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Thursday, October 20, 2011

U.S. Robotics 802.11g Wireless Turbo Multi-function Access Point reviewed

| Wireless Driver & Software

Performance – 11g Interoperability

Given that the TI chipset is the new kid on the block, I checked to see if it played nicely with the old-timers(!). Figures 10 – 12 show the results.

Condition 1 11g throughput - Belkin F5D7010 (Broadcom)

Figure 10: Condition 1 11g throughput – Belkin F5D7010 (Broadcom)
(click on the image for a full-sized view)

Condition 1 11g throughput - NETGEAR WG511 (Intersil PRISM GT)

Figure 11: Condition 1 11g throughput – NETGEAR WG511 (Intersil PRISM GT)
(click on the image for a full-sized view)

Condition 1 11g throughput - NETGEAR WAG511 (Atheros 5001X+)
Figure 12: Condition 1 11g throughput – NETGEAR WAG511 (Atheros 5001X+)
(click on the image for a full-sized view)

The Broadcom-based Belkin F5D7010 fared the best of the three with actually better performance than the TI-based USR client! The Atheros-based NETGEAR WAG511 showed the worst and most inconsistent performance and Figure 12 is actually the best run I got. The poor performance might be due to the fact that NETGEAR has yet to post 802.11g spec compliant drivers for the WAG511. while both the Broadcom and Intersil-based cards’ drivers conform to the spec.

One other thing I learned during my test-fest was that when results started looking wonky – client associated but couldn’t pass data, really poor throughput, etc. – I could make things right by power cycling the AP. A soft reboot wouldn’t do it, only a hard one.

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