Appendix; Technical Evaluation Recommendations - NETGEAR R6300 Manual

Appendix

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Technical Evaluation Recommendations

1. Wi-Fi Speed and Range
The NETGEAR R6300 router's high transmit power and sensitive antennas fine-tuned for each frequency
band provide superior range in comparison to competing routers. Please note WiFi speed and range
always depend on the WiFi adapters in use and the processing power of the network device. In the case
of R6300, as the router is capable of multiple sessions, the computer can become the bottleneck when
testing with only one computer. Also note that it is best to run the Iperf or IxChariot test programs using
multiple sessions instead of single sessions.
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Highest speed is reached with Intel 6300 WiFi cards integrated in notebooks (found in selected
Dell and HP notebooks).
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USB adapter speed (with NETGEAR WNDA3100 v2) at close range is usually less than integrated
WiFi N in laptops as the interface is via USB instead of natively talking to the PC CPU bus. This is
not a limitation of the USB adapter, but reflects the speed at which the PC can interface and
process traffic while driving the USB adapter.
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It is best to use mid channels in 2.4 GHz range (Channel 4 – 8) as they support the highest
power, per FCC/CE regulations, and hence provide extended range.
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For the 5 GHz band, the higher the power, the better the range. NETGEAR recommends using
channel 153 for testing 5 GHz.
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For short-range testing, the router is optimized for maximum throughput when the client is 10
to 15 feet away from the router. At closer distances, speed measurements may lead to some
lowering of performance due to over-saturation, because the client is receiving too much WiFi
power.
Note: Due to the new WiFi Alliance certification rules regarding the 2.4 GHz frequency, the connection is
allowed to channel bond and go to 300 Mbps maximum link rate only where there are no other
interfering access points nearby. In presence of other WiFi access points, the router and the clients will
go down to 20 Mbps mode with maximum link speed of 145 – 150 Mbps.
2. WAN to LAN Speed
The methodology for running WAN to LAN Speed test is explained below. For the R6300, TCP and UDP
performance in both downlink and uplink directions are in the 400-550 Mbps range.
3. Simultaneous Session test
When both Wi-Fi networks (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz) are connected to clients and passing network traffic at
the same time, the router CPU is usually the bottleneck as it has to process multiple streams of 802.11n
traffic. This test is recommended at close range, within 5 to 7 feet, to ensure highest throughput in each
frequency bands and measure total WiFi performance and stress test the CPU.
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