Wireless Perf. - 11a
NOTES:
• 802.11a testing was done with a Linksys WPC54A client with WinXPHome
• AP was run at full-power setting
• Signal Quality readings in the table above are not valid. No signal quality readings were available via the WinXP monitoring application.
Turning to the 802.11a side of the AP, Plot 3 shows throughput for the four test conditions.
Plot 3: 802.11a Four Conditions
(click on the image for a full-sized view)
Since I didn't want to clutter up Plot 3 with too many lines, Plot 4 shows throughput runs for Condition 1 with normal, WEP 128, and Turbo separately enabled.
Don't believe Linksys' instructions to rely on WinXP's built-in wireless capabilties to configure the WPC54A card. Since the XP utilities don't allow you to set 152 bit WEP, or enable Turbo mode, it turns out that you must use Linksys' wireless client application if you want to access those capabilities. At least that's what they told me when I asked them how to do it!
Plot 4: Condition 1, 1X, 1X WEP, Turbo
(click on the image for a full-sized view)
And as with all other Atheros-based products I've tested, enabling WEP with any key length didn't affect throughput at all.
I found that "Turbo" mode provided only a 10% boost in average throughput, with max "Turbo" throughput coming in only around 28Mbps. I didn't bother running "Turbo" tests at all four test locations, since previous testing has shown that is useful only under strong-signal conditions.
In all, I'd say the 51AB turned in average 802.11a and b performance. The good news is that I was able to successfully complete testing under all four test conditions for 802.11a, something not all 802.11a AP/routers that I've tested have done.
802.11a Wireless Performance Test Results
| Test Conditions
| Firmware/Driver Versions AP f/w: | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Test Description | Signal Quality (%) | Transfer Rate (Mbps) | Response Time (msec) | UDP stream | |
| Throughput (kbps) | Lost data (%) | ||||
| Client to AP - Condition 1 | 0 | 2.9 [No WEP] 3.9 [w/ WEP] | 2 (avg) 4 (max) | 349 | 0 |
| Client to AP - Condition 2 | 0 | 3.5 [No WEP] [w/ WEP] | 3 (avg) 22 (max) | 402 | 0 |
| Client to AP - Condition 3 | 0 | 1.6 [No WEP] [w/ WEP] | 4 (avg) 15 (max) | 250 | 0 |
| Client to AP - Condition 4 | 0 | 2 [No WEP] [w/ WEP] | 3 (avg) 15 (max) | 264 | 0 |