Aztech 200mbps – Speed Test

Decided to do a simple speed test on the Aztech 200mbps homeplugs. One thing that came to my mind is that, it is rated at 200mbps, so should my system detect it as 1 gbps (gigabits) network link or should it detect as a 100 mbps (megabits) network link?

The answer is – 100mbps.

Proceeded to do some data transfers and see what is the average or top speed (in bits and not bytes) during the transfers.

The first test was conducted using the homeplugs with one end directly into my DIR-655’s gigabit port and the other into my T43’s gigabit port. The link was rated 100mbps by my T43. I tried copying files from various systems connected to my gigabit backbone, namely they were:

1. Gigabit NAS – DNS-323
2. Network server
3. Workstation

I only managed to hit 55.22mbps download speed through the homeplugs.

Repeated the test without the homeplugs to find out the total download speed provided by my network systems and devices.

To avoid an unfair test of gigabit and megabit link. I inserted D-Link DES-1024D 10/100mbps switch between my T43 and DIR-655 to force the link down to 100mbps. This setup has aims to make up for the distance disadvantage present in the homeplug test. Hopefully the switch adds in some latency that is equivalent to the distance of the electrical cables.

The recorded download speed with this setup is 96.83mbps!

Did the final test over at 802.11g connection. Don’t know what it means? It simply means that I am doing a transfer test over wireless connection rated at 54mbps.

Conclusion

The homeplugs definitely did not performe as good as my ethernet connection. But it is certainly better than my wireless G! Yes, I am only using wireless G despite having a Draft N router. Anybody wish to sponsor me a wireless N client?

The good points of the homeplugs are:

• There is not a need to lay messy ethernet cables
• Performs faster than wireless G
• No problem of wireless deadspot