Airport extreme versus Netgear router

[Luis Ortega]

I have an old Belkin pre-N router and Virgin internet.
I am considering getting a new router and was wondering what people think about the airport extreme versus others, specifically the Netgear N300 dual band routers, such as the WNDR3700? Both are about the same price.
I have 3 Macbook Pros and an old Windows xp computer and my mac pro currently on our home network, with my mac pro on the ethernet cable and the rest on wireless.
Is the range on the airport extreme good for outdoors as well as going through walls to upstairs?
Thanks for any advice.

 

[miles01110]

I've had the same number of problems with the AEBS as I have had with any other wireless router. It's pretty much a wash as far as performance goes.

 

[SandboxGeneral]

I have the AEBS and it's the best wireless router I've had. I had several Linksys routers and a Cradlepoint router. With the AEBS, my iPhone can pick up it's signal over 300' away - across the street from my house! I've never had any issues or problems with it and I've had it for about 3 years now.

The Cradlepoint signal strength stinks badly, especially for being wireless-N. I've been back and forth with their support on it many times and just gave up. My iPhone and laptops would never get full signal strength from it regardless if they were 2 inches, 2 feet, 20 feet or more away from it. Performance was always slow and their support couldn't help me with it.

The Linksys routers I've had weren't bad, and I cannot recall any problems with them in my experience.

 

[7thMac]

The AEBS works OK for me. I really wish it had more than three ethernet ports.

 

[Luis Ortega]

I've had the same number of problems with the AEBS as I have had with any other wireless router. It's pretty much a wash as far as performance goes.

I never got to discover its performance.
I went and bought the airport extreme but I am returning it.
The setup was an impossible nightmare, and I have some experience configuring home networks.
I was able to get my ethernet mac pro working, but the macbook pros refused to connect and I tried everything that I could for hours. I didn't even bother trying the xbox or the upstairs pc.
The manuals and the airport utility were unhelpful.
It certainly doesn't "just work".