Performance
Speedtest.net is a free broadband connection analysis website founded by Ookla Net Metrics in 2006. Users can test their internet speed against hundreds of geographically dispersed servers around the world. At the end of each test, users are presented with their download (the speed of data from the server to your computer) and upload (the speed of sending data from your computer to the server) bandwidth speeds. The tests are performed completely within your web browser over HTTP (just like normal web browsing).
In our office environment, the extra coverage that the repeater gave was one of the best we have seen to date, the speeds experienced as well were (from the same point we could get a signal from the router direct) slightly better than we was expecting. This is a good example that for some devices, signal strength is highly related to speeds experienced.
With the unit installed in to my home, the extension to the coverage naturally wasn’t as great as the office, again due to the walls, but the speeds experienced in today’s set of tests were very good – again noting a slightly better speed when connected through the plug at 2.4GHz.
I just bought one of these to extend the network of my Asus RT-68U. By default it wants to create separate SSID’s for 2.4 and 5 GHz frequencies, in addition to the original router’s SSID. So, I have 3 SSID’s for my devices to choose from. I’m not sure if it would be better to combine all the SSID’s or keep it separated. With separate SSID’s, will the clients automatically switch to the SSID with the best signal and even differentiate between the appropriate frequencies? An Apple TV that gets weak signal from the original router would be better off with the repeater’s 5 GHz band and since the Apple TV is stationary, I suppose I could manually connect it with that SSID, but what about my phone or an iPad?