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I need to replace my aging ADSL modem/router, and am considering the Netgear DGN3500 or Linksys WAG320N, as they both appear to have all the features I require (802.11n, ADSL2, Gigabit ethanet). I recently purchased a Belkin Share which also had all these features, but I had to return it as it didn't support Bonjour, meaning my iMac and Macbook Pro were not playing nicely on my LAN.

Does anyone here have experience with the above modem/routers, and can tell me whether they will work well in a LAN consisting of OSX and Windows based machines? I also have a variety of wireless devices (iPod Touch 2nd Gen, iPhone 4, PS3, PSP) that will need to integrate into the network.

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I had a Linksys very similar to that one and many other modem/routers (in fact a few days ago I had to get a new one and found a DLink) and never had any problem with Bonjour “not working” or being unsupported. What do you mean by “didn’t support Bonjour”? Bonjour is a local protocol and unless you have different subnets within the same place and have a bridge/router in-between them, Bonjour is just like any other protocol inside your internal network.

I’m sure that either the Netgear or the Linksys are going to do the job fine. We have Window XP, Windows 7, OS X and Linux in our network.

If you expand your question to indicate what is your Bonjour’s problem maybe we can help.

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I could only connect to my mac computers using SMB, because AFP didn't work. Other bonjour provided services such as my shared printer and shared iTunes library also didn't work. I could not ping machines by name, and instead had to ping the IP address directly. Name resolution did work correctly from my Windows 7 based HP laptop and Fusion VM. When I swapped the Belkin Share out for my old DLink modem/router, all these services were once again available. – Cleggy Sep 9 '10 at 23:50
It sounds to me that there was some sort of misconfiguration or conflict. A modem/router cannot cause all that, unless it’s providing bad DHCP info or is messing with routing. Very strange indeed. In any case, the Linksys is always a good choice. – Martín Marconcini Sep 10 '10 at 4:31
The only thing that springs to mind was that the new router had a different subnet range (192.168.2) to the one it was replacing (192.168.0). All my computers were originally configured using the old router, although I did remove the Ethernet connections from the OSX Network preferences and added them back in again. What I didn't try was to set the new routers subnet range to match the old router. What sealed the deal for me returning the router was Belkin's tech supports complete unwillingness to help when they found out I was running Macs (due to admitted lack of knowledge on their part). – Cleggy Sep 10 '10 at 7:34
Understandable, bad tech support is a no-go. In any case, next time post your network problem and we’ll try to help you set up the router. GOod luck with the new purchase! For what is worth, the one I’ve gotten is a DLINK DSL-2542B. We have lots of xDSL here in Europe. ;) – Martín Marconcini Sep 10 '10 at 8:24
I did actually post for advice on a New Zealand geek orientated site (www.geekzone.co.nz), and had tried all the suggestions there before returning the device. Thanks for all your advice, and I'll let you know how I fare with my new one. – Cleggy Sep 10 '10 at 19:46
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I purchased the Netgear DGN3500, and so far so good. While its setup software only runs on Windows, its browser based interface has a setup wizard that does simplify configuration somewhat.

On the LAN side of things, everything appears to be working as expected, with no special config required. I am able to successfully resolve IP addresses via machine name, and AFP appears to be working. Other Bonjour driven features such as printer sharing and shared iTunes libraries also work. These are all things the Belkin Share wouldn't do (which is ironic, considering it DID come bundled with Mac software).

Network performance is excellent, and is a definite improvement over the 10/100 LAN connection of my old modem/router.

In summary, this appears to be the Mac friendly modem/router I was looking for.

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I can confirm that the Belkin Share, Surf and Play routers do not support the Bonjour service, I have an email from Belkin support to that effect. The impression I got was that there was a hidden firewall that was suppressing the Bonjour multicasts between computers.

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