Speed Wireless-N Bridges Linksys WET610N vs Trendnet vs SMC, why so different?

[mogulman]

I'm kind of new here, but it seems like there is a lot of Wireless-N knowledge on this site, so I'm hoping someone can help.

I have a Trendnet TEW-633GR Wireless-N Router (1 year old, newest firmware). It is single band 2.4ghz. I have it using Auto (20/40hz) mode. The other option is 20hz only. It is also in mixed mode (b/g/n). I have a Sony PSP and my wife's laptop with legacy wireless. I've tried Wireless-N only mode and it doesn't make much of a difference in speed as the PSP and 802.11g laptop barely ever connect.

Anyway... I was using the Wireless-N to go to a Home theater setup downstairs using an SMC Web-N Wireless-N Bridge (4 port) for the last year (40hz mode also). Thoughput speeds using iPerf between a PC wired to the router and a PC hooked to the SMC Bridge were around 30Mbs.

I got a Linksys WET610N. Configured it for 40hz and tried it in the same location as the SMC Bridge. Using iPerf with the WET610N, I get around 70Mbs. Awesome!! I think I'm going to be replacing the SMC. WAIT.. Not so fast. I can't print to my HP network printer using the WET610N. I guess this is a known bug using the WET610N. It somehow garbles the packets to HP printers....

So.. I purchase this week.. A Trendnet TEW-638BRP wireless bridge. Get it all hooked up at 40hz also... Only get about 30Mbs throughput.... Argh!!!

So... I can either use a fast device (Linksys WET610N) where I can't print, or slower devices that can print, but speed is about half.
I wish Linksys would just fix the printing issue on the WET610N, but it seems like it's been going on for a long time.


Anyone have any ideas why the Trendnet and SMC devices are slower than the Linksys??

Maybe the Linksys device is forcing the 40hz bonding, where the Trendnet and SMC devices are sensing networks around and not using the bonding? I have no idea?

BTW.. no b/g wireless clients were connected when running any of these tests.

 

[mogulman]

Ok.. I did some more testing. I moved the wireless AP/Bridge devices out of my HT cabinet. It seems like maybe the SMC device was more susceptible to interference in there.

I also turned switched everything to Wireless-N only, WPA2-AES.

I was also looking at the reported speeds in my router as well as iPerf:
-Linksys WET610N - 75 Mbit iperf, 240mbits router (pretty consistant)
-SMC SMCWEB-N - 73 Mbit iperf, 270mbits router (Speed seemed to bounce around more. Sometimes got as high as 80Mbits).
-Trendnet TEW-638APB -54 Mbit iperf, 162 router

 

[mogulman]

Ok.. so the Linksys is slightly higher than the SMC device. It averages about 5Mbits faster. The SMC device has peaks of higher speed.. but the speed bounces around a little more than the Linksys device.

The trendnet device doesn't go nearly as fast. I also had times when it wouldn't connect right away or it would lose connection (remove power and reattaching fixed this), but this was kind of annoying.

I guess I'll keep the SMC device connected. Even though it is a little slower. I can at least print with it.

 

[mogulman]

I returned the Trendnet device. I could never get it to consistantly stay connected at a higher speed. I think it was ratching down to single band rather than wide band.

I'm going to stick with the Linksys for a little while. It was slightly faster, remained faster and was more consistant with it's speed.

I have to give the Linksys or the SMC to my mom for her Blu-ray player when I visit in April. So I'll decide for sure then. If Linksys doesn't come up with a firmware that fixes the printing issue with HP network printers and the WET610N, I'll probably give her the Linksys device and keep the SMC.


BTW.. I've contacted tech support for Linksys, SMC and Trendnet. They all answer pretty quickly. Even though none of them really fixed my issue, and they were all outsourced to a foreign country (or sounded like it anyway), Trendnet support was slightly more helpful than SMC or Linksys. Linksys was 2nd. SMC support was horrible.