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Topic: Netgear WNDR4300 v2 vs WNDR3700 v5

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Hi everyone,
I'm owner of an old Netgear 834g and I want to buy a new router. I'm interested on these two routers: WNDR4300 and WNDR3700. I read here http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/netgear/wndr3700 that both share the same PCB and the only difference is that the first is 3T3R while the second is 2T2R. However, the routers available on retailers are WNDR4300 v2 and WNDR3700 v5 while the current openWRT version 14.07 supports only models up to WNDR4300 v2 and WNDR3700 v4. Do you have any information about the hardware of these new versions? In the future, is openWRT planning to support also these new versions? What do you suggest?
Thank you

erotavlas wrote:

the routers available on retailers are WNDR4300 v2 and WNDR3700 v5 while the current openWRT version 14.07 supports only models up to WNDR4300 v2 and WNDR3700 v4.

3700v5 ????
First time I hear about that. Looks like Netgear is again re-using the same good device name :-(
V1, v2 and 3800 were "identical", then v3 was totally different (Broadcom chipset), and v4 was again a relative to v1/v2/3800 but with NAND flash...
Now v5... into which family does it belong? If it is relative to v1/v2/3800/v4, then the support will be rather straightforward. If it is related to v3, then support might be weak.

I tried to google, but did not find specs for the router.
It has not yet been e.g. added here: http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/detai … f-wndr3700

EDIT: Looks like 3700v5 has FCC ID: PY314200275 ( http://fccid.net/number.php?fcc=PY31420 … z3NqfNVCs4 )
and 4300v2 has FCC ID: PY314200276  ( http://fccid.net/number.php?fcc=PY31420 … z3NqfNVCs4 )

EDIT2:
At which retailer have you found the v5 router?

(Last edited by hnyman on 4 Jan 2015, 12:11)

Yes it seems strange, but I have found it on Netgear US website under the item package wndr4300 http://www.netgear.com/home/products/ne … -techspecs and wndr3700 http://www.netgear.com/home/products/ne … techspecs.
On Netgear UK website, there is the new version of wndr4300 http://www.netgear.co.uk/home/products/ … -techspecs and the old version of wndr3700 http://www.netgear.co.uk/service-provid … techspecs.
On Netgear Italian website, there are old models. It is very confusing...What do you think? Is it better to wait for a new model or buy the old one?
Thank you

FCC internal photos for the wndr4300v2 show QCA-based chipset, but can't quite read the model numbers.

Hi,

I found the following datasheets.
wndr4300v2  http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/ … 4300v2.pdf
wndr4300v1 http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/ … DR4300.pdf
wndr3700v5 http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/ … 3700v5.pdf
wndr3700v4 http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/ … 7May13.pdf
It seems that wndr4300v2 uses 3x3 antennas on 5 GHz band instead of 2x2 antennas of wndr4300v1. While there is no difference between wndr3700v5 and wndr3700v4 excluding the case dimensions. So the chip should be the same. What do you think?

WNDR4300v1 was 3x3 on 5GHz as well. I think the datasheet is wrong (probably a typo or copy/paste error).

I am looking for the same as my old WNDR3700 just died. Which of these routers / revisions would be the better buy?

I'm wondering whether should i buy the WNDR4300v2 , hope it supported by openwrt~

How do you now if your router is WNDR4300 or WNDR4300v2?

hnyman wrote:
erotavlas wrote:

the routers available on retailers are WNDR4300 v2 and WNDR3700 v5 while the current openWRT version 14.07 supports only models up to WNDR4300 v2 and WNDR3700 v4.

3700v5 ????
First time I hear about that. Looks like Netgear is again re-using the same good device name :-(
V1, v2 and 3800 were "identical", then v3 was totally different (Broadcom chipset), and v4 was again a relative to v1/v2/3800 but with NAND flash...
Now v5... into which family does it belong? If it is relative to v1/v2/3800/v4, then the support will be rather straightforward. If it is related to v3, then support might be weak.

I tried to google, but did not find specs for the router.
It has not yet been e.g. added here: http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/detai … f-wndr3700

EDIT: Looks like 3700v5 has FCC ID: PY314200275 ( http://fccid.net/number.php?fcc=PY31420 … z3NqfNVCs4 )
and 4300v2 has FCC ID: PY314200276  ( http://fccid.net/number.php?fcc=PY31420 … z3NqfNVCs4 )

EDIT2:
At which retailer have you found the v5 router?

Do you know the FCC for WNDR4300 v1 ?

Panderine wrote:

Do you know the FCC for WNDR4300 v1 ?

Available here: https://wikidevi.com/wiki/Netgear_WNDR4300v1

WNDR4300 v1 will have no version specified on the label. V2 will be marked as such.

Has anyone found out if the WNDR3700v5 is supported by OpenWrt?

I have been using a WNDR3700v2 for several years and it recently died.  I ordered online from Walmart.com a WNDR3700, not knowing there was a v5 version.  I assumed I'd receive a supported router.  Opening the box, I've discovered I have a v5 version.

