EnGenius ESR9855G Wireless Router - IEEE 802.11n (draft). WIFI GIGABIT GAMING ROUTER MEDIA ENHANCED B-ROUT

EnGenius ESR9855G Wireless Router - IEEE 802.11n (draft). WIFI GIGABIT GAMING ROUTER MEDIA ENHANCED B-ROUT
by ENGENIUS TECH

EnGenius ESR9855G Wireless Router - IEEE 802.11n (draft).
WIFI GIGABIT GAMING ROUTER MEDIA ENHANCED B-ROUT

The EnGenius ESR9855G Multimedia Enhanced Wireless 300N Gaming Router is a single-band device, stuffed with advanced features and sporting a sharp management interface. It delivers robust throughput at close range running in 802.11 b/g/n (Mixed) modes, but that throughput falls off at increased distances. Surprisingly, speed actually declined when I set the device on 802.11n only mode. This makes for a router that aims high yet falls short in retaining consistently strong throughput. It's the one big flaw in this otherwise very good  router, which you can get online for about $100.

Specs and Design

The ESR9855G's design is unique among consumer routers. It's a real eye-catcher, with a black, glossy top and a bright orange chassis. Two external 3dBi Dipole antennas attach to both sides of the router. Inside are the Ubicom IP7K + Atheros AR9223 (RF) chipset.

The front panel has LEDs for monitoring power, client connections, WAN and WPA. The rear houses four Gigabit LAN ports, a WAN port, and a power switch.  On top of the unit is a WPS button for easy client connectivity. The bottom of the device has two wall mount sockets.

The design is apparently conducive to cool running, as the router remained cool to the touch after two days of uptime.

Setup and Features 

The setup process, which requires wiring a computer to the device, seems dated when the norm is wireless setup found in routers such as the Cisco Linksys E4200 Maximum Performance Wireless-N Router or Belkin's N750 Wireless Dual-Band N+ Router, but it is still easy and efficient. The router ships with a CD containing the user manual and the EnGenius Smart Wizard, a browser-based interface rather than an executable file.

Setup instructions are very detailed, illustrating how to power up and connect the cables to the router. My WAN settings were picked up right away. By default, the router was configured to run in Mixed mode with no security setup. This may be problematic for less technical users. Routers from Cisco/Linksys and other vendors incorporating security configuration into the initial setup process; it’s just that important. Since EnGenius is marketing this to the savvier gamer set, the omission of security configuration from setup is forgivable.

The interface is sharp. It's clean, and easy to navigate through. The color choices and font-sizing makes it very easy on the eyes. Once the router is set up, the interface allows for further configuration of basic and advanced settings. A wireless wizard within the interface walks users through the basics—changing the SSID and setting up security. Although, as mentioned, security isn't configured during initial setup by default, EnGenius does a good job of conveying what the different security settings mean, with WPA2 listed as "Best."

Advanced settings allow for very granular tweaking of settings that most users won't want to fuss with, such as transmit power and DTIM interval. In between the very basic and very advanced settings are lots of other features in this router. The device offers DHCP, SPI firewall, VPN pass-through, Dynamic DNS, virtual server mapping and port forwarding.

QoS is done with feature called SteamEngine. When enabled, it aids in prioritizing traffic, which is why this is a router targeted for gamers and multimedia enthusiasts.

While some throughput issues stop me short of recommending this as a small business router, there are some capabilities that would be attractive to a small business. For instance, the ESR9855G supports WPA2-Enterprise encryption, and users can establish up to four distinct WLANs.

Performance


The ESR9855G delivered the top throughput I've tested for a single band router. Unfortunately, it also has some of the worst ability to sustain throughput at a distance. Competing single band routers may not be as speedy but some are better at retaining throughput level whether I test 5 feet or 30 feet distance from them.

I did not find any speed improvement by switching the router to all 802.11n mode or using EnGenius' own EUB9801 Wireless USB adapter: In fact, the performance was far inferior with the USB adapter than when testing with my usual HP EliteBook 8440w, which has Intel's Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 AGN adapter and handles high throughput like a champ.

Almost Ingenius


Engenius' router is a very good one, but loses marks for throughput retention. It dropped 49% from its intital throughput by the time I tested at 30 feet. Other routers such as the Cisco Linksys E1200, while not as speedy, were able to keep throughput levels sustained at distance.

There are three key factors to consider when testing routers besides of course features; they are: throughput, the range of throughput and setup process. The ESR9558G would work fine in a smaller space, but based on the drop-off I saw in the benchmarks, I would be worried the Engenius wouldn’t sufficiently cover a larger home or space without aid of a wireless extender.  Our Editors’ Choice pick, the E1200,  does not match the ESR9885G in speed, but it tested better at keeping througput at distance and, of course, features Cisco's easy wireless setup. The ESR9885G still has a convention setup which requires wiring, although, it's a fairly easy process.  Those factors give the E1200 an edge over the Engenius router.

Still, I found Engenuis' router overall impressive and it is the fastest single-band router so far tested. With the caveat that it may not be useful for covering large areas, it would work fine for smaller coverage areas and for gamers' purposes.

Pros
Excellent throughput for a single-band router. Lots of features. Sharp, well-designed interface. Easy setup. Runs cool.

Cons
Throughput drops significantly with distance.

Bottom Line
EnGenius' ESR9855G Multimedia Enhanced Wireless 300N Gaming Router is near flawless save for one issue—after moving a relatively short distance from the device, throughput drops significantly.

Specifications:


Wired Ports 4
Antennas: External Yes
Device Type Router
NAT Yes
Parental Controls No
Stateful Packet Inspection Yes
Quality of Service Yes
Tech Support Phone support.
Security WEP, WPA, WPA2, WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup), WPA2-Enterprise
Networking Options 802.11n (2.4 GHz only)

Samara Lynn 

Lead Analyst, Networking

Source: http://www.pcmag.com