Tom's Hardware > All Reviews > Special > Miscellaneous > NETGEAR WG602 54Mbps Wireless Access Point Review

Wrap Up

11:00 - Tuesday 11 May 2004 by THG Reporting Team

802.11g Wireless Performance Test Results

Test Conditions - WEP encryption: DISABLED - Tx Rate: Automatic - Power Save: disabled - Test Partner: NETGEAR WG511 54Mbps PC card			Firmware/Driver Versions AP f/w: V1.04 Wireless client driver: 1.0.6.31 (WinXP) Wireless client f/w: 0.08.01.00
Test Description	Signal Strength (%)	Transfer Rate (Mbps)	Response Time (msec)	UDP stream
Test Description	Signal Strength (%)	Transfer Rate (Mbps)	Response Time (msec)	Throughput (kbps)	Lost data (%)
Client to AP - Condition 1	100	18.4 [No WEP] 16.9 [w/ WEP]	2 (avg) 2 (max)	499	0
Client to AP - Condition 2	100	18.7	2 (avg) 3 (max)	499	0
Client to AP - Condition 3	86	14.2	2 (avg) 3 (max)	499	0
Client to AP - Condition 4	78	10.6	2 (avg) 2 (max)	499	0

See details of how we test.

I hope that this first in-depth review of an Intersil-based draft-11g product has shown you that there's plenty of difference in this fast-changing wireless LAN market segment. Although the WG602's maximum throughput lags behind Linksys' WRT54G and WAP54G, it clearly surpasses both in its smooth handling of mixed draft-11g / 11b networks. But NETGEAR will need to get the WEP-enabled throughput hit fixed and wireless bridging and repeating features added, or risk being left behind on the draft-11g battlefield.