Best WAP right now that is not super over priced with modern tech (Wifi 6e or 7)

[coxhaus]

I use 3 Cisco 150ax wireless Wi-Fi 6 APs. They work well for in my single story 3200 sqft home. They run as 1 virtual AP. Wi-Fi calling works well which I use almost every day. They are around $102 each so they are cheap to install.

 

[SimplyComplicated]

Cisco 150ax isn’t a 6E or 7 capable device it isn’t relevant to this thread.

 

[Tech Junky]

Most of his responses on other forums aren't.

 

[Aqualung]

Does anyone know of any independent reviews of the Omada EAP783 out there?

 

[sic0048]

Guess I never reported back.

I have 3x Zyxel WBE660S as they were the fist available to purchase (Have had them installed since January) and also had the true x4x4x4 triband support, 10gb connections, and free non local management.

They went on sale $200 off for a while making them $600 and now it seems the new normal price is $700

Amazon.com

FYI - They appear to have a new $200 off coupon available on Amazon right now bringing the price down to $500 in case anyone is interested. It's one coupon per order, but I'm sure you can just place multiple "one item" orders if you need more than one.

 

[Tech Junky]

FYI - They appear to have a new $200 off coupon available on Amazon right now bringing the price down to $500 in case anyone is interested. It's one coupon per order, but I'm sure you can just place multiple "one item" orders if you need more than one.

I've tried this with other items in the past and you would need new accounts to apply the same coupon. For $200 per account though it might be worth the hassle for some but, there's the chance of Amazon getting pissy about it and reversing the discount / cancelling the orders / closing the accounts.

 

[Aqualung]

Quick question: which one would you guys choose from between the Omada EAP783 and the ZyXel WBE660S? They both have the same price atm. (I actually ordered them both, but I can only keep one.) I'd also like to know which one has the better processor, and innards in general.

Some background: only one AP needed for the whole house, using a QNAP QHora QHora-322 for a wired router, to which I will be attaching the AP. (I will not, unfortunately, be able to take advantage of Omada's link aggregation.)

 

[Tech Junky]

@Aqualung it's going to be personal preference on the GUI side. I have a zyxel and like the fact I can ssh into it and configure it by cli to weed out the fluff commands. Also, engenius released a couple of options the ecw526/536 for $250/$450.

 

[Aqualung]

@Aqualung it's going to be personal preference on the GUI side. I have a zyxel and like the fact I can ssh into it and configure it by cli to weed out the fluff commands. Also, engenius released a couple of options the ecw526/536 for $250/$450.

Thanks. Wireless performance on the 5 and 6 GHz would be my main concern. I hear both have very short ranges. And yes, the Engenius 536 looks like another strong contender, only it's hard to come by in the US, seeing as it's been out of stock for some time now.

 

[Tech Junky]

Thanks. Wireless performance on the 5 and 6 GHz would be my main concern. I hear both have very short ranges. And yes, the Engenius 536 looks like another strong contender, only it's hard to come by in the US, seeing as it's been out of stock for some time now.

5/6ghz don't really change much from ax/e other than 6 gets double the bandwidth to 320mhz.

At the discounted rate they're hard to find but, you can order them direct. Also, they were running a promo where you get 3 for the price of 2. But, yeah their inventory plans were crap from the start when it comes to resellers. I've seen them in stock a few times though.

 

[Aqualung]

5/6ghz don't really change much from ax/e other than 6 gets double the bandwidth to 320mhz.

Should I put any stock in ZyXel’s claim of a “Smart Antenna” (see the “The Smart Solution” heading here)? Is there anything to that, or is that sheer marketing speech?

 

[Tech Junky]

Should I put any stock in ZyXel’s claim of a “Smart Antenna” (see the “The Smart Solution” heading here)? Is there anything to that, or is that sheer marketing speech?

It's software controlled but, I'm not spending money on a spectrum analyzer to probe it. Since I have a ton of RF around me I do use a phone app to scan the WiFi for clean channels and statically assign them for the best throughput.

 

[Aqualung]

I have found one item that really has my interest, the Zyxel BE22000 (WBE660S) its Wifi 7 and has 3 full arrays of 4x4 antenna configurations.
Its $850 each and that is not cheap, but atleast its also not insane.

So what did you settle on eventually?

I am guessing the hierarchy is: 1. Ruckus 770 ($1600), 2. Unify U7 Pro Max? ($275), 3. All the rest (ZyXel WBE660S, Omada EAP783, Engenius ECW536 etc., all around $500)