Home > Reviews > Better Budget Wi-Fi

Better Budget Wi-Fi

The trickle-down effect has hit the Wi-Fi world: New, moderately priced routers and notebook cards now promise and deliver some or most of the speed and range improvements first seen last year in costlier products. In our tests of shipping products from three lines--Belkin's Wireless G-Plus MIMO, Buffalo Technology's AirStation Turbo G High Power Wireless, and Linksys's Wireless-G with SRX200--all performed creditably, even at distances that older, standard 802.11g equipment can't cover. However, the Belkin and Linksys products generally outperformed the Buffalo gear.

Both Linksys's $115 Wireless-G with SRX200 and Belkin's $90 Wireless G-Plus MIMO routers use second-generation chips from Airgo Networks, whose first MIMO (multiple-in, multiple-out) chips powered several of the high-performance lines in our last Wi-Fi roundup.

Buffalo's $89 AirStation Turbo G High Power Wireless router and $59 notebook card (the least-expensive products in this group) don't depend on MIMO technology; they use older high-speed 802.11g chips and owe their enhanced performance mainly to high-powered amplification of the radio signal.

For comparison purposes, we tested the original Linksys SRX router (which is being discontinued) along with the newer products and found that the Linksys SRX200 router with the SRX card--the priciest setup-fell only a bit short of it (see the features comparison chart, "Belkin Leads the Budget Wi-Fi Pack"). Belkin's less expensive G-Plus MIMO products were noticeably slower, especially at close range, where they were only a little faster than routers in Buffalo's line. The new Buffalo model's performance fell off significantly in our long-range test, but many older Wi-Fi setups that we've seen couldn't even connect at that distance. And when we tested the three new routers with a standard 802.11g card on the network, their performance differences shrank.

If price has been a barrier preventing you from installing a wireless network or upgrading older equipment to improve its range, consider these products; alternatively, you might watch for markdowns on the older and faster technology. If low cost is key, I'd go with the Belkin G-Plus MIMO gear: It costs a little bit more than Buffalo's High Power products, but at long range it's nearly twice as fast.

New Linksys comes closest to original SRX's performance, but Belkin wins out with better pricing.

Wi-Fi Router and Card	PCW Rating	Average throughput (mbps)
Wi-Fi Router and Card	PCW Rating	Close range	Medium range	Long range	Close range with 802.11g
Belkin Wireless G-Plus MIMO Router and Notebook Card Street: $160	85 Very Good	26.2	22.6	12.2	19.8
Bottom line: This model trails the Linksys in performance, but its solid transfer speeds and a bargain price make it our top choice.
Linksys Wireless-G Broadband Router with SRX200 and Linksys Wireless-G Notebook Card with SRX Street: $228	84 Very Good	37.2	28.8	15.1	22.9
Bottom line: The Linksys combination delivers super performance, though at this price you can find faster (albeit older) gear.
Buffalo Technology AirStation Turbo G High Power Wireless Smart Router and Notebook Adapter Street: $148	78 Good	23.8	21.5	6.7	19.5
Bottom line: An ultralow price for decent range, but the Buffalo's speeds are sluggish and its user interface needs work.
Linksys Wireless-G Broadband Router with SRX and Linksys Wireless-G Notebook Card with SRX 1		39.3	33.4	15.5	26.4
HOW WE TEST: Click here for details about our test methodology. 1The original price of this combination was $275.

Yardena Arar