How We Test Wi-Fi Draft-2.0 802.11n Routers

How We Test: We tested each router and corresponding USB adapter in a series of short-range, medium-range, and long-range tests conducted in a real-world suburban home. We tested 2.4-GHz modes at close range and at long range. We tested 5-GHz modes at close range and at medium range (they were unable to complete our long-range tests).

For the close-range tests, we set up the router in a home office and positioned the client approximately 6 feet away in the same room. In the medium-range tests, we kept the router in the office but moved the client two rooms away. In the long-range tests, we kept the router in the office but set up the client in the backyard, about 60 feet away.

We connected our server test bed--a 2.13-GHz Core 2 Duo E6400 system running FreeNAS 0.686.1 revision 2744--to the router via ethernet. Our client test beds were identical HP Compaq 6510b 2.20-GHz Core 2 Duo T7500 laptop PCs running Windows Vista Business SP1 with all internal radios disabled.

We ran a script containing a series of uploads and downloads of a 106MB file, using the Windows FTP client. We ran our tests multiple times in multiple positions, repeating them on several different days at each test location.