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

[ViciousXUSMC]

My never ending network journey.

The one part I keep upgradding the most is my wireless access points.

Of everything I have had so far, my favorite/best has been the Ruckus R510 and Ruckus R710.
They had amazing signal quality, performance, management, etc.

I recently sold both my R710 ($45 each) because I wanted to upgrade to something with Wifi 6 for my newer devices and to scratch my tech itch.
I got the Netgear WAX630 and I am just not happy with them.

They do not perform as good as I had hoped and management on them is very limited not to mention cost an annual fee.

Unfortunatly the Ruckus R770 is unobtainium or like $2000 each.
Also they seem kind of... meh to me honestly based on the specs sheet.

I assume maybe since they got bought out by CommScope things have gone down hill since.

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.

Before I give these a try, if anyone knows how I can get a discount on them or has alternative options to take a look at I am all ears.

Also if anyone has used them, info/reviews are scarce nothing really detailed just a few outlets that happen to have gotten one for review.
Id be more than happy to do an indepth review and post it on my YouTube channel

 

[Tech Junky]

Zyxel

I have their nwa210ax and it works great and have looked at the BE but can't stomach the $900 for it. I went a different route to make my own with an M2 card and hostapd on Linux. Ran into a roadblock though for the time being with AP mode not enabled on the modules yet. But for $40 for the adapter I can wait for it to be enabled.

6E would be fine but, the allure of 320mhz bandwidth is more appealing.

 

[ViciousXUSMC]

I have their nwa210ax and it works great and have looked at the BE but can't stomach the $900 for it. I went a different route to make my own with an M2 card and hostapd on Linux. Ran into a roadblock though for the time being with AP mode not enabled on the modules yet. But for $40 for the adapter I can wait for it to be enabled.

6E would be fine but, the allure of 320mhz bandwidth is more appealing.

I was looking at the nwa210ax, how do you like it so far? And what managmeent method did you go with (stand alone, cloud, etc)
I figure if I am upgrading from Wifi6 I better go all the way to Wifi 7 lol.

$850ish is not overpriced but it aint something for everyone, especially when in this case its a want and not a need and I need two not one.
Id like to learn the products and be able to speak to them when having discussions online and become a SME of sorts.

I have used many of their cheaper offerings in the past and never had an issue, I kind of throw them in the same boat as MicroTik where they can make some pretty amazing stuff but are not really on the radar of most professionals or enthusiast.

But as far as pure white paper specs go, I have not found any other AP offering wh at the WBE660S has, and if it did it would probably cost even more.

 

[SnJ9MX]

Also curious about this. My WiFi journey:

1. multiple, non-similar router/AP combos running OpenWRT (worked generally well)
2. 1x UAP-AC-LITE, which wasn't really enough for our house
3. +1 UAP-AC-LITE, with wireless uplink. in hindsight, this was not really a good idea
4. said 3x AC-LITEs, both wired. worked ok but... Ubiquiti
5. 1x Ruckus R710 which so far works pretty well

I also have a T-Mobile home internet gateway. The speed at which clients can connect and get an IP address is amazingly fast.

I'm assuming newer stuff allows for faster connection establishment. I am also looking for a decent (not too expensive, used is perfectly fine) 6E solution

 

[ViciousXUSMC]

Also curious about this. My WiFi journey:

1. multiple, non-similar router/AP combos running OpenWRT (worked generally well)
2. 1x UAP-AC-LITE, which wasn't really enough for our house
3. +1 UAP-AC-LITE, with wireless uplink. in hindsight, this was not really a good idea
4. said 3x AC-LITEs, both wired. worked ok but... Ubiquiti
5. 1x Ruckus R710 which so far works pretty well

I also have a T-Mobile home internet gateway. The speed at which clients can connect and get an IP address is amazingly fast.

I'm assuming newer stuff allows for faster connection establishment. I am also looking for a decent (not too expensive, used is perfectly fine) 6E solution

Welcome fellow traveler

Yeah Ubiquiti is a gateway drug, pun intended.

Everyone loves their AP's but soon as you really want to get into things, you see they have all those things locked behind also having to buy their switches and firewall.

