2. The APs

Even though wireless routers are more popular with most consumers, I decided to focus on 802.11g access points - at least for my first pass at wireless load testing. Part of this was a bit of laziness on my part, since APs are easier to deal with because they don't create a separate subnet. But the other reason was that I figured AP code would be simpler and more robust, therefore giving the products the best chance of surviving the tortures that I planned.

As far as my choice of 802.11g vs. 11b APs, I figured that even though 11b APs are more widely deployed, the future is most certainly in 11g (or dual-band) APs. And once again, in a nod toward giving the APs the best chance of success, I figured the designs and processors in 11g APs would better stand up to heavy traffic loads.

Table 1 shows the APs that I put to the test. I intended to have more "enterprise grade" APs on the list and asked Cisco for an Aironet 1100 and NETGEAR for a WG302. Cisco asked me to fill out a review request form, then never responded and NETGEAR originally agreed to supply a WG302, but never delivered it. I also asked D-Link if they wanted to participate in the review, but never received a reply.

3Com 3CRWE725075A	ASUS WL300g
Buffalo Technology WLA-G54C	Gigabyte GN-A17GU
Linksys WAP54G	SMC 2552W-G