Introduction
Singapore has already rolled out Optical Fibre Broadband for about two years now. As the market gets more competitive with new vendors joining the race, different vendors need to do things differently in order to stand out from the rest. For example, Viewquest is offering contract free fibre broadband plans.
Fibre Internet speeds are extremely fast. It is so fast that usually, the personal home network infrastructure is unable to sustain the speed. For instance, wireless N (802.11n) speeds are theoretically limited at 300Mbps and practically averages at 50Mbps. If a user signs up for a 100Mbps Fibre Broadband plan and plans to reply solely on wireless connectivity, wireless bandwidth on the computer connecting wireless router will never reach the actual fibre broadband speeds. The user will therefore not be able to enjoy the full speeds which he purchased for.
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| Wireless N Speed on SingNet 100Mbps Fibre Plan |
Luckily, as technology improves overtime, wireless speed, throughput and bandwidth are bound increase. The problem of speed limitations set by Wireless N is now answered by a newer revision to WiFi standard – Wireless AC (802.11ac).
In this article, we will set up a new wireless infrastructure with Wireless AC standard within a typical 5-room HDB flat apartment. We will make our comparisons between the signal strength, wireless internet bandwidth and local area network connection wireless bandwidth between Wireless N and Wireless AC Technologies.
Network Components / Setup
ASUS F2A85-M PRO System with AMD A5800K
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Broadcom BCM4322 Intensi-fi® Single-Chip 802.11n Transceiver on MacBook 5.1 (Wireless Receiver)
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2Wire (Pace) 5012NV Wireless N Router
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ASUS RT-AC66U Dual-band Wireless AC1750 Router
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ASUS PCE-AC66 Dual-band PCI-E Adapter
- ASUS RT-AC66U Dual-band Wireless AC1750 Router
- ASUS USB-AC53 Dual-band Wireless USB Adapter
Distance between Wireless Router and Wiress Receiver : 8 meters, 1 wall.
First look at the Wireless AC Products from ASUS
ASUS RT-AC66U
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| RT-AC66U |
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| RT-AC66U |
This router is rated to perform. It is claimed to be 3 times faster than usual Wireless N. Besides that, this router can be connected to ASUS AiCloud to enable easy file storage to the free cloud provided with the purchase of the router.
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| RT-AC66U Accessories |
Other than the physical router, the package also contains other accessories that could be useful. ASUS included 2 more adaptors in the box to ensure that the router will work even if the user is bringing it overseas. It is installed with a UK adaptor and also includes a Europe and Australia/China one if you intend to visit those countries.
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| RT-AC66U Ports |
RT-AC66U has got all major features that a flagship consumer router should have. It has got 2 USB ports for 3G, File or Printer Sharing, 4 Gigabit LAN ports to make sure that all wired connections run at Gigabit speeds to prevent any bottlenecking and also antenna interface.
ASUS USB-AC53
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| ASUS USB-AC53 |
ASUS USB-AC53 is the market’s first ever 802.11ac USB dongle. It can reach speeds that even saturates its own USB 2.0 interface at 480Mbps.
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| ASUS USB-AC53 |
As simple as how it may seem, simply plug the ASUS USB-AC53 into the computer and install the drivers to let the Wireless AC dongle do its magic. It also comes with a clip that can be clipped onto the screen of the notebook or tablet. This dongle beats any other dongles on the market hands down without any competition.
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| ASUS USB-AC53 |
The USB-AC53 also follows the same design details as the RT-AC66U and shines in terms of both performance and aesthetics.
ASUS PCE-AC66
Testing Methodology
Performance Results
Conclusion
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