There are plenty of benefits to upgrading, or converting, to a modem router combo. They take up less space, can save you money (you don't have to pay the rental fee for your ISP-supplied unit), and some even come with features that you may not get with your existing router.
That’s where these two products come in: Netgear C3000 and the C3700. Both products have been around for a while, but if you’re looking for a modem/router combo, they could still be well worth a look for most of you out there.
Netgear C3000 Modem/Router
- Compatible with Comcast XFINITY, Time Warner Cable, Charter, Cox, Cablevision, and more
- Wireless N300
- DOCSIS 3.0
- Single Band
Netgear C3700 Modem/Router
- Compatible with Comcast XFINITY, Spectrum, Cox, Suddenlink, Mediacom, Optimum
- Wireless N600
- DOCSIS 3.0
- Dual Band
Netgear C3000 And C3700 Main Shared Features
The good news is that both these products come with some great shared features.
Modem And A Router In One Device
By combining your modem and your router you will be getting two products in the same box therefore streamlining your network. This will save space, and could also even save you some money (instead of buying a separate router and modem).
DOCSIS 3.0
Both of the modems use the DOCSIS 3.0 standard. This is one of the latest modem standards and allows for much faster speeds than DOCSIS 2.0. It does this by bonding multiple channels together, which allows for greater overall throughput.
While the amount of throughput DOCSIS 3.0 delivers varies depending on the number of channels a modem can bond, both these routers can bond 8 download and 4 upload channels (8x4). This means the router can deal with speeds of up to 340 Mbps theoretically from your ISP.
This is more than enough for streaming HD video, playing games, etc and can even be used by multiple users simultaneously.
Of course, the actual speed you get will still depend on the speeds you get from your ISP.
Gigabit Ethernet
Both these routers have two Gigabit Ethernet ports. This allows you to make a wired connection with speeds of up to 1Gbps! The power of these speeds can be used most effectively for network transfers.
Bear in mind, that if your ISP offers more than 100Mbps, the wifi is going to be the bottleneck when it comes to accessing the internet - regardless of whichever router out of these two is used. If you have access to higher internet speeds, and you want to harness them, we recommend going the Ethernet route where you can.
Wired Ethernet connections pretty much won’t suffer from interference and can reduce latency so it can be good to use when gaming - the technology is just more efficient than wifi.
Netgear Genie Network Management
Both products come with Netgear Genie to help you easily manage your network. This platform can be used to manage things like parental controls, guest access, security settings, and more.
The version of Genie on these modems is browser based which means that while perhaps not as simple as using an app to control your network, it can still be done with any device that has an internet browser.
Same Cool Design
Both products look very similar which is no bad thing! We think their perforated matt black design looks great and would not look out of place in even the most style conscious home.
Sadly, at time of writing, there are no other color options. Sort it out Netgear! 🙂
USB 2.0 Port
A USB 2.0 port can easily be used to add a printer or other device to your network so that all the devices can use it. Alternatively, it could be used to attach an external harddrive to share media across your network.
While it would have been nice to see USB 3.0 for potentially higher speeds when transferring files using Gigabit Ethernet, this is by no means a dealbreaker.
Both Compatible With Major U.S. Cable Providers
Both devices are compatible with major cable providers like Comcast XFINITY, Charter, Cox, and Time Warner Cable.
Sadly, Verizon, AT&T, and CenturyLink are not supported at this time.
C3000 vs C3700 - What Are The Differences?
Wireless N Speeds
While both these routers use the Wireless N standard. The C3000 is N300, while the C3700 is N600. This means that the C3700 can provide theoretical combined network speeds of up to 600Mbps in comparison to 300Mbps on the C3000.
While this won’t affect your internet speeds, it could allow you to transfer files on your network quicker - mainly due to 5GHz wireless.
You can't use more than N300 with any one device at one time. The reason for the difference comes down to the fact that one has dual band, and the other doesn't, which conveniently brings us to....
Dual Band On The C3700
The C3700 is also a dual band router. This means that it offers bands on both the 2.4GHz and the 5GHz frequency. This can help you avoid congestion if you are likely to have a lot of devices connecting to the router as well as provide a bit of extra network throughput for your devices to use.
Having the option of a 5GHz band can also help you avoid interference from other wireless networks in the area or wireless devices like Bluetooth speakers etc.
C3000 versus C3700: Wrapping Up
Both these products are pretty similar. In fact, the modem part of the product is basically the same as they both are DOCSIS 3.0 with 8 download and 4 upload channels. They also both come with Gigabit Ethernet and a handy USB 2.0 port.
They are also both very similar looking and use the Wireless N standard with the option of Gigabit Ethernet. The main difference, then, is the fact that the router on the C3700 is a bit more powerful as it is dual band and can provide speeds of up to 600Mbps (cumulatively).
Considering that both modem/router combos are priced not a million miles away from each other, that could push the scales in the favor of the C3700.