NetComm N600 NB16

Cheap and very basic – I bought this router as my previous broke and thought that I needed to write the review because it is a very basic router and also does not have a good range. It works well in small spaces and needs a wifi extender for bigger areas. I am not sure if it is worth recommending.  Show details

Completely useless for online gaming – If you want to play online games with this router it is completely and utterly useless, you fully lag out most of the time event though your ps4 is 1 meter away from the router, an Ethernet cable will slightly improve the lag however it's still a completely useless internet connection with an Ethernet cable.  Show details

Basic router, works well in small spaces – This is a basic router and works well for a small apartment or office. It does not have a big wifi range and you would probably need a wifi extender for a house. I registered it for 2-year warranty and got an additional 1-year warranty. I have happy with the product considering the price and warranty for peace of mind.  Show details

Reliable, however can have improved Wiifi reception – It is a reliable and versatile router for both ADSL, ADSL 2+ and NBN and also has 4G support. IT would suit a smaller environment because of its range. Via Wifi reception is around 2-3 bars only if you are more than 25 meters away. I think that this router can be improved on the WIFI range.  Show details

Good router with 4G support – This is a very solid dual band router with 4G support. Signal is surprisingly strong for such a small router without external antennas. You can also configure network storage and use it as your central cloud. 4G capability is solid. It does both ADSL and NBN, so a very versatile appliance indeed.  Show details

This Is An OK Router For Small Homes Without Max Internet Speeds – This wifi router came with our iiNet NBN plan of which we got the maximum speeds for our plan. The wifi router doesn’t have the capability to sustain those speeds so if your plan doesn’t include the max speeds this should be fine. That’s not all though. The coverage is actually pretty alright considering that there are no external antennas… Read more

sticking up out of the back of the router. But when I place my device directly on the other side of the brick wall in the garage joined onto our house it registers as 2/3 bars but the actual internet doesn’t work. It doesn’t load or anything. This is really weird! Good budget router but don’t purchase it for max speeds and large-scale coverage.

Embarrassing – Constantly drops out. Having to factory reset and set up WAN connection at least every fortnight and usually even then it won't work for a couple of days. We are with Active Utilities and they just keep sending new routers no charge because the NetComm router is so unreliable and low quality.  Show details

Extremely slow – Only briefly had the this in my possession. While using it I found the router crashed regularly, and was constantly resetting to try and fix. Only lasted a month before the machine would no longer provide reliable connection as one of the ports became faulty and was forced to purchase a new new router. This was supplied by iiNET I would have… Read more

preferred not receiving it at all. As well as all the other problems I have had with iiNET I would not recommend this router as its not worth hassle.

A+ – Changed service providers so needed a new modem. So many to choose from but didn't want to spend a fortune. I saw this and it offered everything I needed. Dual band, wifi, very simple to self install and configure. I'm on tier 5 speed (100/40) stream Netflix, Stan and Amazon without any buffering while the kids are on the iPad playing games. Well worth the investment for what we need.  Show details

Keeps freezing – Trustpower Tauranga supplied me with this modem for my fibre UFB and from day one it has frozen when more than one wifi device is connected. A total pain in the proverbial. It has made my first experience with ultra fast, feel ultra slow. I would not recommend this modem to anyone.  Show details

Terrible quality – I don't usually write reviews, however this router crashes frequently and now the ADSL port became faulty while the rest of the machine works. We now need to purchase a new router. This was supplied by iiNET and it was woeful. iiNET have just lost another customer as well now. You shouldn't purchase this router as its not worth the money or the headaches it will cause when it does fail.  Show details

Painfully slow – We got ours from iiNet & it hasn't worked properly in about a year. This modem may be ok if you have a small home with low usage levels (eg one computer and a few phones on wifi). Anything more than that, and it just can't handle it. It is really a cheap, entry level modem. If you want to run multiple computers/laptops, stream or download video… Read more

or music, or have a number of wifi devices, this won't be suitable.

iiNet offered us their new standard modem as a replacement, but it's also an entry level model. We'll be upgrading to something with more capacity ASAP

