Everyone (or just me?) has a few hard drives full of pictures, songs, video, and software. If you want to back all of that up, DVDs are not practical. You gotta get a BIG external hard drive you can move from computer to computer. I’m very happy to be able to write a positive review. The Buffalo DriveStation has exceeded my expectations! Continue reading
I use a Dell precision 490 at work, and it’s wonderful. Two Quad-Core 2.0GHz Xeon E5335′s, 4GB RAM, Raid 0 Striped HDDs. With 8 cpu’s I can run a lot of virtuals and still use the machine.
But I’ve been spoiled by this machine, and now I want one for home. Unfortunately they are expensive. As configured that work machine was over $3,000. Well worth it, but thats out of my budget.
So my project, and the subject of this article, is to see how cheaply I can duplicate the performance of my dell precision 490 workstation. Continue reading
I asked my linkedin extended network to help me figure out why I was getting such lousy WLAN performance. This was my question:
Why is WLAN still so slow? How come wireless-N products don’t test significantly faster than plain old 802.11G?
I’ve been doing lots of performance testing of WLAN products and writing up the results on my blog (www.bohannontech.com). I was excited at first because I bought some nice new 802.11N 270Mbps products from all of the major brands, Linksys, Netgear, D-Link, and Trend. These products often show a connection speed of 270Mbps, but the actual speeds of file copies is terrible – some as slow as 6 Mbps, and this is with 2 computers in the same room. When I run the same tests with wired Ethernet, I will consistently get 80Mbps.
Has anyone been able to get a real performing wireless-N setup and if so, can you recommend any products? Continue reading
After nearly two weeks of performance testing, and using about a 12 different products, I seemed to have stumbled on the fastest wireless-n configuration to date:
A NETGEAR WNR3500 in 300Mbps mode at Channel 6,10 and a NETGEAR WNDA 3100.
The windows connection speed on my test PC showed 300 Mbps, and I had to have my test machine in the same room as the WNR3500.
The first test run was fairly fast, about 27 Mbps. The second test run was slower, about 25 Mbps, but during both of those tests I saw throughput spike to the high 30s, so I knew it could go faster if I got a “clean” run.
3rd time was a charm, I got clean test run that measured at 38 Mbps. Hey after a disappointing two weeks of product testing, that’s the fastest non-Ethernet connection I’ve seen. Continue reading
Trendnet TEW-632BRP
For only $47 the Trendnet TEW-632BRP seemed like a steal. It’s not. I wasted 4 hours trying every possible 802.11 mode and channel trying to get this router to demonstrate any reliablity. It didn’t.
If your lucky enough to find the AP, and then actually get an IP address, you’ll find that it’s impossible to USE the connection for more than a few minutes without getting dropped. When it’s not dropping wireless connections, the router resets itself clearing both wired and wireless connections.
During the brief moments it wasn’t failing, the performance was marginal. The best I could get from it was 22 Mbps receive and 14 Mbps transmit. And on cue, after finishing each two minute test run, the wireless connection would get dropped. Continue reading
Pros: Good backwards compatability. lots of features & easy to use.
Cons: Needs GB Ethernet. Grade C+.
Amazon Link: RangeMax WNDR3300 Dual Band Wireless-N Router
Install
The CD installer is designed for a first time user, who has never connected a router to an existing cable modem/DSL connection. It pops up a windows message box for each required step of the install. ex: “Unplug ethernet cable from your PC, click next to continue”. Theres at least a dozen of these pop-ups, but eventually you are pushed onto a revised Netgear internal web page config (www.routerlogin.com) this is nice for novice users, who might be confused by entering in a static ip address (192.168.1.1) to config the router.
I let the router run its interal config wizard, which walks the user step by step thru the details of the WAN connection and the wireless settings. This worked nicely, and it auto-detected that my cable modem was assigning IP addresses, although it prompted me for an account name. I dont ever recall having to use an account name for a cable/dsl router. After this it resets itself and a minute later displayed the full Basic Settings web page. Minor Nit: there is an apply button on this page that will reboot the router even if you haven’t changed anything on the page. Continue reading
Frys: $79. Manufactuter Date: 09/2007.
Pros: Excellent packaging and it looks great.
Cons: Doesn’t connect reliably with Non-Linksys APs. Grade C-.
Install
Very simple. CD installs the regular Linksys Wireless Wizard application. I have a Linksys Wireless-G PC Card installed on the same laptop, so I removed the card. After Install I now have 2 wireless wizards, I guess thats OK.
The box
Issues
After rebooting I connect at 160Mbps to my NETGEAR Wireless-N DualBand AP, but I am unable to obtain an IP Address. I reboot again, this time connect at 1Mbps, and get an IP. Continued reboots don’t change the connect speed. Continue reading
Linksys PLK200 PowerLine AV Ethernet Adapter Kit 100Mps. $149.
Netgear HDXB101 200Mbps Powerline Adapter Kit. $113.
Airlink APL-8511 Turbo 85Mbps Powerline Ethernet Adapter. $29 Each.
Summary: Super easy to install, but these only work well if you are connecting two outlets in same room. Avoid these products if you are trying to connect different rooms together.
Installation
This time I decided to compare Netgear HDXB101 product against its competitors, and also measure the actual performance of each.
All of the products I tried are extremely easy to install. Plug one of the adapters into an AC outlet near your cable/dsl router, plug the other adapter into AC outlets in the rooms you need to connect. No drivers to install.
That’s the only positive thing to say about all of these products.
After doing wireless-N product testing for most of the day, its nice to find a product that actually works faster than standard 802.11G: The Trendnet TEW-624UB.
Most of the 802.11N products you see will claim 270-300Mbps. In your home you will get nowhere near that speed (I have yet to see it) and the Netgear WNDA 3100 can barely get 15Mbps. Oh when I talk about speed I ignore the the number the software shows you on the connection status. Those numbers are false, if you get 25% of that number when copying a file your doing well. Continue reading
I’m testing one of these right now, so i’m impressed. Windows XP SP3 pre-installed, 1GB RAM, 60GB HDD. Built in 11g wireless. It is very fast and very light.
