Wireless Reviews

Routing Performance

Test and analysis by Tim Higgins

I tested routing performance using our standard router tests, using desktop machines running Windows XP SP2 for both IxChariot endpoints, since both had gigabit Ethernet LAN cards. All tests were done with the LAN client in DMZ and I had no problems getting the IxChariot tests to complete. This was probably due to the absence of SPI in the firewall, since it is SPI+NAT that usually causes problems with IxChariot test completion.

Table 1 shows around 124 Mbps of total routing throughput, which is plenty for any Internet service that the Extreme is connected to. The 128 simultaneous connections aren't the highest I've seen, but indicate that use for P2P and gaming at least has a shot at being trouble free.

Test Description	Throughput (Mbps)
WAN - LAN	133
LAN - WAN	126
Total Simultaneous	124
Maximum Simultaneous Connections	128
Firmware Version	7.2.1

Table 1: Routing performance

Figure 21 shows throughput variation for simultaneous up and downlink traffic, which looks pretty well-behaved. So, in all, the routing section of the Extreme looks like an average current-generation design.

Figure 21: Apple Airport Extreme simultaneous routing throughput