New Aiport Extreme Performance?

[BoulderBum]

So from what I understand, the difference between the new Airport Extreme and any other dual band router is that the Airport has two radios, while other dual-band radios tend to use two frequencies on a single radio (is that correct?).

Now, this immediately makes me think that I might see a significant performance improvement over my current router, which runs in mixed mode, because one Airport radio can be servicing all my wireless G/single-band wireless N clients, while the other radio can service all my wireless N dual-band clients.

What I want to know is, where is the proof? Has anyone done performance testing on the unit yet with mixed G/wireless N dual-band clients?

 

[gwihannom]

Here's something I have tried in the last couple of days.

I have Time Capsule and Airport Express.

I decided to try the dual band.
Time Capsule distributing 802.11n only (5GHz),
and in a bridge mode, have Airport Express connected via ethernet,
and distribute 802.11g only.

Wireless N network has a name "xxxn."
Wireless G network has a name "xxxg."

Two separate networks are on different frequencies,
and are in different radio modes.
They are positioned about two feet away from each other.

I have used various internet speed test websites,
and from a distance close to the routers (same room)
I get a speed check of about 25~30 mbps.
That's the speed that I'm suppose to get.

Move to a couple rooms away,
I would say about three wooden walls, a wooden door,
some "normal" interfering objects in between.

Speed test, and the results are very different.
About 20 mbps for Wireless G only network, which is fine.
But around 8.5 mbps for Wireless N only in 5GHz.
Half the download speed.
Upload is same at about 6mbps.

In this case, wireless N was slower than wireless G.

Harassed an Apple technical support and IP tech friend,
and the answer was,

"2.4GHz does better at passing through interferences such as large water tanks, electronic devices, glass and metal plates. 5GHz is not as resilient as 2.4GHz. For people experiencing issues with 5GHz, using 2.4GHz might be the better option."

So there you go.

Performance boost might not be that great.
But then again, maybe new device has made a significant improvement.

 

[929406]

I've just hooked my up and it is pretty good, previously I had a 3 antenna N router and the speed and range is at least as good as the previous one. I wanted a print server and access to a HD through Mobile Me so I decided to take the plunge.

btw.....can anyone point me in the right direction to access my HD on the fly with mobile me?

 

[mmoran27]

It will show up in finder just like if you were at home. It shows up under shared.