Searching Netgear's support site, I found this page describing the difference between the various versions.  http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/detai … f-wndr3700  The page says it applies to the v5 version, yet I don't see any information about that version.  In an online chat with Neatgear support, the individual I spoke with was not able to give me any information on what hardware is in the v5 version.

My ISP provides native IPv6 support, but provides a changing prefix (I don't know why).  So far, OpenWrt is the only firmware I've found that is able to track the changing prefix.  I need this ability.  So can anyone tell me if the v5 router is supported or do I need to get a different device?

Don't expect new versions to be supported within months of their appearing on the market, that's not how it works unless there's active vendor support.

If v5 is very similar to v4 support might be added easily, but devs need people to offer code for testing (or a board to develop support).

As I said, I thought I was buying a supported router.  I was not aware that a new version had been deployed.  Maybe a better way for me to ask the question would be: does anyone know what hardware is in this router or know of a way I can determine that? When I say hardware, I guess I'm asking about what processor and what wireless chips.  The ad on Walmart's site indicated it had the same amount of memory as the v2 (I thought that was what I was buying).

In theory, these are easily supported because there are minimal differences from the earlier versions (wndr3700 v5 and v4 are virtually the same, as are wndr4300 v1 and v2), but someone has to actually develop/submit the code to the devs and/or send a board to the devs for them to do it.

Unfortunately, the problem of the manufacturers releasing new versions of the same model with slightly or even significantly differing hardware is all too common. In some cases, the hardware can be completely different. That's the case with wndr3700 v3 which was totally different, but luckily v4 & v5 are similar to each other, but different from v1 & v2.

(Last edited by drawz on 4 Apr 2015, 17:27)

Hi,

for those who are interested by the WNDR3700v5, I've started a discussion about it here.

Francis.

Francis wrote:

for those who are interested by the WNDR3700v5, I've started a discussion about it here.

Like you mention in the new thread, the device is based in Ralink MT7621. So, Netgear is introducing a third architecture to the WNDR3700 branch... Seems like they are in love with the number, so it is reused again and again for new routers with no connection to the previous models. :-(

Your bootlog in pastebin also reveals that they do no believe in updating. The compiler is based on 2012 code and the firmware still runs on Linux 2.6.36, introduced in 2010 and retired in Feb 2011...


Some of the bootlog reveals that there is something common with Netgear R6220...
Build_for__Netgear_R6220_k2.6.36_2014-10-22_lke_9.0.0_r237695_b2
https://wikidevi.com/wiki/Netgear_R6220

EDIT: Removed the possibility of dual-core, as that is apparently a wrong assumption.

(Last edited by hnyman on 15 Apr 2015, 09:25)

Does anyone know if these steps still work on the WNDR3700v4 to unlock the wifi regions?

http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/netgear/wndr3700#openwrt_trunk

OpenWrt Trunk

SSH to the router and run the following:

cd /tmp/
wget http://luci.subsignal.org/~jow/reghack/reghack.mips.elf
chmod +x reghack.mips.elf 
cp /lib/modules/*/ath.ko .
cp /lib/modules/*/cfg80211.ko .
./reghack.mips.elf ath.ko
./reghack.mips.elf cfg80211.ko
mv *.ko /lib/modules/*/
reboot
hnyman wrote:

....
In any case, a dual-core CPU at 880 MHz.

Is this definitely the dual core version of the MT7621 (ie MT7621A)? If so, that would actually be a nice upgrade, although I believe OpenWrt needs a little more work to be fully supported on this chipset.

Hi,

the WNDR3700v5 embeds a MT7621ST, not a MT7621A. References can be found here (use Ctrl+F) but I did not find any datasheet for this reference.

Francis.

Francis wrote:

Hi,

the WNDR3700v5 embeds a MT7621ST, not a MT7621A. References can be found here (use Ctrl+F) but I did not find any datasheet for this reference.

Francis.

Ahh too bad, that looks like the single core version.

drawz wrote:
Francis wrote:

Hi,

the WNDR3700v5 embeds a MT7621ST, not a MT7621A. References can be found here (use Ctrl+F) but I did not find any datasheet for this reference.

Francis.

Ahh too bad, that looks like the single core version.

I'm a noob, so pardon me if I'm posting a stupid question...
Didn't this bootlog by (Francis) shows dual core...?

...
Linux version 2.6.36 (root@localhost.localdomain) (gcc version 4.6.3 (Buildroot 2012.11.1) ) #1 SMP Tue Nov 18 18:47:38 CST 2014

The CPU feqenuce set to 880 MHz
GCMP present
CPU revision is: 0001992f (MIPS 1004Kc)
Software DMA cache coherency
Determined physical RAM map:
memory: 08000000 @ 00000000 (usable)
Zone PFN ranges:
  Normal   0x00000000 -> 0x00008000
Movable zone start PFN for each node
early_node_map[1] active PFN ranges
    0: 0x00000000 -> 0x00008000
avail: cpu2 is not ready
avail: cpu3 is not ready
Detected 1 available secondary CPU(s)
...

It's single core, but dual thread (like intel hyperthreading)

The discussion might have continued from here.