Tuesday, December 6, 2005
MIMO Wireless Router Face-Off
Posted by Jason Dunn in "ARTICLE" @ 03:00 AM
"About a year ago in Do Extended-range WLAN technologies deliver? I looked at three products representing three technologies that claimed to deliver higher speed and extended range to folks putting together home wireless LANs. Among those technologies was Airgo Networks' True MIMO, which was represented by Belkin's "Pre-N" router and card and which beat the other two products hands-down. Since then, a flurry of products with the apparently alluring "MIMO" (Multiple Input Multiple Output) term somehow incorporated into their names has hit retail shelves. Yes, folks, MIMO has become the "new black" (at least in the consumer WLAN world) and purveyors of consumer WLAN gear hope that you'll once again dig deep into your wallets to drink the latest Kool-Aid, that really, really, this-time-for-sure, honest-and-truly, will cure those wireless dead spots that we all have around our homes."
The promise of MIMO and Pre-N is alluring, but I've had nothing but trouble with both the Belkin and Netgear Pre-N MIMO routers. The Belkin kept hanging on me, WiFi would die, and was generally unstable. No amount of firmware upgrades would help, and Belkin tech support was clueless. I then switched to a Netgear Pre-N MIMO router, and had weeks of problems where it would somehow stop passing all HTTP requests on. I could ping, do email, etc., but anything that went out over port 80 would fail. I'd have to reboot the router to get it working again. I've since switched to an old 802.11b. D-Link router I had lying around, and it's 90% more stable. Once every day or two the WiFi will stop working and require a reboot, but it's an improvement. I do have to wonder why I have no many problems maintaining a stable WiFi signal from any router though - I have a feeling there maybe a rogue access point nearby that's kicking out massive interference, but that's not something I can prove. Plus, even with the supposed greater range of the MIMO units, my wife's laptop on the top floor of our house kept losing signal, and a regular 802.11b router can provide a solid signal to it - so what good is the MIMO router? Networking is a sore point for me these past few months. :evil:
The promise of MIMO and Pre-N is alluring, but I've had nothing but trouble with both the Belkin and Netgear Pre-N MIMO routers. The Belkin kept hanging on me, WiFi would die, and was generally unstable. No amount of firmware upgrades would help, and Belkin tech support was clueless. I then switched to a Netgear Pre-N MIMO router, and had weeks of problems where it would somehow stop passing all HTTP requests on. I could ping, do email, etc., but anything that went out over port 80 would fail. I'd have to reboot the router to get it working again. I've since switched to an old 802.11b. D-Link router I had lying around, and it's 90% more stable. Once every day or two the WiFi will stop working and require a reboot, but it's an improvement. I do have to wonder why I have no many problems maintaining a stable WiFi signal from any router though - I have a feeling there maybe a rogue access point nearby that's kicking out massive interference, but that's not something I can prove. Plus, even with the supposed greater range of the MIMO units, my wife's laptop on the top floor of our house kept losing signal, and a regular 802.11b router can provide a solid signal to it - so what good is the MIMO router? Networking is a sore point for me these past few months. :evil:
