Upgrade Wifi 5 to Wifi 6 in a condo?

[kevindd992002]

It's not doubled as a router in AP mode.

It costs less, and it has superior WiFi.

Everything the OP needs.

The RT-AX68U only has 3x3 antenna array, right? How does it have a superior wifi over the Zyxel NWA210AX?

 

[L&LD]

Superior in your environment, I don't know.

And specs between different classes of equipment are not directly comparable.

All I know is if I had to buy one (i.e. No option to test both), the RT-AX68U is my pick for price, performance, and future usage (when you no longer have a need for that AP).

 

[Tech Junky]

when you no longer have a need for that AP

Then you upgrade to a different one and sell the current one. You also won't disrupt your current network setup by swapping the AP vs the whole network with a router you're talking about.

Using the PC as a PFsense / router / firewall negates the need for a "router" to be used.

 

[Tech9]

The RT-AX68U only has 3x3 antenna array, right? How does it have a superior wifi over the Zyxel NWA210AX?

You’re pushed into wrong direction. Cheap unpopular home router and unpopular in your country access point. I’ll write my concerns and suggestions to you when I get back home in few hours.

 

[kevindd992002]

You’re pushed into wrong direction. Cheap unpopular home router and unpopular in your country access point. I’ll write my concerns and suggestions to you when I get back home in few hours.

What do you mean? Which wrong direction are you talking about? The wifi frequencies in the US and the Philippines are pretty much the same so no issues there.

 

[Tech9]

I see wrong assumptions about how Wi-Fi works mixed with wrong expectations, followed by wrong hardware suggestions. Read below and you'll know what to do.

- in a 55 square meters apartment what "range" the AP offers practically doesn't matter
- if the old RT-AC66U can cover the place, any modern AC or better class AP will also do it
- your phone will see zero battery life improvements with AX TWT, not working as expected
- your phone has nothing to do with Gigabit connection, even with >100Mbps connection
- you perhaps don't have 10 users, but 10 devices and not all of them active at the same time
- you run pfSense appliance with native VLAN support, but no home router has native VLANs support
- Beamforming and MU-MIMO require distance and different directions, plus client support
- 4x4 AP doesn't automatically split streams to multiple devices, see why in the comment above
- OFDMA MU-MIMO in AX can serve multiple clients simultaneously with 2x2 radio, in case it works
- I would disable all Beamforming and MU-MIMO in your environment for perhaps better performance
- your country has different Wi-Fi regulations and user experience in US may not be relevant to you
- your country has different Wi-Fi channels available and equipment purchased elsewhere is not a good idea
- 160MHz wide channel is not guaranteed, it requires DFS channels, it also reduces the AP range
- for stability I do not recommend using 160MHz wide channels, especially in a condo environment
- AX to common 2-stream client @80MHz channel won't improve significantly your experience

Skip the unpopular (at least here on SNB) and buggy (Wi-Fi issues feedback everywhere) Asus RT-AX68U, skip expensive and perhaps unpopular in your country Zyxel products. Go to a local computer store and get what you know works well from your experience and in your country - UniFi, Omada, etc. You don't really need AX support - AC Wave 2 will be a huge improvement over Asus RT-AC66U* and can do 550Mbps to common 2-stream AC client. AX class AP won't improve anything further. In your small place you'll get ISP line speed to every client, upload and download, plus headroom for ISP upgrade to ~600Mbps. This is what your APU2C4 board** can do for IDS/IPS anyway, in case you run it and it's multi-threaded (Suricata). Get a business class AP with stand alone mode (not cloud/controller configuration only), with native VLAN support (you may want to run a Guest Network), with injector for PoE. You'll save money, time and frustration.

* - this is the first AC class Asus router with BCM4360 radio and BCM4706 MIPS single-core 600MHz CPU. The radio SoC doesn't have own processing unit and relies on the main CPU. You have noticed perhaps this router struggles with >250Mbps on Wi-Fi and CPU utilization spikes a lot when Wi-Fi is under load, even when stripped to AP only duties.

** - what @Tech Junky doesn't know is APU2C4 is a single board computer made for router/firewall applications with non-replaceable NICs. AMD GX-412TC quad-core 1GHz CPU is there not for high performance, but for power efficiency. The board is excellent for your use with under 20W total power consumption, depending on configuration.

 

[kevindd992002]

- your phone has nothing to do with Gigabit connection, even with >100Mbps connection

Why wouldn't it have anything to do with Gigabit connection?

- you perhaps don't have 10 users, but 10 devices and not all of them active at the same time

Correct, 10 devices. 3-5 users on the average.

