Netgear D7000 Modem Router Review

It's coming to get you

by Greg Hook
Tech Review

8

Netgear D7000 Modem Router Review
MSRP: £165.00

Introduction

With the rise in availability of high speed fibre broadband, the likes of BT and Sky - to name just two - are desperate for your custom and are now offering up some extremely good deals. The downside of this is that the 'free' router/modem provided is often not really up to the task, often beset with bugs or just poor quality and lacking features. In the case of BT's pre HomeHub5 solution you even had a separate modem and router.

Whilst there are many ADSL routers available, VDSL versions have been rather thin on the ground. Especially those that combine both the router and modem as seen in BT's HomeHub5. Thankfully this is starting to change. One such version we have for review is from Netgear. The Nighthawk D7000 VDSL/ADSL modem router (available for around £165) offers a modem compatible with the latest VDSL2 and ASDL2+, 802.11ac simultaneous dual band WiFi for speeds up to 1.9Gbps, a fast dual core 1Ghz processor and it also looks a bit like something you used to see in Robot Wars, which is nice. Read on to see how this fares in our tests.

Design and Connections

Looking like something from Doctor Who or that classic BBC2 programme Robot Wars, the latest Netgear D7000 and D7800 Modem Routers certainly have a striking and stealthy appearance. Although we can't quite understand why as, usually, a router is hidden away from view. With three external antennas and a huge array of flashing LED lights to the front it looks like it is planning your downfall and ready to attack at any time. But remembering it is just a modem router for the moment, it's all black and a fairly large piece of kit coming it at 750g with a footprint of 285x150x50mm. It does take up a fair bit of space but thankfully can be wall mounted if required.

Netgear D7000


To each side of the D7000 we have a single USB 3.0 port, to the rear are 4 Gigabit Ethernet ports, the power connection, reset button and the telephone line connection, along with an Internet Port for connecting to a fibre or cable modem, which as the D7000 has its own built-in modem we can't see why you would need to use that really. The three antennas are also mounted at the rear. To the front we have a rather unnecessary array of 13 LED lights, so bright when on that it will provide a good level of light to a darkened room. If you have it in a bedroom for example, you may end up sticking some black tape over the lights to get to sleep!

The 13 LED lights offer the standard information you would expect such as the Power, Internet connection, DSL connection, 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz Wi-Fi and whether the USB ports are being used. The four lights for the Gigabit Ethernet ports will also indicate the speed of the connection, white for Gigabit and amber for 100/10Mbps connections. The last two lights double as the buttons for turning the WiFi on and off and WPS.

Netgear D7000

Setup and Features

We now consider this to be the norm with most networking products and the Netgear D7000 is no different, so you get an extremely simple setup and installation process. You simply attach the antennas, connect it to the power and then connect a device to it. The Netgear Genie system will automatically launch providing a very easy to follow menu and within a minute or two your internet is up and running. You will of course need your user name and password for your internet connection, it's not that clever. Once running the options are very simple to use to change WiFi passwords, mode, channel and various other settings.

Netgear D7000


As for the features, it's an area Netgear do excel in and for a Modem Router costing £165 it's probably fair to expect a decent number. Starting with the two USB 3.0 ports, these allow you to connect a USB Hard Drive which can be configured to back up your PC using ReadySHARE Vault or your Mac via Time Machine. You can also configure the hard drive to allow remote access to the files. Creating network folders on the drive will allow you to create your own cloud service and this can be fully secured to allow access to just the people you want. It will also work a simple home server providing access for anyone on the network to the hard drive.

Using ReadySHARE Printer, if you don't have a WiFi enabled printer you can connect it to one of the USB ports and providing your tablet/Smartphone devices have the Netgear Genie app and PCs or Mac computers have the ReadySHARE Printer utility installed, you can print to it from any device on the network. The D7000 can also be configured to act as a ReadyDLNA media server for viewing movies and photos on DLNA/UPnP compliant devices.

The D7000 also has full parental control options and access controls with a high level of configuration. This can allow access to only devices you approve, block certain domains and setup keywords to block particular websites. These can be setup continuously or to a certain time schedule via the Parental Controls, which uses an OpenDNS account you can configure different restrictions to different devices. The level of control here is impressive and if you are looking for a router to control your child's access to the internet, the D7000 does the job well here.

