In this paper we evaluate several routing protocols for mobile, wireless, ad hoc networks via packet‐level simulations. The ad hoc networks are multi‐hop wireless networks with dynamically changing network connectivity owing to mobility. The protocol suite includes several routing protocols specifically designed for ad hoc routing, as well as more traditional protocols, such as link state and distance vector, used for dynamic networks. Performance is evaluated with respect to fraction of packets delivered, end‐to‐end delay, and routing load for a given traffic and mobility model. Both small (30 nodes) and medium sized (60 nodes) networks are used. It is observed that the new generation of on‐demand routing protocols use much lower routing load, especially with small number of peer‐to‐peer conversations. However, the traditional link state and distance vector protocols provide, in general, better packet delivery and end‐to‐end delay performance.