WBE660S / 802.11BE / AP 10GE uplink

[Tech Junky]

WBE660S - BE22000 WiFi 7 Triple-Radio NebulaFlex Pro Access Point | Zyxel Networks

Featuring the Qualcomm quad-core CPU and a solid, durable hardware build, the WBE660S (BE22000 WiFi 7 access point) delivers blazing-fast WiFi 7 speeds and significantly increased capacity. Paired with Zyxel’s comprehensive range of management and security advancements, it ensures high...

www.zyxel.com

WiFi 7 | Zyxel Networks

WiFi 7, also known as IEEE 802.11be, is the next-generation WiFi standard. With its revolutionary technological advancements, it promises to be the fastest WiFi ever, delivering unprecedented speeds to enhance online experiences in the digital world.

www.zyxel.com

Kind of exciting to already see AP only options being announced that will likely fall under the $500 mark. As with all of the options coming to market with 20gbps+ speeds they limit the physical port to 10GE for some reason. Though when it comes down to the clients they max out at ~5GE anyway so not much of a shocker they don't unleash 100% of the bandwidth capabilities. No real news on when this will show up for sale though but, given their history it might be be by the end of the year. Zyxel doe s good job at fitting into the middle of the pricing tiers typically though.

Performance is usually on par with the over priced group of devices as well. When they launched the nwa210ax it was somewhere around $200 compared to others around $500 at the time. Now you can get the AX for under $150 but, others are still hitting higher. If you want to tackle the DIY option with hostapd and the Qualcomm option QCNCM865 is coming soon for sale as well. I suspected this would show up when Intel broke cover on their Be200/202 adapters but even those seem to be in short supply as mouser.com is showing them arriving end of Nov at this point.

Not really surprised though that things are moving at a snail's pace as this tends to be the case just like AX / AX-E rolled out. Hopefully the market will move a little faster this time around compared to the supply chain shortages of the recent past. I guess we'll have to wait and see how things shake out with BE.

 

[coxhaus]

I don't think you will see much business money behind this as they are more into running lots of users with limited bandwidth to be able to share with lots of users.

And home users tend not to have 10 gig ports available to plug in wireless devices.

So, it may be a slow mover.

 

[tgl]

Kind of exciting to already see AP only options being announced that will likely fall under the $500 mark.

I found a page with an actual selling price:

https://store.zyxel.com/wbe660s-eu0101f.html

which says $849.99 ... and for that, they won't even give you a power brick.

Think I'll wait for the price to come down a bit.

 

[Tech Junky]

$849.99

Hmm... It will come down when supply hits retailers. Otherwise I'm also looking at Qualcomm as the cheaper and more immediate option. I've seen some reference models in the $350 range.

 

[Tech Junky]

ZyXEL Communications WBE660S Usa Single Pk Exclude Power Adapter Unified Ap Rohs 1yr Nebula Pro Pk.

ZyXEL Communications WBE660S Usa Single Pk Exclude Power Adapter Unified Ap Rohs 1yr Nebula Pro Pk shipped for $902.06. Free shipping! Secure purchasing, 30 day return policy.

www.shopblt.com

For sale.

 

[coxhaus]

ZyXEL Communications WBE660S Usa Single Pk Exclude Power Adapter Unified Ap Rohs 1yr Nebula Pro Pk.

ZyXEL Communications WBE660S Usa Single Pk Exclude Power Adapter Unified Ap Rohs 1yr Nebula Pro Pk shipped for $902.06. Free shipping! Secure purchasing, 30 day return policy.

www.shopblt.com

For sale.

It looks like it requires POE++ power of 45 watts.
Wire is going to be interesting as a lot of wire has been cheapen to barely meet spec.
Home users may have a hard time running one using house wire for remote locations.