Poor Quality – This is what iinet customers are supplied for the NBN and it does not last very long. Starts out ok but wears out very quickly. If you have to have this one, find a replacement to have as back up for when it fails. Message to iinet don't supply rubbish like this if you wish to retain customers. I would gladly pay more for a good reliable product.  Show details

The worst – It is actually ridiculous how terrible and slow this modem and the netcomm service is. My download speed at one point was 5 bytes/s when the average is 2.3 MB/s. I can't even load a YouTube video without it buffering, a 3 minute video takes around 10 minutes to watch because I have to wait for this terrible Internet to work. That's not even… Read more

mentioning that at some points it just completely stops working. There is no 0 star but this piece of garbage deserves it. It is barely a modem and netcomm wireless is barely a service provider. Definitely switching.

Never ever buy or accept this modem – iiNet sent us this modem as a replacement to another modem which could not give the desired speed. This one is hopeless. Leave aside speed, it cannot give you a continuous internet connection. What worse can you expect? Tried resetting to factory default still nothing happens. Returning it to iiNet.

Extremely Disappointed – After hooking up to the NBN, I decided to change my provider to iinet. A free N600 modem was provided. To be honest, my coverage and speed were immeasurably better with the old Bigpond ADSL2 modem. Rang for tech support, tried other settings, completely useless! I'm extremely disappointed! iinet should remove is insipid modem from there options.

Disgraceful – I contacted iinet as my old modem wasnt working well and they replaced it with this piece of junk. It definitely connected and allowed me to access the internet but immediately caused me wifi pain. The signal dramatically dropped. I have been playing around with channels but where my last modem was fair, this is weak to not present most times.

Totally crap! – Same result here in NZ - TrustPower is using this piece of crap as router for their fibre clients!! Can you image - FIBRE - the router's WiFi is so terrible that it even can't stream properly 64bit radio - connections just freeze and router has to be restarted. Speed is just hideous - never more than 8.5Mbps - that's lees than 11g, even if you… Read more

stand right in front of it. 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz cannot be used independent - high traffic on 5 means 2.4 won't work anymore...

Disgraceful product – Drops out every 6 seconds, what a con what are iiNet thinking how do they expect market share with such crap.

Westnet modem NetComm NB16WV-02 Doesn't Work!!! – I had to pay for this modem and it only partially worked. Ok, It connected to the internet but only on a good day. My printer connected every other day. Apple Time Capsule Router fixed the problem immediately. Westnet Modem is now in a paper bag so I don't have to look at it.

Rubbish – Don't get one. Poor wifi signal and very slow. Rubbish, crap, waste of money. iiNet should not provide these. Can't maintain a connection.

Wireless signal strength is weak – Recently bought this router for NBN services, configuration is easy, but the wireless is too weak, only 60% strength from 12 meters distance, poor.

Junk! Regular drop outs, no good for iiNet VOIP – Title says it all. Persevered for days, did a firmware upgrade, tried all sorts of settings from iinet and some "experimental" ones but no good. Drops internet regularly with "server not found" when switching betwee web sites & pages. VOIP? Forget it. Continuously drops out for a couple of seconds during calls, and that's if you're lucky enough to be able to make a call in the first place. Don't buy one.

Good reliable moderm – Seems to have a few bad reviews but I live in a 3bdrm home and have had no probs connectivity wise. it had 2 wifi channels and good range.

An adequate modem-router if the price is right – I bought this modem-router for my small business ADSL2+ connection. In an exposed office environment, I wanted something that was unobtrusive, with internal antennas, gigabit Ethernet and 5 Ghz wifi to avoid channel conflict with existing 2.4 Ghz routers in nearby rooms. There weren't that many good options, but I did try two - the NB16DG… Read more

(this unit) and the TP-Link W8980N, which I've reviewed separately. I bought the Netcomm first.

I really wanted to like this product. Netcomm, an Australian owned public company, had finally made a genuinely good looking product - the first since the dial-up M7F Smartmodem that I bought in the 90s! Out of the box it looks great. The photos don't do it justice. The blue LED indicators are dimmable too, which adds to the subtle but purposeful look about it.

