Review: Netgear N900 wireless dual-band Gigabit router

Routers using a 3x3 MIMO configuration to achieve 450Mbps link speeds are definitely the flavour of the month, and the Netgear N900 is the latest model to pass through my hands. It's an impressively big router, but can only be used standing on its edge - a decision probably made to ensure it has good heat dissipation. Of course, a 450Mbps router only connects at maximum speed to a suitable client adapter, but 450Mbps USB dongles are starting to appear, and many Centrino laptops have suitable NICs.

My testing was dogged by the presence of another Netgear 300Mbps router in my neighbour's house - Netgear routers carry a Wifi Alliance certification, so they have to implement 'good neighbour' policies by dropping back to 20Mhz channels when an overlap is detected - this ensures minimum interference, but can also affect performance if the overlap is persisitent. A bit of negotiation and some of my wife's cooking helped solve the problem.

The interface and utility software have been significantly revised in the N900, and are much the better for it too. You can read my full review over on ITProPortal.

The new software suite is excellent

It's big, bulky and ungainly but it does the job

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