Why You Can Trust CNET Amped Wireless High Power Wireless-N 600mW Gigabit Dual Band Router R20000G review: Amped Wireless High Power Wireless-N 600mW Gigabit Dual Band Router R20000G
Despite the added functions and features, Amped Wireless' new High Power Wireless-N 600mW Gigabit Dual Band Router R20000G trails significantly behind its predecessor, the R10000G.
The Amped Wireless High Power Wireless-N 600mW Gigabit Dual Band Router R20000G is intended to be a significant upgrade over the previous model, the
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
In my testing, however, it was anything but similar to the R10000G in performance. The router offered relatively long range but terrible data rates on the 2.4GHz band. On the 5GHz band, conversely, it showed comparatively short range but very good data transfer speeds. All in all, the R20000G, at $180, is a good router for short distances, but it's not for those who need good wireless coverage over a large area. The R10000G, which currently costs about $50 less, is still better. Also check out other routers if you want something that offers more features and solid performance.
Setup and design
The R20000G is almost exactly the same as the R10000G in terms of design, with the exception of the more solid chassis and the added USB port on the back. Like the R10000G, the new router comes with two extra-large detachable antennas that really crowd the four LAN ports and one WAN port on the back. These ports are Gigabit, meaning you're guaranteed to have a fast wired network with the device. The USB port can also be used to host an external storage device and not printers.
The router arrives with two LAN (CAT5) cables, one plugged into its WAN port and one plugged into one of its LAN ports. This can make life a little easier for router novices since it helps speed up the setup process. You just need to connect the cable in the WAN port to an Internet source such as a broadband modem, and you are set. (You can plug the other LAN cable into a computer that doesn't have a built-in Wi-Fi adapter, or ignore it if all of your devices are Wi-Fi-enabled.) Now you can use the preconfigured wireless network information printed on the router's bottom to connect the devices to the network. The router also comes with a Wi-Fi Protected Setup button on the back that makes it possible to connect WPS-enabled clients to the network without you having to know the preconfigured wireless network information at all.
The router is designed to be put flat on a surface with four rubber feet. It also comes with a small detachable base so it can be placed in a vertical position. I wouldn't recommend using the base, however, since it's very light and doesn't hold the router reliably. The router can also be mounted on a wall.
On the front of the R20000G is an array of LED lights showing the status of the ports on the back, the connection to the Internet, and the router's power status.
If you're not happy with the router's default settings and want to customize them, including turning off Wi-Fi Protected Setup, that can be easily done by pointing a connected computer's browser to the router's default IP address, which is 192.168.3.1. The default log-in information for the Web interface is also printed on the bottom of the router.
Features
Like the R10000G, the new R20000G doesn't have a lot of features, but it has enough for most home or even simple office needs. The router's interface supplies a wizard for customizing the network's settings, and you can also customize Web filtering, quality of service, firewall, port forwarding, and so on.
The R20000G's networked storage feature is also very simple. Once an external hard drive is plugged into the router's USB port, its entire content will be shared across the network with everybody having full access to it. There's no way to customize this. In addition to this simple sharing method, you can set up an FTP server targeting the external drive. In my trials, the USB port worked with external hard drives formatted in either NTFS or FAT file systems and was able to handle drives that already contained data, quickly sharing a drive's content with the rest of the network.
Like the R10000G, the R20000G has a feature called Wireless Coverage that allows you to manage its wireless power, setting it anywhere from 100 percent to 15 percent. I don't know when you'd want to use this feature since I tested the router at 100 percent and its performance still didn't impress.
Performance
So, yes, the R20000G was a bit of a disappointment in terms of performance.
As mentioned above, the router offered great range on the 2.4GHz band, almost as great as its processor. However, in my testing the signal quality degraded significantly as I increased the distance. For example, the router scored about 50Mbps at close range (15 feet) but a mere 18Mbps when I increased the range to 100 feet. At that range, even when the connection showed a full bar, it was sometimes hard to get a stable connection. At even longer distances, this problem grew progressively worse. Past 250 feet, it was virtually impossible to get a steady connection between client and router.
On the 5GHz band, it was quite the opposite. I found the range to be quite short on this band, about 200 feet at most, but the router consistently offered very good data rates. For example, at a distance of 15 feet, it scored about 71Mbps, while at 100 feet away, this lowered only somewhat to 65Mbps.
The router's built-in networked storage feature was dismal in terms of performance. At some 3.1MBps reading and 1.2MBps writing via a Gigabit Ethernet connection, it was the slowest of the routers with this feature that I've tested.
To slightly make up for all that, the router did very well in my 48-hour stress test, passing it without disconnecting once, on both bands. As with the R10000G, I noted that the R20000G became rather hot after extended operation.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
 | Range | | Throughput |
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
| Range | | Throughput |
Service and support
Amped Wireless backs the R20000G router (like the R10000G) with a one-year warranty, which is the standard length of time for a router warranty. You can also return it within 30 days. On the company's Web site, there's a dedicated page for the router with lots of support information.
Conclusions
The Amped Wireless High Power Wireless-N 600mW Gigabit Dual Band Router R20000G falls short in both performance and range and doesn't justify its relatively hefty price tag of $180.