Evaluating iOS Device Performance Across Residential Routers

This evaluation aims to provide insights into the compatibility, efficiency, and overall user experience of iOS devices when connected to diverse residential routers.

Here are the configuration details of all the residential routers and the specifications of the iPhone device used in the test.

Residential Router Test Configurations:

IOS Client Specifications:

Tests Performed:

1. Throughput Test: ?The main objective of this test is to measure the max achieved throughput with Different protocols like TCP and UDP and with different directions like Download and Upload.

Results:

Observations:

• Residential Router3 consistently exhibited high throughput in both download and upload directions for both UDP and TCP protocols.
• TCP protocol generally showed slightly lower throughput compared to UDP, especially in download traffic.

2. Data Plane Test: The main objective of this test is to conduct maximum throughput tests using various protocols such as TCP and UDP. Additionally, it aims to assess different directions, including download and upload, across various packet sizes to determine achievable throughput levels.

Results:

Observations:

• TCP traffic consistently outperforms UDP traffic across different packet sizes.
• Download throughput tends to be higher than upload throughput for both UDP and TCP.
• Residential Router2 consistently displays slightly lower throughput compared to other Residential Routers, irrespective of traffic type and packet size.

3. Rate Vs Range: The main objective of this test is to determine the performance between the client and router across varying distances with variable attenuators placed between the router and the station.

Results:

The Initial RSSI of the iOS device after association before start of the test is -30 dBm.

TCP Download:

Observations:

• As attenuation increases, the throughput decreases across all routers.
• Residential Router1 and Residential Router2 maintain higher throughput compared to Residential Router3 and Residential Router4 at higher attenuation levels.
• At 45 dB attenuation, the iOS client got disconnected from Residential Router3.
• At 60 dB attenuation, the iOS client got disconnected from Residential Router1 and Residential Router4, and throughput dropped significantly for Residential Router2.

TCP Upload:

Observations:

• As attenuation increases beyond 20 dB, throughput declines significantly for all routers.
• At 45 dB attenuation, Residential Router1 and Router2 experience client disconnections, while Residential Router3 and Residential Router4 still maintain some throughput.
• Overall, Residential Router1 consistently demonstrates the highest throughput across various attenuation levels, followed by Residential Router2, Residential Router3, and Residential Router4 in descending order.

UDP Download:

Observations:

• Residential Router1 and Residential Router4 seem to maintain higher throughputs across different attenuation levels compared to Residential Router2 and Residential Router3.
• Residential Router3 shows a significant decrease in throughput compared to other Routers as attenuation increases, especially beyond 30 dB.

UDP Upload:

Observations:

• As attenuation increases, there's a noticeable decrease in throughput for all routers. However, Residential Router1 generally maintains higher throughput compared to others even at higher attenuation levels.
• Residential Router2 exhibits the lowest throughput among all routers, especially noticeable at higher attenuation levels
• In summary, Residential Router1 consistently demonstrates the highest throughput, while Residential Router2 exhibits the lowest throughput, especially at higher attenuation levels.

4. Rate vs Orientation Test: The main objective of this test is to validate the performance of the router across different rotation angles from 0 to 360 degrees, along with different attenuations, to assess signal stability, signal strength, and consistency.

At 0 dB Attenuation:

Observations:

UDP Traffic Throughput:

• Residential Router1 and Residential Router2 exhibit higher throughput compared to Residential Router3 and Residential Router4 across different orientations.
• Residential Router1 consistently shows higher throughput compared to Residential Router2, Residential Router3, and Residential Router4 in most orientations.

? TCP Traffic Throughput:

• Residential Router1 and Residential Router2 consistently exhibit higher throughput compared to Residential Router3 and Residential Router4.
• Throughput values fluctuate across different orientations for all Residential Routers.
• Residential Router1 tends to have higher throughput compared to Residential Router2 in most orientations.

Overall Observations:

• Residential Router1 consistently performs the best in terms of throughput across all traffic directions and orientations.
• Residential Router3 consistently performs less in terms of throughput across all traffic directions and orientations.

At 10dB Attenuation:

Observations:

• Residential Router1 consistently shows the highest throughput across all orientations, followed by Residential Router4, Residential Router3, and Residential Router2.
• Among all orientations, the 0° orientation exhibits the highest throughput for all Residential Routers.
• Residential Router2 consistently shows the lowest throughput among all Routers and orientations in the Download scenario.
• Residential Router3 consistently shows lower throughput compared to other Routers in the Upload scenario.
• Overall, Residential Router1 consistently performs the best across all traffic directions and orientations, while Residential Router3 performs the least.
• Additionally, UDP traffic exhibits higher throughput compared to TCP traffic for all Residential Routers and orientations.

At 20dB Attenuation:

Observations:

• For both UDP and TCP traffic, Residential Router4 consistently demonstrates higher throughput compared to other Residential Routers in most cases and orientations.
• The performance variation among all Residential Routers is more prominent in TCP traffic compared to UDP traffic.
• In Overall, Residential Router4 generally provides the best performance followed by Residential Router1, Residential Router2, and Residential Router3 in terms of throughput for the given traffic types and orientations.

At 30dB Attenuation:

Observations:

• During the test execution, at 30dB attenuation, the iOS device was band steered from the 5G band to the 2G band while connected to Residential Router1 and Residential Router3. Due to which the Residential Router1 and Residential Router3 generally have lower throughput across orientations compared to Residential Router2 and Residential Router4
• Residential Router4 consistently outperforms the other access points in terms of throughput for both UDP and TCP traffic in all orientations.
• Residential Router2 also demonstrates relatively high throughput in certain orientations but is less consistent compared to Residential Router4.

In summary, based on the evaluation, Residential Router1 emerges as the best-performing router for the iOS device, while Residential Router2 ranks the lowest in terms of performance.