13. Mixed Mode - 11g

• WPN824 RangeMax...
• • Newegg.com
  • $69.99
• • NextWarehouse.com
  • $59.84
• • Directron
  • $59.99
• • Mwave.com
  • $65.52
• • TECH ON WEB
  • $66.71

My next check was for how the 824 would perform with both RangeMax and other flavors of wireless clients were simultaneously active. I set up an IxChariot test using two wireless clients (Figure 23). Each client ran a Throughput.scr script using TCP/IP, sending 200,000 Bytes of data at a time and looping for approximately 1 minute in real-time mode. One version of the script started the NETGEAR RangeMax client first, then the other client 10 seconds later, while a second script reversed this delay. For each client type, I ran four tests:

RangeMAX starts first, both pair Uplink (client - also refered to as STA - to AP) RangeMAX starts second, both pair Uplink RangeMAX starts first, both pair Downlink (AP to STA) RangeMAX starts second, both pair Downlink

Figure 23: Mixed WLAN Test Setup

A little birdie told me that mixed mode testing might go better with the AR (Adaptive Radio) feature enabled in the 824. But I ran tests with a RangeMax and standard 11g client both with AR enabled and disabled and didn't see any significant difference. So I used the default settings for the tested clients and also left the 824 in its default Auto108 mode with XR and AR disabled. Both clients were located within 10 feet (3 meters) of the router for all tests.

My first test used a Broadcom-based Linksys WPC54G original version card to see how the 824 handled mixed RangeMax and 11g clients.

Figure 24: Mixed RangeMax and 11g uplink - RangeMax first
(click on image to enlarge)

Figure 25: Mixed RangeMax and 11g uplink - 11g first
(click on image to enlarge)

Figures 24 and 25 show results similar to those I observed in my TrueMIMO / 11g mixed tests - that the 11g client definitely gets the short end of the throughput stick, even though the Rangemax pair properly drops out of channel bonding to accomodate the non Super-G STA. I didn't observe significantly different behavior with both clients running downlink (AP to client), so I'm not bothering to post those plots.