Wireless Performance

Note: Testing and analysis by Tim Higgins

The R10000G is not Wi-Fi Certified and improperly defaulted to 40 MHz bandwidth mode on power up. With upgraded firmware (v2.5.2.02) and as previously noted, it completed a WPS PIN session, resulting in a WPA2-AES connection with our standard Win 7 based test client. However, as also previously noted, the default password, "wireless", is very weak and you would be smart to change it to something stronger. All tests were run with this secured connection using the four-location wireless test process.

The throughput ranking in Figure 16 has been filtered to show 2.4 GHz-only routers and shows the R10000G with an almost 2X advantage over the next-highest ranked product, the Ubiquiti PowerAP N. But even if I remove the filter to show all tested routers, the second-place product—the ASUS RT-N66U "Dark Knight"—manages only 55 Mbps of throughput averaged over all tested positions.

Figure 16: Average 2.4 GHz Downlink Throughput ranking - 2.4 GHz only routers

Looking at the details of each tested position reveals the R10000G's key weakness, however. I pulled two other "long range/high power" routers into the performance table in Figure 17, Buffalo's WZR-HP-G300NH and Ubiquiti's PowerAP N. I also threw in a recently-tested single-band router, TP-Link's TL-WR1043ND, which isn't a "high power" model.

You can see that all three other products competed the tests in all four test locations. But, despite its 10,000 square foot coverage claims, the R10000G failed to run the tests in the worst-case test Location F.

Figure 17: Wireless Performance Comparison

To the R10000G's credit, it remained connected, albeit at extremely low 1 to 5 Mbps 802.11b link rates, in Location F. But the connection was not consistent enough or of sufficient bandwidth to even start the IxChariot tests. I also ran pings to check the connection and they all failed.

That weakness aside, the R10000G's wireless throughput is among the highest tested, beating all other routers—both single and dual band—handily in three out of four 2.4 GHz benchmarks. At 73.3 Mbps, the R10000G is bested in Location A downlink, 20 MHz bandwidth mode throughput only by the ASUS "Dark Knight" (80.1 Mbps) and D-Link DIR-685 (78.9 Mbps).

The IxChariot plot in Figure 18 shows high throughput variation in Location A, which I was not able to eliminate with multiple test runs. These large variations also show up in other benchmark plots and could indicate receiver overload, since they are shown on the strongest-signal Location A tests.

Figure 18: R10000G 20MHz downlink IxChariot summary

Here are links to the other plots so that you can see for yourself:

• 2.4 GHz / 20 MHz uplink
• 2.4 GHz / 20 MHz up and downlink
• 2.4 GHz / 40 MHz downlink
• 2.4 GHz / 40 MHz uplink
• 2.4 GHz / 40 MHz up and downlink

Closing Thoughts

The performance of the Amped Wireless R10000G is impressive, both for routing and wireless, setting new highs by a long shot on several benchmarks. But we just can't support Amped's claims of extended wireless coverage. Although we didn't explicitly test Amped's 10,000 sq. ft. wireless coverage claim, the R10000G's inability to ping or run the IxChariot tests in Location F raises a pretty big question mark. Amped's Range In crease Guarantee doesn't really provide any value, either, offering only a discount on a future purchase.

A better deal is that you can get free shipping and a 30 day return period by ordering direct from Amped. So if you'd like to see for yourself whether the R10000G, or any of Amped's other wireless products, can improve your wireless LAN's performance, you don't really have anything to lose.

Introduction, Inside, Feature Summary Setup, Feature Tour Feature Tour-more, Routing Performance Wireless Performance, Closing Thoughts

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