ASUS WL-500G Premium Review - Testing
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Testing
There isn't a lot to test on a wireless router other than to benchmark how fast it can send data compared to how far you are away from the router, and of course the strength of the signal. I will be using a DIVX copy of the move "Saving Private Ryan," weighing in at 695.7 MB. This will make a good benchmark and should saturate the connection to its fullest. Environment 1 will be in the same room as the router with a direct line of sight roughly five feet away from the router. Environment 2 will be roughly 30 feet away with three things between it. This should give a good indication of how well the router sends the signal.
This graph shows the total time in minutes it took to send the "Saving Private Ryan" DIVX from the hard drive to the computer. The standard USB cord to
computer was remarkably faster than using the wireless connection. As predicted it took more time to send through wireless signals the weaker the signal gets. If you are constantly moving very large files around, it would be better to connect the hard drive to the computer. If you need another hard drive but don't send particularly large files very often, then this is a great way to not bog down your computer with cords.
Wireless technology is gaining lots of ground. We now have the ability to not only send audio wirelessly and stream from a central media "server," but also videos and most importantly HD videos can be sent. While we have the hardware to do this, how will the wireless signal hold up? I have a HD, 1080p, video-streamed from environment 2. Surely if I can view this clip without hiccups or hang-ups we are good to go with wireless streaming of anything. I had no problems viewing the video clip; it never even hinted at any problems. It seems as if streaming HD video shouldn't pose a problem as long as there is a decent signal with any 802.11G connection.
I didn't have a problem with range. I was able to go around the house and outside on the patio without any problems. I was surprised by the range. If you need the signal to reach you as some serious distances, you can upgrade the antenna. As you can see from the testing, with distance you sacrifice speed.
Firmware
When researching wireless routers you will find that the average price is between about $40-$60, and then there are some nearing $100. Logic says that the cheaper ones are worth it, considering they all connect to the same Internet and all offer 802.11G. But there are some benefits to getting the more expensive versions as they tend to pack in all the extras, including hardware that can be flashed to different firmware. This after all is a computer hardware site designed to give you the maximum performance out of every piece of your computer, so why not your router too?
If you are just looking for a router to which you can hook up an external HD, connect a printer and use the standard wireless features that a cheaper router has, don't worry about flashing your firmware. You probably won't gain much from it, except perhaps for the possibility of killing your router. If you want more features, have some spare time and are very computer savvy, you can tinker with the router and get a lot more out of it. If you have experience with Linux, flashing is going to be fairly simple to you.
Next: Conclusion >>
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