ASUS USB-N13 802.11n Network Adapter Review

Testing
I used the following setup for my tests with the ASUS USB-N13:

Router: ASUS RT-N56U
Laptop:
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.0GHz
RAM: 1GB DDR2 PC2-5300
OS: Windows XP Pro SP3 (32bit)
NIC: Marvell Yukon 88E8055 PCIe Gigabit (onboard)

Desktop:
CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T 3.20GHz
RAM: 8GB Mushkin Enhanced Blackline DDR3 1600
OS: Windows 7 Pro (64bit)
NIC: Realtek PCIe GBE (onboard)

I used LAN Speed Test and LAN Speed Test Server for all speed tests. Speed tests were conducted in four different locations. The first location was in the same room as the router at a distance of less than 10ft. Second was at about 15ft from the router with one wall of separation. The third location was about 25ft with two walls between the router and the USB-N13 adapter. Finally, the fourth location was 50ft with two walls.

Procedure
LAN Speed Test allows you to pick data size and how many times to send that data. I picked 10MB chunks of data, and for it to send it ten times. LAN Speed Test will then average each transfer to give you a final measurement. To get as accurate of a result as possible, I ran the above process five times, then averaged all of the results. All data was sent from the laptop to the desktop. The laptop was connected to the ASUS RT-N56U with the ASUS USB-N13 adapter at 300Mbps, and the desktop was hard wired to the RT-N56U, connected at 1Gbps with Cat6 cable.

For testing the Software AP mode, I hooked my laptop directly up to the router with a Cat6 cable, connected at 1Gbps. Then I used my iPhone 3GS to walk around the house while listening to Shoutcast to see where any connection issues might occur.

Performance
For a little USB adapter, the USB-N13 is definitely pretty darn fast. Since I already filled you in on the testing setup and procedure, here’s what you’ve been waiting for, the numbers!

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If you’re less than 10ft from the router, you should easily average 130Mbps. A little bit further away you’ll still stay above 100Mbps. Even a couple walls and some more distance won’t slow you down too much, you’ll be cruising at 83.4Mbps. And taking it to about 50ft should still net you about 33.6Mbps. All in all, this little adapter packs a very powerful punch.

Software AP Mode Performance
I was able to walk around the majority of my house, easily getting to the 50ft (2 walls) distance that I used in the above performance test. I only had issues when I was behind four or more walls, or about greater than 60ft. I would still be connected in these situations, but the connection was too poor to sustain any real data transfer. I was very impressed by the distance the USB-N13 allowed me to go. I thought it’d die around 25ft, but it sure proved me wrong. Here’s some screenshots of speed tests done on my iPhone. These are internet speed tests, but for the most part if you’re using your phone at home, you’ll be accessing the internet and not the local network.

ASUS USB-N13 802.11n Network Adapter ASUS USB-N13 802.11n Network Adapter

As you can see, I hit 4.03Mbps down at 50ft (2 walls), and 9.30Mbps at 15ft (1 wall). If I didn’t have a wireless router, and needed an AP for anything, I’d be more than happy to trust the USB-N13 to the task.