Netgear N300, a good router for $17

My old D-Link DIR615 finally decided to quit after many years and recently I had to restart it daily. Saw some $17 routers in Walmart, Netgear and Belkin, and decided to give them a try. I grabbed the last Netgear N300, model WNR2000v5, while many Belkin's were still there.



Setup was extremely easy and configuration was all done by itself. All I did was open "www.routerlogin.net" on my computer to confirm that I want it as an AccessPoint. I always use a netbook as a flexible and powerful router and home server for everything.

Much faster and better coverage than before. Now I can watch local HDTV stations over WiFi smoothly. Wish I had done this earlier.



It is a very small box standing up. No extruding antennas. The case is full of heat-dispense holes, ice cold to touch, a good sign of many years of smooth servicing.



Although insanely cheap, it has a power button! saving the hassle to unplug and replug the power in case a reboot is needed. Even more incredible, a WiFi on/off button too, above the WPS button.

In Chinese:

用了多年的D-Link终于开始不稳定了，需要每天重启一下。在Walmart看到Netgear和Belkin的N300都是$17，就捡了一个回来。Belkin还有一堆，Netgear只剩最后一个，所以挑了Netgear。

设置非常简单，我只启用了Access Point模式，然后全是它自己设定。

比以前快多了，覆盖也广多了。以前看当地高清台（MEPG2）时很卡，现在完全流畅了，后悔没早点换掉。

很小，立着，不占地方，天线没在外面。盒子上几乎全是散热孔，一点都不热，冰凉的，应该能多用几年。这么便宜的东西，居然还有个电源开关！需要重启的时候不用拔电源。甚至还有一个WiFi开关！当然WPS按钮也有。