Articles and Reviews

Bountiful Router offers plentiful wireless range

This story appeared on Network World at
http://www.networkworld.com/reviews/2005/103105-bountiful-test.html

ByTom Henderson,Network World,10/31/05

The Bountiful WiFi Router's claim to fame is its signal strength. The company's founder, David Egbert, started a company that developed Linksys' Wireless Signal Booster, an item that is very popular (we often use one in our labs). In testing the Bountiful Router, we found a feature set similar to many other business-class Wi-Fi routers.

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But unlike other routers we've tested, the Bountiful Router's signal strength (and receiver sensitivity) expand the radius normally thought of for 802.11b/g service. However, the lack of useful documentation, configuration options and potential security issues marred our overall impression of the device.

Bountiful signal

We received two units that look very much like every other Wi-Fi access point/router we've seen - a box with two antennas and ports on the back for additional switched connections. We connected the routers to our Gigabit Ethernet network.

Once installed, a very sensitive radio receiver matched the 1-watt output of the Bountiful Router (through its twin antennas). This means that the strong Wi-Fi signal that the unit generates can be "heard" for a long distance, and the Bountiful Router is still able to hear client signals from comparatively far distances. The added power of the router became very appealing before our radiological testing, and the sensitivity of the receiver means that our axial Wi-Fi range was mightily extended. The router started to interfere with neighborhood access points frequently and demonstrably - we received supplicant association attempts from Wi-Fi clients more than 600 feet away.

How we did it

We tested the Bountiful Router in two scenarios, inside our lab, and an outside, free-air test of the unit. The outside test was used line-of-sight, an almost 10 foot elevation, in graduated measurements until the unit dropped to 1M bit/sec for each access point. We encountered numerous signal problems, which we eventually tracked down and shutoff, as this is a sensitive access point. Measurement tests were performed using a closed network FTP script transfer that measured the speed at graduated steps (see graphic). We also used the AirMagnet spectrum analyzer (HP ZV5000 notebook with external AirMagnet antenna) to measure signal strength during the tests. We used a Toshiba Satellite notebook with an Orinoco/Prism 802.11g card as the distance-measuring device. We also tested each of the security method options, and verified that they worked with our internal RADIUS servers. Our observations were that the signal strength was "five bars" throughout our facility, an improvement on our other 802.11g access points, which reach as few as one bar in some locations. Although the vendor claims 1,200 feet of radial usable distance, we believe that it's perhaps half that distance, although considerably wider than any we've seen so far.

We conducted two range tests - a radius comparison with a common access point (the Linksys WRT54g) to judge unobstructed free-air optimized range, and tests using an AirMagnet Wi-Fi Spectrum Analyzer. In the walkabout test, we positioned each access point outdoors at almost 10 feet high. We continued to run a looped FTP script until the operating system reported a disconnection and measured the radius.

The test results indicated that the Bountiful Router exceeded the operational radius of the Linksys router by a considerable and desirable distance. Anecdotally, we found the router to be stronger overall in our multistory facility. Because there's a larger overall operational radius, some of the formulas used to design Wi-Fi router placement will need to be shifted to accommodate the possible problems with the "loud voice" of the Bountiful Router, as co-channel interference in tight quarters with nearby Wi-Fi access points will be higher. We experienced this firsthand, after neighbors complained that their Wi-Fi setup had slowed to a crawl. We discovered their PCs trying to associate with the Bountiful setup we had made.

Not-as-bountiful features

Bountiful Router All functions can be controlled through a Web browser to the units, which have very common (and therefore possibly problematic with other units) identical non-routable IP addresses. The units shipped with no user name and reasonably obtuse passwords. Oddly, we couldn't set new user names; we could only change the password, and the system doesn't check to see whether it's a strong password. Only the password-failure timeout feature prevents a dictionary attack on the router.

Although telnet and Web interfaces are turned off by default, they can be turned on and accessed on the outbound side of the router connection. We found the inclusion of telnet to be dangerous, but at least it's normally turned off. No listing of command-line interface use was offered, and we found it necessary to use the bare CLI-help commands to figure out the CLI-setups for the commands. There is no trivial FTP or other protocol method that can be used to send standard template files of information (for example, a list of permitted or denied Ethernet media access control addresses), although the unit's firmware can be updated. The unit also doesn't support SNMP of any flavor.

Results of test on Bountiful Wi-Fi Router A simple and effective wizard is available upon initial logon to the unit. The wizard took our desired settings (or subsequent changes) and correctly implemented them. For the majority of branch office and single access-point deployments, the wizard's settings will likely apply, but larger organizations will have problems with the limited configuration options.

A DHCP server is available, but no forward-server referencing is available. For larger organizations, this means that pools of DHCP addresses need to be carefully allocated. If ports need to be proxied for specific purposes, we were limited to15 port selections, User Datagram Protocol (UDP) or TCP (and not both) per port desired. Those attempting to use the router for VoWi-Fi will be disappointed, as ad hoc setups used by various VoIP protocols aren't feasible this way.

The router includes a firewall (stateful packet inspection); in our testing only traffic initiated through the routed side of the Router could pass through. However, no documentation is available about the firewall or its functionality. In addition, there's no toggle that let us turn the firewall on or off.

Going the distance There are no help screens on the setup or other Web pages to which the router has access. Only a single sentence admitting that the firewall exists can be found on the 10-page document sent separately from the routers. Wireless VoIP and wired VoIP, using port setup protocols, failed as the call setups need dynamic inbound port setups over a wide range. We successfully used VPNs, both Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (through direct port proxy) and IPSec (as the router's firewall can be configured for "Windows MultiMedia" pass-through, which did the job).

The router can be configured with Wi-Fi Protected Access, WPA-PSK and WPA2 security, as well as 802.1X-based certificates that allow the RADIUS protocols. Both versions of WPA worked correctly, and our proxy authentication (OpenRADIUS) server worked correctly. There were no traffic slowdowns through the use of any of these protocols in our tests.

Summary

The Bountiful Router has conflicting qualities - unparalleled useful operational radius coupled with frustratingly immature characteristics (limited business features, lack of even minimal documentation and online help, and potentially scary security). In some environments, despite its shortcomings, the Bountiful Router will perform better than most (if not all) of its rivals when the main concern is wireless coverage. With some effort, Bountiful will overcome some shortcomings through firmware updates - if you are willing to live with these shortcomings. We recommend the Bountiful Router for its principle strength - outstanding raw operational radius.

Henderson is principal researcher for ExtremeLabs in Indianapolis. He can be reached at thenderson@extremelabs.com.

Henderson is also a member of the Network World Lab Alliance, a cooperative of the premier reviewers in the network industry, each bringing to bear years of practical experience on every review. For more Lab Alliance information, including what it takes to become a member, go to www.networkworld.com/alliance.