Performance

The AnyPoint system did its job. As expected, the network functioned just like any normal network, except a tad bit slower. All network applications functioned perfectly just like on a normal LAN. The 1Mbps rate wasn't noticeable in any applications that didn't require large data transfers.

Not surprisingly, network performance was very similar to Diamond's phoneline network. The only time you see the difference between the 1Mbps phoneline network and normal 10Mbps or 100Mbps networks is during large file transfers. Transferring a 3.54MB file between the test systems took 32 seconds -that's about 0.885Mbps. Transferring six files with a total size of 23.9MB took 3 minutes and 40 seconds -that about 0.869Mbps. Not too shabby considering that one system was going through a parallel port. Tests with Diamond's Homefree Phoneline yielded rates of 0.89Mbps and 0.85Mbps. Transferring the 23.9MB block of files over our real-world 100Mbps network only took 45 seconds.

Games

Normal LAN games like Starcraft and Quake2 will perform quite well over the AnyPoint network. The 1Mbps rate is more than enough to support multiplayer gaming. A 384kbps DSL connection provides enough bandwidth for LAN-like games over the internet, and AnyPoint's 1Mbps rate is about 2-3x the speed of the 384kbps DSL connection. A quick Q3test deathmatch played over the AnyPoint network yielded steady sub-20 pings. The AnyPoint network is fine for LAN gaming.

Playing online through the proxy server was not as bad as expected. Proxy servers are notorious for the horrible online gaming on client machines. Proxy servers can add 100ms of lag or more. The client machine had a steady 30-50 ping on our favorite Q3test server (q3.spikes.com) while the server had 15-25ms pings. We couldn't get both systems to join the same server, but that wasn't a surprise.