Netgear has launched the RangeMax 240 series of wireless routers and notebook
adapters. As the name suggests, the router provides much wider wireless coverage
and speed than traditional routers. It claims to provide up to 1000% more
wireless coverage, and up to 240 Mbps connectivity. It uses Smart MIMO (Multiple
Input Multiple Output) technology developed to deliver upon these specs. MIMO
technology sends multiple data streams with the help of multiple antennae over
the same wireless channel. Sending multiple streams of data also ensures that
you get better signal reception and wider area coverage. Typical wireless
routers and adapters listen only to the strongest signal and are vulnerable to
interference from other electronic devices, whereas MIMO technology enabled
routers and adapters listen to multiple signals simultaneously to eliminate dead
spots and signal interference.
Price and Warranty: WPNT834 Router: Rs 11,500 (2yrs); WPNT511 Adapter: Rs 8,900 (1 yr) |
Meant For: IT managers |
Key Specs: 802.11b/g specification, 240Mbps, MIMO technology based |
Pros: Wide area coverage, Fast wireless speed |
Cons: None |
Contact: Netgear Technologies, DelhiTel: 9811795900Email id: pinaki.chatterjee@netgear.com |
These multiple transmitted signals are filtered at the receiver end using
MIMO algorithms to output the required signal. The router uses Adaptive Channel
Expansion to provide non-overlapping channels at 2.4MHz. As they belong to the
same MIMO family, they provide good performance. A combination of dissimilar
family adapters and routers will not provide the desired performance because of
different technology architecture.
RangeMax 240 wireless router is based on 802.11b/g specification. It has five
10/100 Mbps ports out of which one is for Internet connectivity and the other
four for LAN. The router supports all the key wireless security standards, which
include a firewall, DoS attack prevention, intrusion detection, WEP (64 and
128-bit), and also second generation Wi-Fi Protected Access Pre-Shared Key
(WPA2-PSK). Router management happens through a Web browser. The same console
can also be used to block or schedule access to sites and services. It logs
sites that were visited through any node on the network. These logs can be
periodically sent to a predefined e-mail address for assessment.
Performance
We plugged the wireless router to our isolated 100 Mbps test network. To verify
the actual throughput between the router and adapter, we used NetIQ. We
connected two nodes to the router-one was a notebook connected wirelessly using
a RangeMax 240 adapter and second being a workstation connected to a LAN port
using a cable. The NetIQ benchmark gave us a maximum throughput of 90 Mbps,
which is very impressive. It could have been even higher, since the router
actually supports upto 240 Mbps had we had another machine with a Netgear
RangeMax 240 adapter. Here, the limitation was that of the 100 Mbps LAN. These
performance results have surpassed the highest throughput we've achieved with
any wireless product we've reviewed till date. For instance, the Buffalo Air
Station G (reviewed in PCQuest Feb 2006) had achieved up to 35 Mbps. We also did
a throughput test using a regular 54 Mbps card, and got a throughput of up to
24.86 Mbps. With such brilliant data transfer rates you don't have to hook onto
the wired network for accessing media rich Internet content. You can stay
wireless and still collaborate with
others on the network.
Bottom Line: These Netgear products show their prowess when used in
combination. It looks as if the age of high-speed wireless LANs has finally
arrived.
Anubhav Verma