 

[RTWZ80]

WBE660S - BE22000 WiFi 7 Triple-Radio NebulaFlex Pro Access Point | Zyxel Networks

Featuring the Qualcomm quad-core CPU and a solid, durable hardware build, the WBE660S (BE22000 WiFi 7 access point) delivers blazing-fast WiFi 7 speeds and significantly increased capacity. Paired with Zyxel’s comprehensive range of management and security advancements, it ensures high...

www.zyxel.com

WiFi 7 | Zyxel Networks

WiFi 7, also known as IEEE 802.11be, is the next-generation WiFi standard. With its revolutionary technological advancements, it promises to be the fastest WiFi ever, delivering unprecedented speeds to enhance online experiences in the digital world.

www.zyxel.com

Kind of exciting to already see AP only options being announced that will likely fall under the $500 mark. As with all of the options coming to market with 20gbps+ speeds they limit the physical port to 10GE for some reason. Though when it comes down to the clients they max out at ~5GE anyway so not much of a shocker they don't unleash 100% of the bandwidth capabilities. No real news on when this will show up for sale though but, given their history it might be be by the end of the year. Zyxel doe s good job at fitting into the middle of the pricing tiers typically though.

Performance is usually on par with the over priced group of devices as well. When they launched the nwa210ax it was somewhere around $200 compared to others around $500 at the time. Now you can get the AX for under $150 but, others are still hitting higher. If you want to tackle the DIY option with hostapd and the Qualcomm option QCNCM865 is coming soon for sale as well. I suspected this would show up when Intel broke cover on their Be200/202 adapters but even those seem to be in short supply as mouser.com is showing them arriving end of Nov at this point.

Not really surprised though that things are moving at a snail's pace as this tends to be the case just like AX / AX-E rolled out. Hopefully the market will move a little faster this time around compared to the supply chain shortages of the recent past. I guess we'll have to wait and see how things shake out with BE.

There are also Wifi 7 APs from the usual suspects: Ruckus, TP-Link's Omada series and Engenius, all limited to 10G ports too.

R770 | RUCKUS R770 Indoor Access Point

Very-High-Performance Tri-Radio Wi-Fi 7 2x2:2 | 4x4:4 | 2x2:2 Indoor Access Point with 12.22 Gbps max rate and Embedded IoT

www.ruckusnetworks.com

BE11000 Ceiling Mount Tri-Band Wi-Fi 7 Access Point

Based on BE11000 tri-band Wi-Fi 7, Omada EAP770 shows high performance with 1× 10G Port and rich advanced functions.

www.tp-link.com

Cloud7 4x4x4 | EnGenius Networks Europe B.V

Cloud Managed Wi-Fi 7 4×4x4 Indoor Access Point

www.engeniustech.com

 

[Tech Junky]

@RTWZ80

Of course but, the price point Zyxel offers is significantly less usually.

Zyxel - $850
Ruckus - ~$1500
TPL - NFS
ENG - NFS

I expect the three you listed to all fall in line with each other in terms of price / performance as they typically do. The issue I have with a couple of them is they already released "mesh" options that were inflated pricing due to being 1st to market and bundling routing functions into them. The other thing is some of them get really hard to get your hands on them or paying a premium to get one outside of a corporate purchase.

It's still good to see more options though. It's a good sign for competition to ramp up production and get them out into the wild.

 

[RTWZ80]

@RTWZ80

Of course but, the price point Zyxel offers is significantly less usually.

Zyxel - $850
Ruckus - ~$1500
TPL - NFS
ENG - NFS

I expect the three you listed to all fall in line with each other in terms of price / performance as they typically do. The issue I have with a couple of them is they already released "mesh" options that were inflated pricing due to being 1st to market and bundling routing functions into them. The other thing is some of them get really hard to get your hands on them or paying a premium to get one outside of a corporate purchase.

It's still good to see more options though. It's a good sign for competition to ramp up production and get them out into the wild.

Indeed, there tends to be a big rush to buy whenever bleeding edge tech is launched, so it'll probably be better to wait a little for supply to ramp up and prices to settle down.