Single stream 40mhz ≈ two stream 20mhz?

[zebus]

I notice on your benchmarks all the clients are either two or three stream, and then in each of those categories either 20mhz or 40mhz..

I'm trying to figure how applicable this data is to me since most of the laptops my family owns only have 150mbps (1 stream 40mhz) chips in them.

I need a router capable of reaching 50 mbps throughout the house and I'm trying to figure out if that's even possible with just a simple router replacement or if I would have to replace the internal cards or get usb dongles for the laptops.

So.. would a router that gets over 50mbps on the two stream 20mhz benchmark likely fit my criteria or is it not applicable?

 

[sfx2000]

Personal experience...

Depends on the surrounding environment - but typically you're better off with a 20MHz channel in 2.4GHz in most urban/suburban home environments...

 

[stevech]

I need a router capable of reaching 50 mbps throughout the house and I'm trying to figure out if that's even possible with just a simple router replacement or if I would have to replace the internal cards or get usb dongles for the laptops.

So.. would a router that gets over 50mbps on the two stream 20mhz benchmark likely fit my criteria or is it not applicable?

IMO: 50Mbps IP layer real net throughput, on WiFi, anywhere in the home: depends as much or more on the client devices.

better off for you to use an Access Point (AP) or two connected to the router via HomePlug or MoCA.

 

[tipstir]

Which Wireless NIC are in those laptops N150. The driver should have a range from 20_40HT. 802.11b/g/n mix. What do you see in that configuration. Using N300 or higher WiFi router or WiFi AP might be over kill for your news. You can buy extended range or high power MIMO N150 AP.

 

[thiggins]

I need a router capable of reaching 50 mbps throughout the house and I'm trying to figure out if that's even possible with just a simple router replacement or if I would have to replace the internal cards or get usb dongles for the laptops.

Achieving 50 Mbps actual wireless throughput (not the link rate that Windows reports) "throughout the house" depends on how large a house you have, its construction, neighboring wireless LANs and other factors.

But starting with a single-stream N adapter isn't a recipe for success. One single-stream N router I reviewed was the Linksys WRT120N. The plots on this page show best case throughput (i.e. same room as router) of ~40 Mbps in 20 MHz bandwidth mode (65 Mbps link rate) and ~66 Mbps in 40 MHz mode (150 Mbps link rate).

This was using a two-stream adapter. But these results are about what you would get from a single stream adapter used with a two (or even 3) stream router.

Test results, again with a two-stream client, of the single-stream TP-Link TL-WR700N show similar results.

You should really use only 20 MHz mode in 2.4 GHz so that you don't hog bandwidth unless you have no wireless neighbors, so that limits you to the lower values shown.

Wireless throughput is determined by the slowest link in the chain. So if you want to achieve higher throughput you need to replace the single-stream clients with two or three stream clients and a router to match.