Print
Discuss
Send to friend
The 802.11n wireless specification, the successor to 802.11g, is still a fair way off. It's expected to be ratified some time in 2007, but the major chipset manufacturers and their partners are all getting very excited by the recent draft 802.11n specification.
At least they were, until the draft failed to achieve the required 75 per cent of IEEE votes required.
Those manufacturers that are releasing draft-N kit will tell you the specification just needs minor tweaks, but it highlights the fact that this is a draft standard and nothing more.
Buffalo's Nfiniti draft-N wireless range, which uses Broadcom's draft-N chipset, is the first of the new breed to make it into PCW's Labs.
The three antennas on the fairly standard-looking router indicate its Mimo (multiple-input, multiple-output) capabilities.
Mimo uses multiple transmissions to enhance both coverage and throughput. If you want to find out more about Mimo, chipset manufacturer Airgo has a decent Mimo FAQ.
Draft-N kit brings with it bold claims of speeds of up to 300Mbits/sec. As is usual with claimed wireless speeds, it's best to take this figure with a truck load of salt.
In order to get the best performance from Buffalo's Nfiniti router you'll need to use a process known as channel bonding. This combines two 20MHz channels to increase throughput.
In an uncluttered wireless environment channel bonding isn't such an issue, but in many residential areas you'll find at least three nearby routers vying for airspace.
The problem is that the 2.4GHz spectrum used by 802.11b/g/n only has three non-overlapping channels. This means if you have any more than three networks operating in the same area you'll start running into problems such as dropped connections.
Buffalo's Nfiniti router will drop down to a 20MHz signal should there be too many nearby networks, but if you're currently using the network the change won't happen until you disconnect and then reconnect - something your neighbours probably won't appreciate.
So, on to the testing. Our setup consisted of the Nfiniti router connected via a wired Ethernet connection to a PC and a laptop with an Nfiniti PC Card.
As expected, we achieved varying results. In close proximity to the router, just under 3m, we managed to get a fairly consistent throughput of 50Mbits/sec, occasionally leaping to around 60Mbits/sec.
This is a fair bit faster than previous Mimo kit we've seen, which averaged at around 35Mbits/sec within a similar radius.
However, when we started straying from the router things started to go downhill fairly rapidly.
At 15m we were getting around 25-30Mbits/sec, while at 30m with a single wall between the notebook and router this dropped to 10-15Mbits/sec.
Not exactly the throughput at long distances we'd hoped for and, interestingly, we've seen standard 802.11g kit perform better at 30m.
The above tests were performed in a reasonably cluttered wireless environment and, upon reconnecting, the Buffalo kit did indeed abandon channel bonding and drop down to 20MHz when there were too many nearby networks.
We also tried running the kit in a home environment with only one nearby network. Operating at 40MHz we occasionally managed to reach 70Mbits/sec within close proximity.
It's important to point out that testing of wireless speeds and ranges isn't a precise science. The fact is, depending on the environment in which you operate the equipment, you'll get different results.
If you're lucky enough to be in an area free of any wireless interference (this includes the likes of microwave ovens) you will no doubt experience faster throughput.
Netgear and other manufacturers are in the process of releasing draft-N kit - as soon as we get review samples we'll perform a comparative review.
In keeping with new router launches, this model doesn't include a built-in modem and is instead designed for those with cable broadband. Buffalo tells us an ADSL modem version will be released in the near future.
Considering around 90 per cent of the UK uses ADSL as opposed to cable broadband, Buffalo would do well to release it sooner rather than later.
If you've no urgent need for a faster wireless network, our advice is to wait until 802.11n is ratified.
Buffalo claims this Nfiniti kit will only need a software update to accommodate any alterations made to this draft-N specification by the time it's formally ratified, but there's no guarantee.
It's good to see the enhanced performance, but the fact that it's only over short distances is disappointing.
All Wireless
del.icio.us
Digg this
reddit!
