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802.11ac WiFi Router Round-Up Tests Broadcom XStream Platform Performance (hothardware.com)
MojoKid writes: Wireless routers are going through somewhat of a renaissance right now, thanks to the arrival of the 802.11ac standard that is "three times as fast as wireless-N" and the proliferation of Internet-connected devices in our homes and pockets. AC is backward compatible with all previous standards, and whereas 802.11n was only able to pump out 450Mb/s of total bandwidth, 802.11ac is capable of transmitting at up to 1,300Mbps on a 5GHz channel. AC capability is only available on the 5GHz channel, which has fewer devices on it than a typical 2.4GHz channel. The trade-off is that 5GHz signals typically don't travel as far as those on the 2.4GHz channel.
However, 802.11ac makes up for it with a technology named Beamforming, which allows it to figure out where devices are located and amplify the signal in their direction instead of just broadcasting in all directions like 802.11n. Also, while 802.11n supports only four streams of data, 802.11ac supports up to eight streams on channels that are twice as wide. HotHardware's AC Router round-up takes a look at four flagship AC routers from ASUS, TRENDnet, D-Link and Netgear. All are AC3200 routers that use the new Broadcom XStream 5G platform. Netgear's Nighthawk X6 tends to offer the best balance of performance in various use cases. However, all models performed similarly, with subtle variances in design, features and pricing left to differentiate them from one another.
However, 802.11ac makes up for it with a technology named Beamforming, which allows it to figure out where devices are located and amplify the signal in their direction instead of just broadcasting in all directions like 802.11n. Also, while 802.11n supports only four streams of data, 802.11ac supports up to eight streams on channels that are twice as wide. HotHardware's AC Router round-up takes a look at four flagship AC routers from ASUS, TRENDnet, D-Link and Netgear. All are AC3200 routers that use the new Broadcom XStream 5G platform. Netgear's Nighthawk X6 tends to offer the best balance of performance in various use cases. However, all models performed similarly, with subtle variances in design, features and pricing left to differentiate them from one another.
The 1300Mbps is a scam figure because it's industry convention to report the layer 2 data transfer rate, but at that layer there is a lot of chatter dealing specifically with the physical link quality, which can be substantial with wireless. So indeed, in most cases you can take the number, then divide by two. That's the TCP/UDP data rate you will see in the best case scenario.
Moreover, 1300Mbps is the figure for the three-stream capable devices. But what's the percent of clients with three stream wireless adapters? About less than 5%?
They do seem to have focused almost entirely on one single thing, which is probably irrelevant for most non-geek users: If their router can stream YouTube, Skype, or Facetime, then it's fast enough. The criteria that really matter to most users, things like "Do you need to reboot it every second day in order to keep it functioning", "What are the chances of it being incorporated into a botnet if I do something as totally crazy as connecting it to the Internet" (something that Asus, D-Link, Netgear, and, oh yes, Trendnet are notorious for), and "For how many minutes after I buy it will the vendor provide firmware upgrades" (Linksys, where everything's a legacy product as soon as it ships) haven't been taken into consideration.