Netgear D7000


The Netgear Genie app for Android and iOS devices offers the same simple to use system as you find by logging directly into the router. Via the app you can configure the wireless settings, guest access, parental controls and access media or files stored across the network or on a USB hard drive connected to the router. For the more advanced user the D7000 also includes a full QoS system including WMM QoS which when enabled prioritises WiFi voice and video traffic over the WiFi link.

Performance and Testing

Our review location has always been a very tough one for wireless devices, we currently have a BT HomeHub5 and a separate Powerline network with WiFi to provide network access, although WiFi blackspots are still present. For our testing we turned off all other wireless transmitters to minimise any interference and just used the HomeHub5 with a basic wireless laptop, a BT 802.11ac wireless dongle and a PC connected to the HomeHub5 via Gigabit Ethernet. The tests were carried out in 5 locations and with all the different operating modes set. For the tests we use Totusoft's LANTest v3 (costs about £3).

We carried out several wireless tests in 5 locations, firstly with our existing setup using the HomeHub5 as a baseline, then with the Netgear D7000, on the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz band using 802.11ac.
Netgear D7000

Testing Results

From our baseline tests with our current setup we received a maximum result of 211.03Mbps with the laptop on the floor directly above the router and our furthest location receiving no signal. Then with the D7000 our maximum was 209.2 Mbps and unfortunately again in our furthest test location no signal was received.

As expected with the 5Ghz band, the further away the test location, the slower the speed but on the whole we found the results to be disappointing. Compared to our ISP provided HomeHub5 we found no increase in wireless range and no increase in wireless speeds received. In several places the results were worse than the HomeHub5. Given the emphasis on the high powered amplifiers, three external antennas and Beamforming+ to improve range and reliability, we were distinctly underwhelmed.

Without being completely negative here, what we did find after having this on a month long test was a much more reliable internet connection than our HomeHub5 provides. We frequently have disconnections or find the router has rebooted itself overnight, whereas the D7000 was rock solid in this regard. Excluding power cuts, it gave a unbroken up-time throughout our test period which if a reliable and constant connection are high on your list, the D7000 is more than up to the task.

Conclusion

Pros

  • Effortless setup and installation
  • Huge array of features
  • Very reliable connection
  • USB 3.0 Ports
  • HDD backup and remote access

Cons

  • No range or speed improvement over a HomeHub5
  • Not the cheapest in its class

Netgear D7000 Modem Router Review

Our review location has always provided a tough test for any wireless device, so we didn't expect to suddenly receive lightning fast speeds in the darkest corners, but we did expect an improvement in both range and speed over our existing BT HomeHub5 and sadly we didn't get either.

It isn't all about the speed and range as the D7000 comes with Netgear's excellent hassle-free setup/installation and does offer a lot of features and configuration options that are absent on most ISP provided modem routers. These include features such as access control, parental controls, VPN options, USB hard drive access and USB printer sharing. One area the D7000 did excel in was reliability, we had it on test for over 4 weeks with no disconnections during that time; our HomeHub5, on the other hand, seems to lose connection at least twice a week.

For streaming via Netflix HD and Amazon for example, the speeds received in all our locations (excluding the one with no signal) were more than sufficient for a good quality stream, but in some areas where you start getting into multiple streams, the speeds received may not be up to the task. With multiple devices connected we didn't suffer any disconnections and the signal was stable at all times but then it is with our HomeHub5, so no real difference there.

In the VDSL modem router world, there isn't a massive array of options currently although new devices are being released fairly regularly. At £165 the Netgear D7000 comes in fairly high when compared to the likes of the £143 ASUS DSL-AC68U and the Billion BiPAC 8800AXL at £136. Whilst we didn't see improvements in wireless range or speed compared to our HomeHub5, the D7000 did provide a very reliable connection and a huge array of features for controlling and accessing your home network and, as such, should be worthy of consideration if you are looking to replace your current two box solution.

Scores

Build Quality

.
.
8

Connectivity

.
.
8

Ease of Use

10

Video Quality

.
.
8

Connection Speed

.
.
.
7

Value for Money

.
.
.
7

Verdict

.
.
.
7
7
AVForumsSCORE
OUT OF
10

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