can anyone justify the price of wifi6 ax mesh

[COBOL-Coder]

and until you get rid of all your none wifi 6 clients they will continue to make the wifi 6 platform perform poorly and not reach its potential , never mind the missing or yet to be enabled features that wifi 6 make up

plus as tim has pointed out ofdma doesnt even work until there are at least 4 wifi 6 ofdma compatible client connected to the router

The features I cited earlier, OFDMA and AX MU-MIMO are not enabled in most Wi-Fi 6 consumer routers. In the ASUS RT-AX88U, OFDMA is supported only on 5 GHz. See https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wir...what-s-missing-from-your-wi-fi-6-router-ofdma for more details.

Add

 

[COBOL-Coder]

Good to know, thanks.

The features I cited earlier, OFDMA and AX MU-MIMO are not enabled in most Wi-Fi 6 consumer routers. In the ASUS RT-AX88U, OFDMA is supported only on 5 GHz. See https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wir...what-s-missing-from-your-wi-fi-6-router-ofdma for more details.

 

[thiggins]

Future proofing? (For a little more money now you've a product with a longer remaining life cycle.)

I continue to advise against buying expensive, leading-edge routers in an attempt to "future proof". Wi-Fi continues to evolve at a rapid pace.

Many of the early adopters who paid full price for their Wi-Fi 6 routers last year will probably be faced with the decision to spend a similar amount for a 6 GHz Wi-Fi 6 (aka Wi-Fi 6e in WFA's branding) router sometime this year or early next.

First draft-standard 802.11be (EHT) products will likely follow sometime in 2022/23.

So was it worth spending $500 for a router that was old news 2 years later? That's for each buyer to decide.

So please go ahead and buy whatever you want. Just know what you're paying for. It's not future-proofing.

 

[COBOL-Coder]

and until you get rid of all your none wifi 6 clients they will continue to make the wifi 6 platform perform poorly and not reach its potential , never mind the missing or yet to be enabled features that wifi 6 make up

plus as tim has pointed out ofdma doesnt even work until there are at least 4 wifi 6 ofdma compatible client connected to the router

Sorry, perhaps I gave you the wrong impression but I don't have a WiFi 6 router, just the one WiFi 6 client.

Sent from my SM-T830 using Tapatalk

 

[Val D.]

6 GHz Wi-Fi 6

What's the client support situation for this WIFI 6 update?

 

[thiggins]

What's the client support situation for this WIFI 6 update?

6E will require new clients and APs if you want to use the 6 GHz bands. 6E APs will also support legacy STAs. Some APs may have a single radio supporting both 5 and 6 GHz. Others may have tri (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz low, 5 GHz high) or quad-band (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz low, 5 GHz high, 6 GHz).

There are no 6E APs or STAs at this time, given that, at least in the U.S. the band has not been allocated for unlicensed use yet.

 

[Val D.]

6E will require new clients and APs

Oh, nice! That makes all current WIFI 6 products similar to early Draft-N 2.4GHz only products years ago.

 

[L&LD]

Oh, nice! That makes all current WIFI 6 products similar to early Draft-N 2.4GHz only products years ago.

Why? Do you have any 6E compliant clients?

New game, new game pieces.

But the current ones won't self-destruct if/when 6E goes live either.

 

[Val D.]

Why? Do you have any 6E compliant clients?

No, but the current clients won’t take advantage of future routers and future routers won’t make current clients any faster. And all are WIFI 6 devices. It was something similar with early N routers and clients. Isn’t it better to skip entirely the current WIFI 6 routers in this case? I mean, taking into account the price of early WIFI 6 routers now.

 

[thiggins]

No, but the current clients won’t take advantage of future routers and future routers won’t make current clients any faster. And all are WIFI 6 devices. It was something similar with early N routers and clients. Isn’t it better to skip entirely the current WIFI 6 routers in this case? I mean, taking into account the price of early WIFI 6 routers now.

Remember what I said about trying to future proof Wi-Fi?

Generational shifts always come with pain and require matching device and AP technologies to achieve full benefit from the new technology. At least that's the theory. What happens now is that draft-standard products with incomplete implementations are pushed to market at high prices. And they sell in large enough volumes to teach manufacturers that it's ok to continue to do this.

The primary sources of performance improvement for legacy devices used with newer generation APs have been more streams, slightly better RF design and more processing power. Moving from WiFi6 to 6E isn't going to provide anything from those sources for legacy devices. The main benefit that might occur is that as devices migrate to 6 GHz, it clears the 5 GHz band for legacy devices. 2.4 GHz gets no benefit from 6E.

 

[Val D.]

Remember what I said about trying to future proof Wi-Fi?

Remember I put "like" underneath?

I recently purchased AC1750 business class APs, going like the cavemen in next few years, I guess...

 

[RMerlin]

or quad-band (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz low, 5 GHz high, 6 GHz).

Why does the very idea makes me cringe? Sure, let's allow end-users to clutter all four bands with one single AP...


On the topic of AX-based Wifi system, an AiMesh using a pair of RT-AX58U might be an interesting option. Still quite expensive tho.

 

[Val D.]

let's allow end-users to clutter all four bands with one single AP...

OMG, with Band Steering and Smart Connect enabled...

 

[Trip]

This in my eyes just further justifies the reason to de-couple wifi from routing and switching in more and more use-cases, making the AP as modular (ie. easily upgradable) as possible.

 

[Val D.]

True, but quality APs are not cheap either. A good one with a bit more bells and whistles costs as much as expensive AIO router.

 

[Trip]

Very true *... looks at his Ruckus R720...*

That being said, especially in a multi-AP scenario, at least with a centralized product you of gain more capability, AiMesh notwithstanding. So I suppose it depends on what one is looking for.

 

[Val D.]

Some Ruckus products have prices so crazy... must be doing the laundry and preparing sushi for me...