The beauty isn't skin deep either. The NB16DG runs cooler than any modem product I've used, which bodes well for durability. Its power supply is a "wall wart", but this one doesn't invade neighbouring spaces on a power board. The included cables are all of nice quality too.

There, sadly, the good news ends.

The wifi wasn't too bad, but the 5 Ghz signal is really only useful in the same room as the router and maybe the adjacent one. It would do well in a small unit, especially one with plaster walls. The older 2.4 Ghz does better, but it's not the kind of signal strength that would do a 4 bedroom suburban home. On the plus side - so far as the signal reached, there were no compatibility issues with computers, iPhones etc.

My testing of the ADSL connection should have produced better results than it did. At distance of less than 200 metres from the exchange, on the fastest iiNet "Thrillseeker" setting, I was getting around 22 mbps on the NB16DG, which uses a Mediatek (Trendchip) chipset. By comparison, two TP-Link modems with Broadcom and Lantiq chipsets reliably connected at over 24 mbps every time. In fairness, another Trendchip modem I tried did nearly as badly. So much for the traditional wisdom that Trendchip modems are the fastest when close to the exchange..

A more serious problem was Annex M. In Australia, iiNet and Internode enable this protocol on request to achieve higher upload speeds, usually at a small penalty to download speeds. For business it's great, especially for sending larger emails and videoconferencing. The NB16DG is advertised on the box as Annex M compatible. The only problem is that it's not. I had iiNet look into it, and from their end the modem doesn't even announce that it can do Annex M when it connects to their servers.

As for Netcomm support, the whole experience depresses me when I write about it. Suffice to say that when you call the technical support department of a specialist networking company and you have to explain to them what Annex M is, you're not off to a good start. My issue eventually made it through the sheltered workshop into the hands of someone who knew was Annex M was. The news was no better though. No, Annex M doesn't work and no, don't hold your breath for a fix.

So I then pointed out that Netcomm had specifically advertised this as an Annex M compatible modem/router. If it didn't do what it said on the tin, could I please exchange it for something that did? I even offered to pay the difference for a better model - no dice. I also asked if they knew what the Australian Consumer Law was, but they seemed about as familiar with that as they were with Annex M.

Finally they explained to me that the NB16DG was really intended to be an NBN modem, and its ADSL functionality is just there for 'legacy' purposes(!). I didn't buy that story, and I wish that I hadn't bought their product in the first place. Sorry to rant, but what's the business model here? Advertise functions in the hope that no one will ever try them?

I ended up stuck between a retailer who said that the product worked (to a degree) and a manufacturer, both refusing to refund or exchange the NB16DG. After 3 months of waiting for a firmware fix I ended up making the best of a bad situation.. it's now running an ADSL1 connection at my elderly parents' place. It seems to manage that OK. Oh, and in case you're wondering - there still isn't a firmware update to make Annex M work. Meanwhile Netcomm is still promoting it as Annex M compatible.

Advanced users should note that many settings that are customisable on other modems are not even shown in the 'advanced' setup screens of the NB16DG. The firewall is also a little too rigid, meaning that old fashioned port forwarding is needed for VOIP units like the Siemens Gigaset (which can normally work around a firewall with NAT traversal).

I'm not dismissing the idea of buying the NB16DG in all situations. For simple DSL and wifi/wired networking in a small space it should be fine. You could justify paying about A$100 for it; any more and you'd be better off with the TP-Link W8980 (see my separate review on that router). Excellent design, well made, cool running temperature, good wifi compatibility, simple user interface Mediocre ADSL and wifi performance, lacking some features considered essential in most modem/routers.

Rubbish – The wireless drop outs almost every day. Only way to fix it is to turn off all devices and restart the wireless broadcast on the modem. No firmware update from Netcomm since it was released so clearly Netcomm isn't interested. All up this modem proved to me that Netcomm is an appalling manufacturer that should be ashamed of itself. Built in VOIP Wireless drops out all the time. no firmware update to fix it....nothing