My Testing of Four Routers

[hawkeye62]

Hi all, I am new to the forum. I just completed some informal testing of four routers. First a little background. I have a front bedroom that I use as a computer room. I have a Dlink DIR-655 router located there connected to a Motorola cable modem. I have a large network with about 12 devices, not counting switches. And my wife and I use an IPod, IPad and Asus netbook to connect via wifi in the living room which is about 60 feet away through 5 walls including a tile wall shower. The DIR-655 gives low and erratic signal strength in the living room.

So, I bought an Asus RT-N13U based on the SNB Performance Charts, an Engenius ECB3500 and a Ubiquiti PowerAP N based on discussions on other forums. (Yes, I went a little overboard on buying routers, but I looked at it as a learning experience.)

I use a tool named Net Surveyor to measure signal strength. Testing consisted of placing each router at the exact location in the computer room (One at a time.) and an Asus Netbook running Net Surveyor in the living room.

Anyway, here are the results. The DIR-655 gives a signal strength of 29% on a 0-100% scale. The RT-N13U gives a signal strength 46% a significant improvement. The ECB3500 gives a signal a strength of 48%, only a slight improvement over the RT-N13U but a significant improvement over the DIR-655. The Ubiquiti gives a signal strength of 55%, an astounding result!

As an aside, the SNB Performance charts indicate that the RT-N13 gives about 35% less throughput than the top performing Cisco E4200 at the most difficult location. My testing indicates that the Ubiquiti would be as good or better than the Cisco. (Assuming that signal strength correlates with throughput.)

Regards, Jim

 

[stevech]

Don't forget that the router's merits in RECEIVING from various client devices/PCs, each with different transmitter power, is as equally important as is the router's transmitted signal.

Throughput can vary too depending how many other signals (WiFi or not) are present on nearby channels (within 3) of the one you're testing with.

 

[hawkeye62]

Don't forget that the router's merits in RECEIVING from various client devices/PCs, each with different transmitter power, is as equally important as is the router's transmitted signal.

Throughput can vary too depending how many other signals (WiFi or not) are present on nearby channels (within 3) of the one you're testing with.

Testing router receiving is beyond my meager means, but, I have had absolutely no problems communicating with any of the routers except the DIR-655 with IPad, IPod, or Asus Netbook. And Internet download throughput is about 85% of my ISPs advertised speed as measured by Speedtest.net.

Other wireless routers nearby? Yes, up to ten at times, but signal strength is less than 20% for all except one on channel 6 which is about 35%, well below my routers. I get the best signal strength on channels 9, 10 and 11. I get the poorest signal strength on channels 1-4 even though there are no other routers on those channels.

Jim

 

[stevech]

Just test client-to-LAN server throughput for FTP or windows folder shares, to assess that data direction.

And then vice-versa.

or use free Qcheck.

On nearby WiFi systems... it's not the number of them, it's if any are heavy airtime users. Beware you can test performance at time 1 but at time 2 there may be more competition for air time which will color the conclusions.

 

[hawkeye62]

Here is some data on throughput. I used a program named NetStress which runs on Win7.

I have the three routers setup in three locations. The DIR-655 which is my network router is in my computer room. The Ubiquiti as AP is in a cabinet in my living room about 50 feet from the DIR-655 and the EnGenius as AP is in the basement about 60 feet from the DIR-655. In all cases I used an Asus Netbook for the wireless client, and for data I will show here all traffic was from the Asus to a wired desktop in the computer room. (I did check traffic from the wired desktop to the Asus Netbook for some cases to be sure there wasn't some big discrepancy.)

The first data set was with the wireless client about 4 feet from the wireless APs.

DIR-655 : 37.0 Mbps
Ubiquiti: 30.8 Mbps
EnGenius: 19.8 Mbps

So, for clients close to the AP, the DIR-655 gives a higher throughput.

The next data set was with the wireless client connected to DIR-655 and located about 4 feet from the other APs location.

At Ubiquiti location: 3.3 Mbps
at EnGenius location: Would not connect.

The DIR-655 just doesn't have much range for my remote locations.

The third data set was with the wired client in the computer room.

Ubiquiti as AP (About 50 feet from client.): 27.5 Mbps
EnGenius as AP (About 60 feet from client.): 15.8 Mbps

Both the Ubiquiti and EnGenius maintain good throughput at locations remote from the AP location.

A quick note on traffic from wired desktop to wireless client.

Ubiquiti almost the same, from wireless 27.5 Mbps, to wireless 27.8 Mbps.
EnGenius some difference, from wireless 15.8 Mbps, to wireless 17.1 Mbps.
DIR-655 some difference, from wireless 37.0, to wireless 31.1 Mbps.

I didn't do any work with the Asus RT-N13U because SNB did the usual extensive testing on this router.

Regards, Jim

 

[stevech]

The DIR-655 just doesn't have much range for my remote locations.

Other than good marketing by D-Link, I cannot see why people buy their stuff. History with their low-end consumer gear is that it's consistently inferior, it seems to me, looking back 6 years or so. I guess they get onto the retailers shelves by giving good margins.