Compare home wifi routers

[lognman555]

Dear All,

AFAIK tom's hardware makes nice tests and comparisons for wifi, which we are very thankfull about.

I want to choose the best wifi home router according to my requirements.

Basically I want the best performance in terms of wireless, best performance for switching/routing in ASICs, and possibility fine tune wifi settings like channels, output power etc.

I do not care about stuff like usb ports, easy setups, cloud solutions, multimedia features etc. It is mandatory that the wifi router allows simultaneous 2,4/5GHz. All of my wifi clients are abgn, so I want to be flexible.

Here are the models which I have selected until now:
- Trendnet TEW-692GR
- Linksys EA4500 N900 Router Gigabit USB
- TP-Link TL-WR2543ND
- WESTERN DIGITAL My NET N900 WDBWVK0000NSL
- ASUS RT-N66U Dual-Band Wireless-N900 Gigabit Router
- d-link DIR-857
- NetGear WNDR4500
- Zyxel NBG5715

It is interesting that only Trendnet and TP-link dare to share some info about antennas gain, receiving sensitivity etc.

Thanks in advance,

Longman

 

[lognman555]

FYI

My favorite for now is Trendnet TEW-692GR because of the pricing (20-40% lower than the rest). Here are the published radio parameters:

Antennas:
2.4GHz: 3 x 2dBi (internal)
5GHz: 3 x 3dBi (external fixed)

Tx Power:
802.11a: 14dBm (typical)
802.11b: 18dBm (typical)
802.11g: 15dBm (typical)
802.11n: 15dBm +/- 1 dBm (typical) (for 2.4 & 5GHz)

Rx Sensitivity:
802.11a: -70dBm (typical) @ 54Mbps
802.11b: -84dBm (typical) @ 11Mpbs
802.11g: -72dBm (typical) @ 54Mbps
802.11n: -66dBm +/- 1 dBm (typical) @ 450Mbps (for 2.4 & 5GHz)

I am hoping that it is 3X3:3 MIMO ...

Regards,

Longman

 

[bill001g]

You key issue is that any test results are from a lab condition. It is almost impossible to tell how well things will perform in any particular house. A router that works well in one persons house may work poorly in another. So if I gave you a recommendation of what works good in my house it would mean nothing for what works good in yours.

Most major brands have very little difference in the signal strength, they are limited by the government and the products have been on the market so long every vendor has tuned them to the maximum.

I tend to like to have a router that has the ability to change the antenna so I can if necessary use direction antenna. Unfortunately you average consumer thinks antenna are ugly and likes pretty glowing blue lights so there are tough to find.

Many people who like to mess around with power settings and such prefer routers you can load DD-WRT on. Like the pretty blue lights the manufactures are removing many software features to cater to the market that think a router should be as simple to use as a toaster.