EnGenius Announces New EnSky Wi-Fi 6 Outdoor Access Point

[Julio Urquidi]

Encased in an IP67-rated dust and water-resistant enclosure, the EnSky series EWS850AP is a business-class Wi-Fi 6 access point designed for heavily congested outdoor environments.

Running on a Qualcomm Networking Pro 400 quad-core processor, the dual-band EWS850AP uses four spatial streams and delivers maximum wireless rates of 574 Mbps @ 2.4 GHz and 1200 Mbps @ 5 GHz.

Listed Wi-Fi 6 related features for the EWS850AP include OFDMA, 1024 QAM, BSS Coloring, Spatial Reuse, DL MU-MIMO, Target Wake Time and longer OFDM symbols. Security-wise, the EWS850AP uses Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA3/WPA2 Enterprise/PSK) Encryption, IEEE 802.1X with RADIUS and MAC Address Filtering.

The EWS850AP can operate using PoE via its single GbE port or can use proprietary 48V-54V power. The outdoor AP can also be set up as an access point in Managed Mode, or as WDSs, Mesh, Client Bridge, or Access Point in Stand-Alone Mode.

Lastly, the EWS850AP is managed using an EnGenius EnSky Managed Switch (up to 50 APs) as a wireless controller or by provisioning an EnGenius EnSky SkyKey wireless controller (up to 100 APs).

Pricing for the EnGenius EnSky EWS850AP Wi-Fi 6 Outdoor Access Point was not available, however EnGenius will start shipping it worldwide in Q1 2020.

 

[Krisbi]

Engenius still doesn´t have OFDMA software features enabled, though.

 

[thiggins]

Engenius still doesn´t have OFDMA software features enabled, though.

Really? They had OFDMA enabled on the 2x2 indoor EWS357AP I looked at months ago. It didn't work very well, but it was enabled.

I was never able to find updated firmware for it, so I set it aside.
I just checked the product page and it now looks like a firmware link is posted. I might give it another try.

 

[Krisbi]

Really? They had OFDMA enabled on the 2x2 indoor EWS357AP

As of 01/2020 Engenius EWS377AP/EWS357AP do not support OFDMA with their current firmware. You can easily check this yourself by using wireshark and capture some Traffic.

 

[thiggins]

As of 01/2020 Engenius EWS377AP/EWS357AP do not support OFDMA with their current firmware. You can easily check this yourself by using wireshark and capture some Traffic.

Thanks for the info. Guess they decided to join the rest of the Wi-Fi industry's big lie about OFDMA support.

 

[keenanj]

I tested the EWS377AP is OFDMA is enabled on the download as is BSS coloring.

here is my capture
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wl17eca7begnklg/ews377ap capture.pcapng?dl=0

If you think it is disabled on your unit please send me the HR and SW version and I will test.

 

[thiggins]

I tested the EWS377AP is OFDMA is enabled on the download as is BSS coloring.

here is my capture
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wl17eca7begnklg/ews377ap capture.pcapng?dl=0

If you think it is disabled on your unit please send me the HR and SW version and I will test.

Thanks for checking. I won't be doing any further testing on the product for now.

 

[keenanj]

Thanks for checking. I won't be doing any further testing on the product for now.

Tim I also got a confirmation from a official EnGenius source "OFDMA is enabled on the EWS357AP and EWS377AP"

 

[thiggins]

Tim I also got a confirmation from a official EnGenius source "OFDMA is enabled on the EWS357AP and EWS377AP"

Thanks. That's downlink only, right? Both bands?

 

[keenanj]

Thanks. That's downlink only, right? Both bands?

Correct

 

[Krisbi]

I tested the EWS377AP is OFDMA is enabled on the download as is BSS coloring.
here is my capture
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wl17eca7begnklg/ews377ap capture.pcapng?dl=0
If you think it is disabled on your unit please send me the HR and SW version and I will test.

Can you please give me the line where you find OFDMA support? I don´t find any.

 

[keenanj]

Can you please give me the line where you find OFDMA support? I don´t find any.

Here is a picture of the decode find these lines https://photos.app.goo.gl/WKnHo7tfKXWzvRD7A

 

[thiggins]

Right from Engenius

• Upload and Download OFDMA
  "U/L not available yet (expected later this year)"
• Upload and Download MU-MIMO
  "U/L not available yet (expected later this year)"
• BSS coloring
  "U/L not available yet (expected later this year)"

Thanks. That means they will be switching to the newer Networking Pro 1200 chipset (Hawkeye 2.0)