modem and router with extended range and solve two problems at the same time. thats when i ordered this one.
the two band thing is a good idea and the way they explained it to me is the 5GHz is better for speed and less interference where distance is not important and the 2.4GHZ is the band for that extra distance when thats more important than quality or speed.i have been watching NetFlix on a Roku upstairs for months using my old Westell 327W with no problem (my router is downstairs). the 2.4GHz signal would reach my TV upstairs but i kept getting a Roku warning that the signal was so weak there was gonna be a problem watching movies. the 5GHz signal would not reach upstairs at all.
bottom line, using a wifi signal meter app on my Kindle Fire i compared the signal strength of the old Westell 327W and this Netgear Rangemax Dual Band unit and the old Westell signal was stronger anywhere i could get a wifi signal. i returned the Netgear for a refund.
Great idea having two bands so you can split your wireless stuff up and use some on both bands but forget about the RangeMax thing as it is no better than the router the phone company provides. there are areas of my house i still can’t get a wifi signal into.
Macy Lapham –
I actually like those folks in India. They’re always been courteous to me and they seem to try hard. Well, that past experience was shattered with this router. Router was shipped just fine, packaged just fine, hooked up just fine, and then the software configuration is where the problem started. Even though I’d upgraded to the latest version, the software screen did not match the instructions on their website. So for instance I went to Netgear’s tech support, entered the exact model number of my unit and it would say 1) do this, 2) do that, etc but what they were saying did not match the software screens at their web page driven configuration. So calling tech support I explained all I wanted to do was change the login password for the network from “password” which is the default to my own password. This was like something new to them, the gal tried to help me and then moved me to an upper tier tech support person who was one unhappy camper, he was surly and short tempered, and just plain nasty. I really didn’t care, so I went through it step by step with him and we couldn’t do it either. I finally had an friend of mine who’s a network pro come over and he showed me how it’s done in 60 seconds. I showed him the discrepancies between what they said to do and the screens I had to work with, and he said he sees this all the time.
So far it’s running just great but their tech support made me want to pull my hair out. I worry about older Americans like my parents who have to call and deal with these tech support people that are so angry and hateful.
M.S.Jin –
Works Good!