Amped Wireless R20000G, SR20000G, and UA2000: Routers, Repeaters, and Adapters (Oh My!)

Amped UA2000 Directional Wireless Adapter

The router and repeater are products I’m familiar with, and I’ve used quite a few wireless routers over the years. I’ve also used plenty of wireless adapters (mostly on a variety of laptops), but this is the first time I’ve had a chance to use a directional wireless adapter. Obviously, a directional adapter needs to be oriented such that the antenna points towards the target router (or repeater or access point). As such, it’s not likely to be a good fit for a mobile device—unless you enjoy turning to face your router when using your laptop? But what about for a desktop setup that doesn’t get moved around much if at all, particularly if the desktop in question is located in a place where you can’t (or don’t want to) run an Ethernet cable? Can using a directional wireless adapter help out? That’s what I wanted to find out!

 This is Amped’s second directional wireless adapter; the first was the UA1000, which only supported 2x2:2 2.4GHz connections. Like the R/SR20000G router/repeater, the UA2000 is a dual-band product, again capable of up to 300Mbps connection speeds (2x2:2 MIMO). Amped uses a Ralink chipset this time, but again the amplifiers, antennas, firmware, and drivers are customized to offer improved performance. (The UA1000, incidentally, uses a Realtek chipset like the R/SR20000G.)

The front of the UA2000 has a glossy black curved surface; I don’t know if the curvature helps to focus the signal or if it’s purely for looks, but I’d assume it serves some purpose other than aesthetics. Anyway, that’s the side you “point” towards the router for best performance; the adapter will still pick up a signal even if it’s not aimed at your router, but throughput and signal strength definitely suffers. Other than the name and USB connector, the only other features on the UA2000 are a WPS button and a clip on the back.

Note that the USB cable that comes with the UA2000 has two connectors for the host PC/laptop; the primary connector is for regular functionality while the secondary connector allows the adapter to draw more power and operate in a high performance mode. I tested with and without the second plug connected but didn't experience any difference in performance. I asked Amped why this might be, and they suggested that perhaps the use of a higher performance USB 3.0 port allowed the UA2000 to run at maximum speed. My impression is that the second port is only necessary if your PC/laptop doesn't deliver sufficient power on the primary port.

Looking at the back, the clip is there so you can clip it to a laptop display, but you can also use it try to orient the adapter properly. For the latter, I’d find some other sort of mounting mechanism much more useful. Right now, the UA2000 is very light and has a tendency to move around if you bump the cable at all, which can create problems. Amped informed me that they’re looking into a better stand that will make the adapter less likely to accidentally shift positioning, but if you’re really considering buying the UA2000 I would recommend creating/buying some sort of mount where you can clip the adapter into place.

You can choose to use either Windows’ wireless networking control panel or go with the Amped interface. Even when using the Windows control panel to manage connections, you can still see signal strength and some other information in the Amped drivers. There’s really not much to say that isn’t apparent from the above gallery; the UA2000 works like any other wireless adapter. Ah, but you’re here to find out how good it is, right?

Full results are on the next page, but the UA2000 definitely delivers on higher throughput when you’re not located right next to your wireless router—at least, it does when compared to a USB thumbstick adapter and built-in Intel Advanced-N 6235 wireless in a laptop. RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indication) is also generally better—sometimes very much so, depending on the router/adapter combination. At our moderate distance test location, performance was generally better than with a thumbstick adapter, with anywhere from ~10% to upwards of 50% better throughput and 5-10 dB better RSSI. At our stressful location (outdoors and around 60 feet from the router), the UA2000 really excels, delivering a more stable connection and at times more than doubling transfer rates.

Obviously, measuring wireless networking performance can be a bit tricky as there are numerous factors in play, but if you’re trying to connect to a router that’s farther away (e.g. sharing a wireless network with a neighbor), I could see the UA2000 being extremely useful. If you have multiple PCs that you need to connect, though, the cost of the UA2000 is quite high and it might be more economical to simply buy the SR20000G instead.

The big sticking point here is going to be the price; the UA2000 currently sells for $80 online at Amazon or $90 at Newegg. Compare that with other dual-band 2x2:2 wireless adapters and the UA2000 costs twice as much as the Belkin E9L6000 and three times as much as the Rosewill RNX-N600UBE; if you drop 5GHz support, you can get 300Mb USB adapters for as little as $15. But of course, those adapters are all omnidirectional, and reliability and driver support is questionable at best on some of the least expensive products. Given the performance and general stability of the connection you get with the UA2000, personally I think it’s the most interesting of the three Amped Wireless products I’m looking at today. Let’s hit the benchmarks next before wrapping things up with some recommendations.