Where they have pretty competitive cheap AP's they have terribly overpriced switches (especially for 10gb) and their firewalls are extremly limited compared to other offerings that are not ecosystem locked like PFSense.

I was having issues with my Ubiquity AP's (and the server that was running the managment software kept wanting to die because the database was growing out of control if I didnt prune it). That is when I moved to Ruckus and that was the best move ever.

I hate looking at my old content, but I did actually share that story

and it looks like it was the R600 I had as my first AP from them not the R510.

 

[Tech Junky]

I was looking at the nwa210ax, how do you like it so far? And what managmeent method did you go with (stand alone, cloud, etc)
I figure if I am upgrading from Wifi6 I better go all the way to Wifi 7 lol

It gets the job done and with an ax411 card hits about 1.7gbps by combining both bands @160mhz. I just use the web interface as I'm not paying a subscription to any company to manage an AP.

WiFi 7 is worthwhile but, waiting will bring down the costs on commercial boxes.

T-Mobile

I just made my own modem setup and switched to a full speed phone sim for about $275 all in and $40/mo. Using my own modem module improved the speeds considerably and I can lockout slower channels from being used.

 

[sic0048]

Following. I don't have any suggestions, but I am curious to hear other people's opinion. I also have a few Ubiquity APs in my house and a few TP Link APs at my parents house. I'm frustrated with the Ubiquity devices at my house. One of the TP Link APs stopped working and while the others (and the replacement) have been working fine, I'm never at my parents house for long enough periods of time that I would judge their real performance. I haven't had problems with them while I have been there, but I can't say for sure that they wouldn't be problematic at my house (which has a ton more devices connected and total thru put requirements).

 

[ViciousXUSMC]

I just use the web interface as I'm not paying a subscription to any company to manage an AP.

Another win for Ruckus with Unleashed
It was full featured, I do not mind self managed via web interface at all, hell I am even comfortable with SSH and console configuration but devices like the Netgear I have now if you use them as stand alone they do not support roaming.

To get those features and have the AP's talk to one another you have to pay for cloud managed.

Ruckus did load balancing, roaming, etc for FREE with Unleashed, and you didnt need a cloud key or server running the management like Ubiquiti.
It was just such an awesome setup, I do not know why more companies do not do something similar.

I guess this would not matter to someone with just 1 AP, but for me I have one on each side of my home, so I need them to talk to one another.

I see the Zyxel has several methods including a free cloud management, I just do not know what is included in said free service.

 

[Tech Junky]

Two APs is simple enough just set one one on the low band and the other on the high band and let the client switch as needed. Dial in the power settings for minimal overlap and forget about it.

With the lack of devices supporting 6ghz anyway it shouldn't be much of an issue.

Zyxel APs though support setting them up as root AP. As for controller based options tpl Omada allow running a soft controller for free and it's only really needed for the setup of the network.

If you're already running a NAS just put the controller on there.

 

[Sealside]

Personally running Ruckus AP:s for some years and testing out TP Omada, UniFi etc, I can't see myself going with any other brand at the moment, getting so much better result with Ruckus.

I've recently asked myself the same: What to replace my 3xR710 until WiFi 7 becomes cheaper and more available?
So seems like Ruckus 6E is only supporting WPA 3 (Not sure if this is confirmed), if that is the case Ruckus 6E AP:s are a no go for me, due to having legacy devices that are not supporting WPA 3. Also lack of Unleashed support for 6E-ap:s. ( https://forums.servethehome.com/ind...ess-as-an-unifi-alternative.26384/post-400337 )

I ended up just recently ordering a couple of R730 which I intend to use the R850 hack in order to be able to run Unleashed on them.
The R730 can be found on ebay for ~100-140 $ ( https://forums.servethehome.com/ind...ess-as-an-unifi-alternative.26384/post-396569 )

/S

 

[Haldi]

Sup dude. How's going?

I've used a Netgear r6400 for the longest time, as it had pretty good WiFi performance.
Recently I've upgraded to a Banana pi BPI-R3 for my router as it runs OpenWRT and has 2x SFP ports for 2.5gbits.
But I'm kinda astonished by the WiFi performance of that thingy. It has 2x 4 Antennas for 2.4ghz and 5ghz An Wifi 6 Support. Sadly no E and 6ghz. But still. I've managed up to 1600mbits in a practical speedtest to my smartphone.
For roughly 150$ i'd say that's pretty decent. Though it might be bit overkill as AP only.

