When firmware version 1.0.0.36 was announced for my WNDR3700 router (v3), I waited a week to see what I could find online about its changes… then got impatient and installed it.
Since then, my router has routinely kept dropping internet connectivity for any wireless device. Wired connections work fine even while wifi connected devices do not. My wifi devices had excellent signal connectivity, but no access to the internet – this affected both 2.4ghz and 5ghz bands. The router itself does not list any log entries for problems. There were no access restrictions, dns server problems, etc… I tested everything I could think of.
For a short-term fix I could disconnect/reconnect the wifi device, or reboot the router (which does the same thing), and I’d get back on the internet for a while.
I finally got sick of it and re-flashed a previous firmware version 1.0.0.30 and the problem has gone away.
I was considering just putting dd-wrt on the device instead, but it seems that v3 of this router doesn’t have terribly wide support for alternative firmwares.
Anyway. If you’re having this problem, now you know how to “fix” it.
If I were getting a new router (which I also considered) it would not be another Netgear without having done some serious research on it first.