Electronic Updates

I've had an old Lynksys wireless router that I got somewhere around 2007 (actually, 2008). I remember agonizing whether to go with the old g or the new n band that was the latest protocol. When I bought the new desktop (has it already been 1.5 months?), I got 10% off when I got the CC credit card and used it to pay (hey, and the computer was already on sale for about 20% off). Then a couple of weeks ago there was a surprise in my email; they gave me a 10% reward in credits. Woohoo, I knew what I was going to buy with it. I mean seriously, new modem, new computer, and a router that had to be restarted on a regular basis because it lost itself (always at the least opportune time of course), what's not to like about that?

Fortunately there is a CC within a couple of miles from work, so I hit that up instead of having to make the trek to Concord. I could have gotten a fairly basic router for about what my reward was, but decided to throw in a few of my own $ and get something with a few more bells and whistles. I ended up with a Netgear Nighthawk AC2300 (aka R7000P), the cost of which I paid less than half after using the rewards. Of course I did my research before I went so made sure it wasn't an older version at R7000D. This is an entry level gaming / streaming router and since I don't do either is more than I need, but should be up to snuff longer than a basic version.

Yesterday afternoon, although only in the 70's, it was so humid that working outside (beyond the 1 ton of pellets I picked up and stacked in the garage) was a struggle even to breathe, so I decided to set up the router. On opening the box, I found there were no instructions - just a piece of paper describing what should be in the box. I had looked up to see what issues there were with setting up, so took a snip of the access address that would allow me to set up via a web browser even without Comcast being in the mix.

Although it took a bit of time, the set up went fairly smoothly and I was able to use the "genie" software to get everything working smoothly. The first thing I did was to change the default password on both bands (2.5G and 5G band). I got my phone, laptop, printer, work laptop and work phone working with it to.

Let me tell you, I thought things had gotten fast with the new computer and modem set up, but the router adds a whole 'nother level for everything. I haven't tried out the range, but expect it to be about what the old one was (to about 10 feet perimeter of the outside walls of my house.

Besides the lack of instructions, the only other issue I have with the new router is that it is HUGE. It doesn't fit on top of my computer, or within the cubby in the desk. Well, it fits, just not gracefully - but at least it well be well ventilated and not overheat :). Oh, and it has lots of bright white lights (the old router had 3 dim blue lights).

For comparison on size, I place the old Linksys router on top (looking at the picture I realized that one of the 3 antennae had been rotated back when I hooked up the docking station for my work computer (the yellow wire to the left) so I have since fixed that. At least I know that if Spot jumps up there, she won't break it, it will just move out of the way.

After looking it up, I know I'm not imagining the speed boost. For a visual comparison of the old N versus the new AC versions (and hey, if I had gotten a g router back in 2008, look where it would have been).

Naturally, as explained below (from the the same source as the chart), theoretical speeds and actual speed are different than the chart, but still the new protocol is much faster.

You may have noticed there has been a six year gap between 802.11n and 802.11ac. This is an eternity in technology terms and the big benefit 802.11ac brings from its time in development is speed.

WiFi is always promoted using ‘theoretical’ speeds and by this standard 802.11ac is capable of 1300 megabits per second (Mbps) which is the equivalent of 162.5 megabytes per second (MBps). This is 3x faster than the typical 450Mbps speed attributed to 802.11n.

The problem is these speeds are garbage. In the real world no-one ever gets close to theoretical speeds and the fastest 802.11ac real world speeds recorded in testing are around 720Mbps (90MBps). By contrast 802.11n tops out at about 240Mbps (30MBps) so the 3x estimate is still true, just much lower

The article goes on to explain that although range for the new protocol may not be much, if any better, it is the beamforming tech that really makes a difference. The technology actively pinpoints where the wireless device is and pinpoints the beam to maximize efficiency. As an aside, at my last place of employment, we built beamformers, so now I know what they do.

All this means the performance of 802.11ac is maintained far better at long range than 802.11n. Peak performance may be tripled, but at range 5-10x the speed benefits are not unusual and this is where 802.11ac comes into its own. Some numbers for example:

• 802.11ac at one metre: 90MBps, 10 metres: 70MBps and at 20 metres behind two solid walls: 50MBps

• 802.11n at one metre: 30MBps, 10 metres: 20MBps and at 20 metres behind two solid walls: 5-10MBps

 

The article goes on to rate the Nighthawk as the best performing router of the 4 that they mention.

My setup should be good to go for another 10 years or so.

Comments

[Cop Car]

Well done and kept economical!

"The technology actively pinpoints where the wireless device is and pinpoints the beam to maximize efficiency." I had no idea that this capability existed, nor that your old company made the hardwayr - nor do I know if our router (Netgear who-knows-what-model) has it. Our router is closer to the size of your old one than that of the new.

Really? Ten years? That reminds me that my "new" desktop is approaching 9 years of age. I don't recall when we installed the wi-fi. We had to replace the cable modem in 2015.