- you run pfSense appliance with native VLAN support, but no home router has native VLANs support

You lost me here. I know pfsense supports native VLAN (VLAN1) but I thought all other managed network devices do as well? A home router like the Asus routers do not have VLAN support so all their interfaces are running at the native VLAN, no? I guess I don't understand what you're pointing out with this?

- Beamforming and MU-MIMO require distance and different directions, plus client support
- 4x4 AP doesn't automatically split streams to multiple devices, see why in the comment above
- OFDMA MU-MIMO in AX can serve multiple clients simultaneously with 2x2 radio, in case it works
- I would disable all Beamforming and MU-MIMO in your environment for perhaps better performance

Are you saying a 4x4 AP is not always better than a 3x3 or a 2x2?

- your country has different Wi-Fi regulations and user experience in US may not be relevant to you
- your country has different Wi-Fi channels available and equipment purchased elsewhere is not a good idea

Where did you get this information? I got all my 10 Ubiquiti wifi 5 AP's (used in my parents' house) from the US and have zero problems using them in the Philippines in terms of wifi regulations and channels. Here's a juniper reference:

SRX "X" and LN Series Archives | Juniper Networks

If anything, the Philippines has more channels (12 and 13) available for the 2.4GHz band than the US. But other than that, devices here support all channels used by AP's from the US.

- 160MHz wide channel is not guaranteed, it requires DFS channels, it also reduces the AP range
- for stability I do not recommend using 160MHz wide channels, especially in a condo environment

So where is 160MHz useful? On the 6GHz band on wifi 6E I presume?

Skip the unpopular (at least here on SNB) and buggy (Wi-Fi issues feedback everywhere) Asus RT-AX68U, skip expensive and perhaps unpopular in your country Zyxel products. Go to a local computer store and get what you know works well from your experience and in your country - UniFi, Omada, etc. You don't really need AX support - AC Wave 2 will be a huge improvement over Asus RT-AC66U* and can do 550Mbps to common 2-stream AC client. AX class AP won't improve anything further. In your small place you'll get ISP line speed to every client, upload and download, plus headroom for ISP upgrade to ~600Mbps. This is what your APU2C4 board** can do for IDS/IPS anyway, in case you run it and it's multi-threaded (Suricata). Get a business class AP with stand alone mode (not cloud/controller configuration only), with native VLAN support (you may want to run a Guest Network), with injector for PoE. You'll save money, time and frustration.

Given the channel availability article that I linked to above, what makes you not recommend Zyxel products? Any specific UniFi or Omada AP's that you can recommend? And if I were to buy now, why not go AX? Even if I don't necessarily get a big benefit from it in my current living situation, I also won't experience less performance than if I go with a better AC Wave 2 AP, would I?

 

[Tech9]

- you'll see no difference on your phone/tablet between AC and AX connection
- there is no native VLAN support in home routers, you can't have isolated Guest Network for example with your pfSense appliance
- 4x4 AP is better in theory, if there is something to use the extra streams and MU-MIMO is working for you
- You have extra available channels 12-13 in your country, not available in US market products
- I don't know what Tx power is allowed in your country, check before importing products
- 160MHz is useable on 6GHz band, if you need it and you have the clients with 6E support
- get AX AP, but something available and popular in your country, with warranty and exchange policy, if possible
- UniFi - U6-LR, Omada - EAP620/660 HD as popular models example

 

[kevindd992002]

- You have extra available channels 12-13 in your country, not available in US market products

And I don't really need channels 12 and 13 for 2.4GHz. We're sticking with channels 1, 6, and 11.

- I don't know what Tx power is allowed in your country, check before importing products

The US and the Philippines also have the same max Tx power limitations. If you didn't know, our country was a US colony for 48 years in the past and there are several US practices/standards that rubbed off on our country.

- UniFi - U6-LR, Omada - EAP620/660 HD as popular models example

Doesn't the UniFi U6-LR need a controller as well? I thought you said get a standalone one.

 

[Tech9]

We're sticking with channels 1, 6, and 11.

1-6-11 only if you control all the APs around. Most new radio SoC select different channel based on available bandwidth and interference level, not based on number of networks per channel. And they push higher throughput on channels different than 1-6-11.

If you didn't know, our country was a US colony for 48 years in the past

I didn't know if you have the same RF regulations.

Doesn't the UniFi U6-LR need a controller as well?

Stand alone mode is available through an app, it's there.

What I mean in general - you have to set realistic goals and understand what is expected in return of your investment. So far you are investing in better AC connectivity and a speedtest on an AX phone. What you need at the moment is EAP225V3 for $60. It will make all your 10 devices happy instantly.