Dragging up an old thread again... Remember my Netgear DGN2000? The box I loved because it consolidated a decent 802.11b/g/n base station, four port router, firewall, and DSL modem in a single box?

The first one lasted roughly six months, then the hard ports died. They RMA'ed it and sent me a brand new one. Now, again roughly six months later, the same damn problem has happened again. Two of the hard ports are dead, but the wireless is still working.

My experience with Netgear tech support wasn't nearly as good as it was six months ago. Since I'm now out of my original one year warranty, they're vaguely unwilling to help me. (I suggested that they replace my DGN2000 with the newer DGND3300 in the hopes that it doesn't share the thermal engineering defects of the DGN2000.) The tech said I had to speak with "customer support" so I called that next and got voicemail for the RMA department ("the voicemail box is full").

I'll try again tomorrow, but I'm dubious about whether Netgear is going to own up to their shoddy design and offer an out-of-warranty replacement.

As such, it's time to hit up the gallery for advice. I'd very much like to continue with an all-in-one-box solution. I could spend another $140 on the Netgear DGND3300 (basically adding simultaneous dual-band), which also apparently runs Linux and is quite tweakable on the inside (Bruce Perens has a nice review on Amazon). Still, I've got more than a bit of hesitation to buy yet another Netgear product.

Any suggestions on alternatives, perhaps not from the big-name vendors? I'd happily spend more on a box that was better engineered.