The Best of Both Phone, and Tablet
You can't judge a router by its cover. Unfortunately, for the slick-looking WBR-6000, its showing in CNET Labs was miserable. When tested with its companion PC card, the WPC-0600, the router failed to impress in terms of both its speed and its range. On our close-range (15 feet) maximum throughput test, the WBR-6000 scored only 47.3Mbps, about half of what we saw from the other Draft N routers we've tested recently. On our mixed mode test, where the router is set up to work with multiple devices of different wireless standards, the score reduced to 23.8Mbps, which is less than half the throughput we saw from competing Draft N routers from EdiMax and Netgear. Even the next slowest router on this test, the D-Link DGL-4500, was more than twice as fast. The theme is no different on our long-range test, where the WBR-6000 trailed the Draft N competition when measuring throughput at 200 feet, posting a woeful 5.3Mbps.
In fact, we could hardly pick up any signal from the WBR-6000 at a distance of about 200 feet. With others, such as the D-Link GamerLounge DGL-4500 or the SMC Barricade SMCWGBR14-N, even at 300 feet, we were still able to get a steady signal. It's necessary to note that our test environment is an office building and is not the best for range. The router worked smoothly at closer range, however, offering a stable signal.
LevelOne backs the N-One WBR-6000 with one-year limited warranty. From its Web site, you can download new firmware and manuals and browse FAQ pages. You can also send an e-mail to LevelOne's support team, but we couldn't find a phone number listed anywhere.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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Throughput max |
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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Mixed throughput |
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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Throughput at 200 feet |
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