Netgear has a new business AP, specifically one for the WiFi 6E generation. We are starting to see more WiFi 6E devices, and the new generation brings new wireless spectrum and therefore more capacity to the market. This is the update to the Netgear WAX630 WiFi 6 Access Point Launched.
Netgear WAX630E WiFi 6E Business AP Launched
The big new feature with WiFi 6E is the addition of the 6GHz spectrum. This spectrum primarily does two things. First, it increases the amount of spectrum available for WiFi, thus increasing overall throughput. Second, it helps to separate newer devices from older devices to help avoid congestion.
The new WAX630E is interesting. It actually has less capacity in the 2.4GHz spectrum range, but the aggregate throughput increases from 6Gbps to 7.8Gbps (theoretical WAX630 v. WAX630E.) In the 5GHz spectrum instead of having a high and low 80MHz split, we get a single 160MHz channel. Finally, we get another 6GHz 160MHz channel. As such, there are actually fewer radios, but we also lose some maximum device capacity. The big benefit is that because of the radio configuration, we actually have lower maximum power consumption than with the WAX630 on the new and faster WAX630E.
Here we can see the radios a bit more clearly. We get 2×2, 4×4, and 2×2 on the WAX630E and 3x 4×4 on the WAX630. That is perhaps the biggest reason for the lower power consumption. Also, we will note that the new units have 2.5GbE and require PoE++ to operate at full speed, similar to the WAX630.
The APs are managed by Netgear Insight as with the previous generations.
Final Words
This is a great new generation, but at the same time, it is one that is at risk. WiFi 7 is coming and that will be a much larger step function in terms of performance than WiFi 6 to 6E. If you are still on 802.11ac WiFi, then it probably makes sense to deploy WiFi 6E now. If you are already on WiFi 6, and do not plan on having many devices, then perhaps changing to WiFi 6E is a lower priority. Still, Netgear is giving an easy upgrade path that uses the same management control plane as the previous generation so that makes it easy to upgrade and potentially mix APs if new units are added.
I hate commenting on this site because the page always autoreloads at the worst moment…
I’m not sure that WiFi 6 is really a worthwhile upgrade from 802.11ac in all cases.
I’m using 802.11ac Ruckus APs at home, and my workplace uses 802.11ac Aruba APs. I’m not sure what the plans are for my workplace, but at home I’m going to stick with what I have for now. Maybe I’ll look into upgrading when WiFi 7 has been out for a while and is stable.
I’ve heard about a lot of poorly implemented, partially implemented, or simply buggy WiFi 6 devices, both APs and client devices. I’ve been told that, even in the best cases, you only see a 10% increase in speed over 802.11ac, and often you don’t even see that.
Most businesses refresh their hardware on a set schedule anyway. If it’s time to refresh, they’ll likely go with WiFi 6. If not, they won’t upgrade. It’s only home users and hobbyists plus some niche cases that get upgradeitis. 🙂
WiFi 6E would be beneficial for a lot of people, but I suspect that a lot of device manufacturers will skip from 6 directly to 7. 6E won’t be of benefit with an AP like the Netgear one if there aren’t any 6E clients.
40MHz channels on 2.4GHz and 160MHz channels on 5GHz don’t seem to be useful in a lot of environments. I suppose they might be more useful in 6GHz, but I’m skeptical about 6E’s usefulness right now, as I already mentioned.
i can’t imagine why it would need poe++ unless the pass thorugh port also has poe because poe++ is rated up to 70 watts. why would a 30 wat device need more than 30watt poe+?
ah if you need AYNTHING over 30 watts i think poe++ is it, type3 not type 4 which is 70 watts
@stuart how’s your ruckus aps?