As many of you know, we?ve been testing routers for many years here at Hardware.Info. For the last few years, we?ve been using Ixia's IxChariot software. However, we'll soon be switching over to a different testing setup. We'll be using Ixia's IxVeriWave, which is professional hardware used to place a much heavier workload on a router than was previously possible, and it also enables you to have complete control over the test variables. Read on if you want to know more about IxVeriWave.

Routers have been improving over the last few years. These days, it's not easy to buy a really terrible router. That's great for buyers, of course, but it makes our job as testers a little but more complicated, because there isn't much of a difference in performance between different models any more. The differences have shifted from raw throughput to things like stability, range, and maximum workload.

Of course we?re always looking for ways to upgrade our test lab, so that we can adapt to changes like this, and we pay attention to your tips as readers as well. For example, we added a real-world test recently. Our tests aren't perfect yet, though, and this is becoming more apparent as time progresses and the products on the market keep improving. We?re also looking for ways to expand our tests and have more control over our testing procedures. IxChariot makes that very difficult to achieve in practice. We?d like to run tests with around 20 clients, but it would be difficult to have those physically present in our lab.