Netgear WNDR3700 v1

The Netgear WNDR3700 got some pretty good reviews when it came out, establishing it as a top of the line consumer router for those wanting to get 802.11n. The primary motivation to get the WNDR3700 and not another 802.11n model with 5GHz support was the fact OpenWrt supported the model - and early on. The Atheros platform is a Linux-friendly solution, and I was looking for an upgrade from my aging Asus WL-500G Deluxe. The WNDR3700 hit the market around september 2009, and initial OpenWrt support was added about two months later. I purchased the device in June 2010. Besides the obvious upgrade to gigabit, a beefier SoC and 5 GHz 802.11n, the device also contains a switch with VLAN support. It also has a built-in TFTP server, which greatly simplifies recovery if you mess up configuration or flash up a broken firmware.

Currently this device is running a recent LEDE trunk checkout. At my brother's, it used to be paired with a TL-WR1043ND, so I could implement an extra VLAN for digital TV (see this post for more information).

Hardware specifications

• Atheros AR7161 SoC MIPS 24Kc V7.4 680 MHz
• 8 MiB flash
• 64 MiB RAM
• Realtek RTL8366SR 5 port Gigabit Ethernet switch
• Atheros AR9223 802.11bgn 2x2:2
• Atheros AR9220 802.11an 2x2:2
• USB 2.0 port
• JTAG and serial port

/proc/cpuinfo output

system type             : Atheros AR7161 rev 2
machine                 : NETGEAR WNDR3700/WNDR3800/WNDRMAC
processor               : 0
cpu model               : MIPS 24Kc V7.4
BogoMIPS                : 452.19
wait instruction        : yes
microsecond timers      : yes
tlb_entries             : 16
extra interrupt vector  : yes
hardware watchpoint     : yes, count: 4, address/irw mask: [0x0ff8, 0x0ff8, 0x0ff8, 0x0ffb]
ASEs implemented        : mips16
shadow register sets    : 1
kscratch registers      : 0
core                    : 0
VCED exceptions         : not available
VCEI exceptions         : not available

LEDE prompt

Always nice to see...

BusyBox v1.25.1 () built-in shell (ash)

     _________
    /        /\      _    ___ ___  ___
   /  LE    /  \    | |  | __|   \| __|
  /    DE  /    \   | |__| _|| |) | _|
 /________/  LE  \  |____|___|___/|___|                      lede-project.org
 \        \   DE /
  \    LE  \    /  -----------------------------------------------------------
   \  DE    \  /    Reboot (HEAD, r2006+2)
    \________\/    -----------------------------------------------------------