EnGenius 802.11n  products review EUB-9701EXT2 ESR-9710


Click here for more information on the 802.11n products

 

I was given the chance to review the new EnGenius 802.11n draft 2.0 products before anyone else here is what I found.

802.11n uses multiple inputs and outputs or MIMO uses multiple transmitter and receiver antennas to improve throughput and offer better range over 802.11bg networks at the same transmit power. 

For home use 802.11n does shine.  In my testing using the ESR-9710 with the EUB-9701 USB adapter I was able to get up 69Mbps throughput with bursts up to 90Mbps or almost fast Ethernet speeds at close range. I set the ESR-9710  router to 40MHz  and used NETIQ chariot to do the throughput testing.

One application for 802.11n is HDTV streaming in the home.  A 1080i broadcast stream requires about 20Mbps sustained throughput.  I pulled a broadcast mpeg2 encoded stream from a SA3250 cable box via firewire.  I was than able to stream the broadcast over the 802.11n connection anywhere in my home without any slowdown.

The  ESR-9710 is a great 802.11n home router it is also backward compatible with 802.11bg with three detachable SMA connector antennas and has 4 Gigabit Ethernet ports for high speed media sharing.  It also has the Ubicom streamengine technology for real time QOS.  Also called GameFuel by D-Link for their higher priced access points.  The streamengine works great for VOIP and gaming applications no user configuration is needed.  It will greatly reduce your ping time while gaming and  jitter during VOIP calls.  Below you can see the streamengine giving priority to a VOIP call on 10.0.0.200 over a web session on 10.0.0.100.

The ESR-9710 has many advanced features for a SOHO router including DHCP reservations and a robust UPNP mapping system.  I was able to run several large torrents through the router with no ill effects.  UPNP mappings were established by Azureus and removed when the program was closed.   The streamengine would automatically adjust priority for say a VOIP call or game while torrenting.

The EUB-9701EXT2 is a 802.11n client adapter that is also backward compatible with 802.11bg.  It has dual detachable antennas with SMA connectors and up to 63mW of transmit power.  I tested the EUB-9701EXT2 on both 802.11bg and 802.11n only networks and it works well with both.  Range is better than a similar powered 802.11bg adapter but not quite as good as the 200mW EUB-362 EXT.  Throughput with the ESR-9710 in n only mode was a amazing 60Mbps at close range and between 45-60Mbps at different locations through the house.  This would be a great adapter for use with a media center pc streaming HDTV content.

 

However since 802.11n products use more of the available spectrum than a standard 802.11bg device they can interfere with other access points in the area.  Because of this transmit power is limited and ultimate range is less than a high power 802.11bg device like the 400mW ECB-3220 or 600mW ECB-8610S.  It also limits 802.11n to a single access point home type environment for now.

In the spectrum plot below you can see the  ESR-9710 set to 40MHz wide mode.  It is using channels 1-7.

 

Click here for more information on the 802.11n products