Commitments And Contingencies commitment and contingency (Details)	3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2013 USD ($)	Oct. 02, 2016 USD ($) claims case	Jul. 01, 2015 patent	Dec. 31, 2014 USD ($) $ / products	Sep. 14, 2010 patents
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]
Continued vesting period after termination without cause (in years)		1 year
Liabilities for executive's employment agreements		$ 0
Number of existing cases and proceedings that the Company currently believes are liking to have a material adverse effect on its financial position | claims		0
The future length the Company currently considered regarding existing cases and proceedings that are likely to have a material adverse effect on it (in months)		12 months
Liability for Director and Officer Indemnification Agreements		$ 0
Liability For Customers, Distributors, and Resellers Indemnification Agreements		$ 0
Ericsson v. NETGEAR [Member]
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]
Number of Patents Company Is Accused Of Infringing | patents					8
Foregone colleting verdict amount (in USD)				$ 3,600,000
Foregone reasonable and nondiscriminatory (RAND) royalty rate | $ / products				0.15
Chrismar Systems vs. NETGEAR [Member]
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]
Number of Patents Company Is Accused Of Infringing | patent			4
Number of active cases the suing company has | case		40
Symbology vs. NETGEAR [Member]
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]
Number of active cases the suing company has | case		50
D-Link [Member] | Ericsson v. NETGEAR [Member]
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]
Loss Contingency, Damages Awarded, Value	$ 435,000
NETGEAR [Member] | Ericsson v. NETGEAR [Member]
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]
Loss Contingency, Damages Awarded, Value	3,555,000
Acer Gateway [Member] | Ericsson v. NETGEAR [Member]
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]
Loss Contingency, Damages Awarded, Value	1,170,000
Dell [Member] | Ericsson v. NETGEAR [Member]
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]
Loss Contingency, Damages Awarded, Value	1,920,000
Toshiba [Member] | Ericsson v. NETGEAR [Member]
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]
Loss Contingency, Damages Awarded, Value	2,445,000
Belkin [Member] | Ericsson v. NETGEAR [Member]
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]
Loss Contingency, Damages Awarded, Value	$ 600,000
Chief Executive Officer [Member]
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]
Number of weeks for which salary is payable upon termination of employment without cause (in days)		365 days
Number of years after change of control to trigger full accelerated vest of unvested portion of stock options (in years)		1 year
Senior Vice President Of Worldwide Operations And Support [Member]
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]
Number of weeks for which salary is payable upon termination of employment without cause (in days)		273 days
Other Key Executives [Member]
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]
Number of weeks for which salary is payable upon termination of employment without cause (in days)		182 days
Maximum number of years covered by accelerated vest for other key executives if term without cause is within one year of change in control (in years)		2 years