Now that it's a certified standard, we're finally seeing more and more devices shipping with 802.11n support. 802.11n is much faster than its predecessor, 802.11g, but it really does best when operating at 5GHz, rather than the standard 2.4GHz that most wireless devices and routers use. This is because the 5GHz band is less congested and has fewer overlapping channels and less radio interference.
For home users, the problem with adopting 802.11n for your home network has been that in order to get the best speed, you need to have a 5GHz network. OK, so your laptop and desktop support the network -- but what about your iPhone or Android device? What about the Xbox? What about your set-top box?
The solution is to use a simultaneous dual-band router like the WNDR3700. This means that you can have a network running at 2.4GHz to handle all of your phones, older computers, set-top boxes and other wireless devices, while also maintaining a 5GHz 802.11n network for your faster and newer components. Devices that can use both will automatically select whatever band is most appropriate.
It's a great way to make sure that you can still connect with all of your old devices, while still supporting the newer and faster gadgets of the future.
In many setups, using dual-bands will also reduce interference, which can mean you get better range too.
Easy Network Sharing, Guest Access
Another feature we really like about the WNDR3700 is that it supports Netgear's ReadyShare. That means you can plug a USB hard drive into the router and easily access that drive from your various networked devices. It's not quite a NAS (network-attached storage) solution, but it's a nice feature.
With tools like Firesheep on the loose, it is flat-out dumb to leave your home network without a password. However, how annoying is it to have to pull out the 24 character jumble of letters and numbers every time a friend or colleague comes over and wants some access?
This is where Netgear's guest network feature becomes super useful. You can create separate network names and separate security and access restrictions for people who just need to connect briefly.