Roundup - Wireless Access Point Comparison

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We've rounded up the main consumer access points from Belkin, D-Link, Linksys, Netgear and SMC. Now you can see at a glance how they all compare.

We'll start off with a quick breakdown of the main differences between the offerings.

AccessPoints that call themselves "Cable/DSL Router" or "Broadband Router" usually mean they have an ethernet port for connecting an ethernet enabled Cable or DSL modem. They don't actually come with the modem, you have to buy that extra.
AccessPoints that call themselves "wireless cable modem" or "wireless adsl modem" do have a modem built in, and so can be connected straight to the wall socket.
802.11G wireless kit is compatible with 802.11B kit, but the B kit still only runs at 11Mbps. So an 802.11G AccessPoint will support 802.11B clients, and an 802.11AG Access Point will support A, B and G clients.
An 802.11B Access Point will support 802.11G clients but only at 11Mbps.

And now a big table to compare the most common consumer access points.

AP Speed Router Firewall Modem Ports Security Extras

linksys WAP54A A no no no 1x 10/100 wep no

linksys WAP51AB AB no no no 1x 10/100 wep no

linksys WRT51AB AB yes yes no 4x 10/100 lan, 1x 10/100 wan wep no

linksys WAP55AG AG no no no 1x 10/100 wep no

linksys WRT55AG AG yes yes no 4x 10/100 lan, 1x 10/100 wan wep no

d-link DI-784 AG yes yes no 4x 10/100 lan, 1x 10/100 wan wep,wpa 108 Mbps

d-link DWL-7100AP AG no no no 1x 10/100 lan wep,wpa 108 Mbps

d-link DI-774 AG yes yes no 4x 10/100 lan, 1x 10/100 wan wep,wpa no

d-link DWL-7000AP AG no no no 1x 10/100 lan wep,wpa no

smc 2555W-AG AG no no no 1x 10/100 lan wep, wpa 108 Mbps

smc 2336W-AG AG yes yes no 4x 10/100 lan, 1x 10/100 wan wep, wpa 108 Mbps

linksys BEFW11S4 B yes no no 4x 10/100 lan, 1x 10/100 wan wep no

linksys WAP11 B no no no 1x 10/100 wep no

netgear MR814 B yes yes no 4x 10/100 lan, 1x10 wan wep no

netgear CG814M B yes yes Cable 4x 10/100 lan, USB, 1x wan wep no

netgear WMB521 B yes yes no 4x 10/100 lan, 1x 10/100 wan wep MA521 pc card

belkin F5D6231-4 B yes yes no 4x 10/100 lan, 1x 10/100 wan wep no

belkin F5D6130 B no no no 1x 10/100 lan wep no

d-link DI-514 B yes yes no 4x 10/100 lan, 1x 10/100 wan wep no

d-link DWL-700AP B no no no 1x 10/100 lan wep no

d-link DWL-900AP B no no no 1x 10/100 lan wep bridging

smc 7004VWBR B yes yes no 4x 10/100 lan, 1x 10/100 wan wep no

linksys WAP54G G no no no 1x 10/100 wep,wpa no

linksys WCG200 G yes yes Cable 4x 10/100, USB, 1x wan wep no

linksys WRT54G G yes yes no 4x 10/100 lan, 1x 10/100 wan wep, wpa no

linksys WRT54GS G yes yes no 4x 10/100 lan, 1x 10/100 wan wep, 802.1x 35% speedboost

linksys WRV54G G yes yes no 4x 10/100 lan, 1x 10/100 wan wep, 802.1x vpn

linksys WAG54G G yes yes Adsl 4x 10/100 lan, 1x wan wep no

netgear WG602 G no no no 1x 10/100 lan wep, wpa no

netgear WRG614 G yes yes no 4x 10/100 lan, 1x 10/100 wan wep, wpa no

netgear WG834G G yes yes Adsl 4x 10/100 lan, 1x wan wep no

netgear WGB511 G yes yes no 4x10/100 lan, 1x 10/100 wan wep MA521 pc card

netgear WGT624 G yes yes no 4x10/100 lan, 1x 10/100 wan wep, wpa 108Mbps Super G

belkin F5D7231-4 G yes yes no 4x 10/100 lan, 1x10 wan wep, wpa 35% speed boost

belkin F5D7230-4 G yes yes no 4x 10/100 lan, 1x 10/100 wan wep no

belkin F5D7130 G no no no 1x 10/100 lan wep, wpa no

d-link DI-624 G yes yes no 4x 10/100 lan, 1x 10/100 wan wep,wpa 108 Mbps

d-link DWL-2100AP G no no no 1x 10/100 lan wep,wpa 108 Mbps

d-link DI-524 G yes yes no 4x 10/100 lan, 1x 10/100 wan wep,wpa no

d-link DWL-G700AP G no no no 1x 10/100 lan wep,wpa no

smc 7804WBRB G yes yes Adsl 4x 10/100 lan, 1x wan wep, wpa no

smc 7804WBRA G yes yes Adsl 4x 10/100 lan, 1x wan wep, wpa no

smc 2804WBR G yes yes no 4x 10/100 lan, 1x 10/100 wan wep, wpa no

Whilst every attempt has been made to ensure that these details are correct, we cannot guarantee them, and manufacturers change specifications all the time, so please check them before making any decisions based on them.

Comments

	speed performance...
A,B,G is NOT the speed of the modern...B, G operates up to 11mbps, G, 54 mbps on 2.4G band. A up to 54 mbps @ 5.8GHz. I googled on this page trying to compare actual file transfer speed of the wireless router. My cheapie gets 3 mega-byte per second when pumping (file copy of video files) from wire pot to 1 wireless client, and 1.9 if 2 clients are downloading simultaneously. Anybody knows how it compares with other brands?
Posted 11 Aug 2006 by icc

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