Actiontec 54Mbps Access Point

54Mbps Access Point and
54Mbps PCCard 

from Actiontec

Review Type: Hands On

Reviewer: Chris Kaminski 

Date: Sep 26, 2001

Firmware: 1.4

Link: Actiontec

Need a some extra wireless speed in your life? It might be about time to start looking into 802.11a – the 54Mbps/72Mbps standard for wireless Ethernet. The prices have started to come down are sure fall further just in time for the XMAS 2002 season.

HomeNetHelp took a look at the Actiontec line of 802.11a products. Like the other 802.11a products on the market, the Actiontec line uses an Atheros chipset. Any other 802.11a product like the NetGear, D-Link’s should work just about the same but you can often find Actiontec’s hardware a little cheaper.

802.11a is the 54Mbps wireless Ethernet standard that started emerging in products last year. It uses a different frequency range than 802.11b 11Mbps products – 5GHz. This makes it incompatible with all products based on 802.11b. You can however have BOTH an 802.11b network and 802.11a network running at the same time.

The Actiontec 802.11a 54/72Mbps access point comes with two built in antennas, a serial port and Ethernet port. The Ethernet port plugs into your LAN and the serial port can be used to control the access point instead of the web interface. Normally administration is done through the web interface.

The Actiontec 802.11a Access Point is if the Ethernet-to-Wireless bridge variety. It has a wide range of security options including 64, 128 and 152 encryption shared key lengths, shared encryption keys, and ‘per station’ security. A scripting language is also available and can be used to quickly configure multiple access points. A turbo mode allows 72Mbps operation.

Sporting 64, 128 and 152 encryption shared key lengths and a wide range of ‘per station security’, the Actiontec 802.11a line has plenty of security options to choose from. Like the rest of the industry, encryption is disabled by default and must be enabled to become secure.

Per Station security allows you to create an ACL or Access Control List. This is a list of MAC address that are allowed or denied access to your access point and network (a MAC address is a unique identifier inside of each network card). A strict version of ‘per station security’ can be enabled and will demand that a unique key be shared between the access point and the client computer.

Why stop at 54Mbps when you can enable turbo mode and go for 72Mbps! If all of your workstations are 72Mbps turbo compatible, enable turbo mode one the AP and each workstation. This will give you a solid performance boost that brings your wireless network speed closer to standard Ethernet. Actiontec 72Mbps turbo mode should be compatible with other Atheros 72Mbps turbo mode products but I always try to stick to the same manufacturer.  For turbo to work,  ALL wireless workstations must be in turbo mode.

I moved 1GB files between a wireless and wired computer with and without turbo mode enabled. All tests were done without tweaking advanced settings. The tests showed that the speeds scaled well between 802.11b, 802.11a and 802.11a turbo. In all cases, my throughput was about 40-45% maximum throughput speeds. I also moved the same file between the same computers using a wired 100Mbps Ethernet for comparison

802.11b wireless

+ 11Mbps Max

+ 4.5Mbps throughput

802.11a ActionTec wireless

+ 54Mbps Max

+ 22Mbps throughput

802.11a ActionTec Turbo wireless

+ 72Mbps Max

+ 30Mbps throughput

100Mbps Wired Ethernet

+ 100Mbps Max

+ 71Mbps throughput

 

The Actiontec 802.11a wireless access point delivers solid wireless performance at an aggressive price, but configuration is still aimed at the network professional, not the novice. Getting the AP running is easy, making your network secure might not be so obvious. The scripting language can make configuring loads of access points easy, but I would have like to see a ‘save current config as script’ function that would have allowed users to back up their configuration.

Actiontec 54Mbps Access Point