Wireless Reviews

Throughput vs. Path Loss

NOTE: We no longer refer to "range" in these plots, but instead use the more accurate "Path Loss". For an explanation, see the How we Test Wireless article.

Figure 21 was generated using the Compare Benchmarks tool of our Wireless Charts and shows 2.4 GHz up and downlink performance in 20 and 40 MHz channel modes. The 40 MHz channel width seems to provide a meaningful throughput boost only when running downlink. Again, note that the multi-second throughput dropout that I mentioned earlier tends to move these throughput values downward. (Each point on the plot is the average throughput for a 1 minute test.)

Figure 21: Throughput vs. Path Loss - 2.4GHz

Figure 22 shows performance in the 5 GHz band, which also includes both 20 and 40 MHz channel modes. Once again, the curves are similar except for downlink with a 40 MHz channel. That throughput starts out close to 100 Mbps, but then drops to merge with the other curve once the "waterfall" portion of the curve is hit.

Even though the plots don't reflect the difference in real-world signal attenuation between 2.4 and 5 GHz, the 5 GHz curves end significantly sooner than the 2.4. This indicates that 5 GHz range will be noticeably smaller than 2.4.

NOTE: 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz test results can only be compared within each frequency band. The Azimuth system does not reflect the difference in signal attenuation between the bands in the mathematical models it uses.

Figure 22: Throughput vs. Path Loss - 5GHz