Comparison of 802.11ac Wave 2 Access points
Alethea recently conducted WiFi Performance Benchmark testing of four 802.11ac Wave 2, dual-band access points in a high-density environment. Tests were conducted with both bands (2.4GHz and 5GHz) enabled and with the single band (5GHz only) enabled modes. The tests of each band configuration were run on separate dates. The access points and firmware versions used for different configurations were:
| Access Point | Model | Firmware (Both bands) | Firmware (5GHz Only) |
| Ubiquiti | UAP AC HD | 3.7.37.6065 | 3.7.44.6176 |
| Ruckus | R710 | 104.0.0.0.1347 | 104.0.0.0.1347 |
| Aruba | IAP 325 US | 6.4.4.0-4.2.3 | 6.5.1.0-4.3.1.1 |
| Meraki | MR 52 | Latest firmware as on 15th Jan 2017 | Latest firmware as on 15th March 2017 |
Two types of performance metrics were measured.
- DL TCP throughput
- Video Experience rating (5 – Excellent, 4 – Good, 3 – Satisfactory, 2 – Not Good, 1 – Poor, 0 – Fail)
Measurements were taken with 40 clients, 70 clients and 100 clients for all the tests.
Goals
- DL TCP throughput test:
The purpose of Throughput Test is to measure the raw throughput and standard deviation across clients. The performance goal is to achieve aggregate TCP throughput of 250 Mbps in both bands configuration and 200 Mbps in 5GHz only configuration.
- Video Experience test:
The purpose of the Video Test is to measure the HD video performance. Performance is manually (subjectively) measured on a scale of 5 to 0 – 5 being Excellent and 0 being Fail. The expected performance goal is to get the rating of 3 or above at each resolution and load combination.
| Video Levels Used across Different Configurations | |
| Both bands | 5GHz only band |
| Level_1 – mp4, 1080p, 1000 kbps
Level_2 – mp4, 1080p, 2000 kbps Level_3 – mp4, 1080p, 3000 kbps Level_4 – mp4, 1080p, 4000 kbps Level_5 – mp4, 1080p, 5000 kbps |
Level_1 – mp4, 1080p, 1000 kbps
Level_2 – mp4, 1080p, 1500 kbps Level_3 – mp4, 1080p, 2000 kbps Level_4 – mp4, 1080p, 3000 kbps Level_5 – mp4, 1080p, 4000 kbps Level_6 – mp4, 1080p, 5000 kbps |
Results
Summary
- In Both bands configuration, Ubiquiti is the best in TCP throughput and the only one to meet the video performance goal. Performance of Ubiquiti is significantly better than others.
- In 5GHz only configuration, Meraki is the best in TCP throughput tests while Aruba finished last. But in video tests, Aruba, Ubiquiti, and Ruckus could meet the video performance goals while Meraki did not.
- HD video streaming performance cannot be assessed based on raw throughput figures. It has to be tested separately
Download a summary of the test report- Click Here
Download a detailed report of the test- Click Here