There is also the BPI-R4 in the making. The Board itself is released and has 2x SFP+ for 10gbits. But the WiFi7 will be done via AddIn Board and released later this year.
But Openwrt isn't fully supported yet... Still work in progress.

I do not know how well OpenWRT works with multiple APs... But you said you've used it before.

Regards.

 

[NablaSquaredG]

I recently sold both my R710 ($45 each)

I got the Netgear WAX630 and I am just not happy with them.

Not a surprise, sorry

Also they seem kind of... meh to me honestly based on the specs sheet.

Why? Solid midrange model with 4:4x4 in the important 5GHz range. If you want more streams, you'll have to wait for the Ruckus R870

I assume maybe since they got bought out by CommScope things have gone down hill since.

Don't get it. Ruckus still has by far the best Wifi6 APs.

If you want affordable Wifi6E, get yourself an Omada EAP690E HD. Still quite expensive. For Wifi7, I don't see any other good options than the Omada EAP773.

Alternatively, you could reconsider whether you absolutely need / want Wifi7 (do you even have Wifi7 capable clients?) or 6E (dead anyway) now, or whether a used Ruckus Wifi6 AP will cut it until Wifi7 is more affordable.

 

[ViciousXUSMC]

Thanks for those that brought up the Ruckus R730 -> R850 hack, that is right up my alley.
It might only be a side step from what I have now, but I do expect it might perform better and I can have the managmeent I want back again.

If I am really lucky I can sell the WAX630 and actually not lose any money on that transition and use that as a holding spot until I figure out my end game.


I am going to check out the Omada EAP773 as mentioned and still keep my ear to the ground about the Zyxel BE22K (WBE660S)

In parallel to this AP upgrade is a switch upgrade, trying to deside to outright replace my Brocade ICX 6450 or just add in a good multi-gig switch and use them together.

Update: the Omada EAP783 is the model to look at not the 773 looks good on paper, have not used any of there products (many of my smart switches are TP-Link Kasa)

 

[zer0sum]

Take a look at the Grandstream AP's like the GWN7664. They're legit!!
I have some older Ruckus 710's and I have been looking for an upgrade as well

They have an embedded controller and web interface sort of like Unleashed.

https://www.grandstream.com/hubfs/Product_Documentation/GWN7664/Datasheet_GWN7664_English.pdf

~$150 each as well

Amazon.com

 

[SimplyComplicated]

Unifi just released the U7 Pro this week, seems quite cost competitive.

 

[ViciousXUSMC]

Just noticed the R760 from Ruckus is actually the high end offering and not the R770... What a strange naming convention.
But I was only looking at the R770 because it was the only one with Unleashed support.

So I hope maybe someone gets a similar hack for the R760 and then it could compete with the other two AP's I am looking at.

 

[ViciousXUSMC]

Unifi just released the U7 Pro this week, seems quite cost competitive.

I cant say that its not good, have not tried it.

I can say in the past having been an early adopter of Unifi, that they were way more popular than they deserved as the performance was not great and the ecosystem limitations suck.

There MO is get people in with cheap and alluring AP's and then crush you with really overpriced switches and gimp you with unimpressive firewalls.

 

[ViciousXUSMC]

Take a look at the Grandstream AP's like the GWN7664. They're legit!!
I have some older Ruckus 710's and I have been looking for an upgrade as well

They have an embedded controller and web interface sort of like Unleashed.

https://www.grandstream.com/hubfs/Product_Documentation/GWN7664/Datasheet_GWN7664_English.pdf

~$150 each as well

Amazon.com

Thanks for throwing another name in the hat, on paper those look great and price is good.
The unleashed like management really has my interest.

I'll have to see if they have a tri band 4x4 x3 6ghz offering.

 

[NablaSquaredG]

Just noticed the R760 from Ruckus is actually the high end offering and not the R770... What a strange naming convention.

R760 = Wifi 6E
R770 = Wifi7

Nothing to do with high-end or not...

 

[alaricljs]

For curiosity's sake... why does no one talk about Engenius?