SmallNetBuilder

WET610N vs. WGA600N

Figure 9: Linksys WET610N

Updated 4/25/2009: Added WET610N memory details

A look inside the new WET610N (Figure 10) reveals that it is based on a Metalink WLANPlus chipset comprised of a MtW8171 2x3 802.11n MAC/BB and MtW8151 2x3 2.4/5GHz 802.11n RFIC.

This is a dual-band 2T 3R draft 11n solution that claims to use Advanced FEC (Forward Error Correction) and be optimized for streaming video due to its ability to do UDP transfers with "minimal" delay, "constant" throughput and "zero" Packet Error Rate. The Star STR9101 is a SoC router and there is 32 MB of RAM and 8 MB of flash.

Note the two metal antennas mounted on board at the top side slanted sections. There is also a printed circuit board antenna in the middle. Kudos to the Cisco design team for the attractive enclosure that orients the antennas in an optimal vertical plane.

Figure 10: WET610N board

In contrast, the WGA600N "gaming adapter" (Figure 11) uses an Atheros AR9160 two dual-band 3x3 MIMO MAC/Baseband and AR9104 dual-band 2x2 MIMO 802.11n Radio. The CPU is a Ubicom IP5090U.

There are two metal antennas here, mounted on board on the left and bottom left of the photo. But the WGA600N's box makes the antennas sit horizontally and close to the surface that it sits on.

Figure 11: WGA600N board

Even though Ubicom is known for its automatic QoS technology, it appears that Metalink has something that Cisco likes better.