Note: Effective April 15: 2008, the server we use to run the J-Perf Measurement Tool is now connected to the router being tested via the homerun, as opposed to being plugged directly into the router's switch. The impact on TCP throughput as a result of this change has proven to be negligible. We also eliminated the Home Office location from our test sequence.

Note: Effective January 15, 2008, we added two new test locations within the home: An enclosed patio and a bedroom.

Maximum PC Lab North is located on 10 acres of what was once a dairy farm,  so there shouldn’t be any problems with neighboring wireless networks causing channel bonding to shut down. The exterior frame of the house consists of 2x6 Douglas Fir framing sheathed in fiber-cement siding. The foundation is concrete and the roof is clad in composite shingles.

The interior walls are constructed from 2x4 Douglas Fir studs and are clad in drywall. The Media Room, however, is a room-within-a-room design: There are four walls of 2x4 studs and two layers of drywall inside four walls of 2x6 studs. There are two thicknesses of R19 insulation stuffed into the walls and the ceiling has two layers of drywall. Most of the interior walls inside the house are insulated for noise reduction. Two solid-core Masonite doors (one opens out into the foyer and the other opens in to the room) further deaden the room and prevent sound from leaking.

We pair the router with the same manufacturer’s Wi-Fi adapter. In order to measure peak performance, we set the router to operate in 802.11n-only mode with channel bonding enabled (assuming that feature is supported). We use the free utility Jperf (the Java front-end to Iperf) to measure TCP throughput to four locations in the house and three outside. We run one benchmark sequence with encryption turned off, and then a second run after enabling WPA2 security.

Here are the locations at which the notebook client are placed during benchmarking.

LOCATION 1: HOME OFFICE

The router is placed on top of the hutch (66 inches above the floor) and the notebook PC is on the desktop (five feet from the router). Note: We are no longer testing in the Home Office, effective April 15, 2008.

LOCATION 2: KITCHEN

The notebook is located on a granite countertop (45 inches above the floor and about 20 feet from the router), with one wall and a set of plywood cabinets separating the PC from the router.

LOCATION 3: ENCLOSED PATIO

The notebook is located on a glass table inside an enclosed patio (30 inches above the floor and 38 feet from the router). The patio is not part of the conditioned space of the home, so the signal must pass through one insulated exterior wall in addition to one insulated interior wall and a set of plywood cabinets.

LOCATION 4: BEDROOM

The notebook is located on a wooden nightstand (29 inches above the floor) in a bedroom that's about 60 feet from the router. The signal must pass through two insulated interior walls and a set of plywood cabinets.

LOCATION 5: MEDIA ROOM

The notebook is on a coffee table inside this double-walled, double-doored media room, about 35 feet from the router. There are five walls (three of which are insulated) separating the notebook from the router. (The doors are an exterior type in order to reduce sound leakage.)

LOCATION 6: OUTDOORS A

The notebook is outside the house, 90 feet from and at on oblique angle to the router. There are two interior and one exterior walls (all of which are insulated) separating the notebook from the router.

LOCATION 7: OUTDOORS B

The notebook is located outside the house 85 feet and at a right angle to the router. There is a set of plywood cabinets, four interior walls, and one exterior wall (all of which are insulated) separating the notebook from the router.

NEAREST NEIGHBOR

The closest house is quite a distance away, so there shouldn't be any router conflicts that would cause problems with channel bonding. (That's part of a grid-tied solar system in the upper right corner.)