802.11b Networking provides for up to 11mbps across the link with fallback to 5mbps and 2mbps if interference is present. While all the makers of these devices claim large radius, the truth is the radio isn't that powerful, and you're not likely to see 11mbps of connectivity more than fity to sixty feet away from the router. Now, with wireless, the real issue is security. Theoretically, any person wandering in range of your unit can access it, and your LAN as well as your connection to the internet. This is why Wireless Encryption Protocol (WEP) was developed. So that: A) Your wireless device can be authenticated, and B) traffic between it and the access Point (AP) can be protected from interception and/or decryption.
However, this added encryption feature comes at a price. because of the overhead it imposes, and the fact that packets must be encrypted and decrypted at either end with zero tolerance for errors, you're throughput will probably drop to about 45% of what it was.
Test Results Across Switch: AVG: 85.226 Mbps (This is normal and well within range. No 100Mbps switch ever actually transfer at 100Mbps.. overhead and other issues prevent it.)
Test Results Across Wireless: From Wireless Station: No WEP: 4.869 Mbps WEP 64bit: 2.270 Mbps WEP 128bit: 2.245 Mbps
From Wired LAN Station: No WEP: 4.860 WEP 64bit: 3.552 Mbps WEP 128bit: 3.545 Mbps
The conclusion drawn from the wireless tests is that if you're going to encrypt, you might as well do 128bit encryption. The additional overhead is marginal compared to the initial impact you take on throughput with 64bit WEP. Frankly, the additional encryption is more secure. It is a good idea to combine this with MAC address control. You want to make certain that the devices communicating to the router are the proper ones. You want to avoid accidental crosstalk from other wireless LANs and their devices. You also want to make sure that these devices have the appropriate permissions.
You may note that the wired station takes less of a hit in throughput in the tests. The reason is that it's not trying to encrypt anything, and is handing that off to the router. The router is faster than the small wireless card in the laptop at encrypting and decrypting. At least part of the bottleneck here is apparently the wireless NIC used in testing.
Note that a lot of the changes you do with the router require a router reboot. This is quick though, and shouldn't pose much of a problem. It is worth mentioning though in case you can't afford even a momentary (less than ten seconds) outage.
WAN Port:
I have a 1.5Mbps internet connection. This does not stress the WAN port.
Conclusion:
Without a doubt, this is one of the best bang-f0r-the-buck routers out there. Ease of use, functionality, security and wireless expandability all make it a highly recommended choice.
Tom (Bouncer) Blakely, CCNA, CCDA, reporting from The Bouncer Bunker, somewhere on the East Coast of the USA:
Well - the wireless download speed with WEP enabled is here significantly higher - up to 3600kbps on average - peaks up to 4300kbps. And - strange enough - WEP enabled does nothing to that. Same rate...
I have a ADSL 6000kbps internet connection at home, testimg with XPsp2.
