I am living in an apartment of 90 sqm with a few concrete walls.
I have a RB4011iGS+5HacQ2HnD but after 2 walls the signal is not great, I am using a RBD53iG-5HacD2HnD as a wifi extender connected over LAN, is OK now.
A friend asked for a recommendation, he is interested only in wifi strength and quality, so the number of ports is not important, but to recommend something similar is an overkill.
Are there any new models with better wifi or are there option to replace the standard antennas to improve the wifi for any of the above models?
I was initially considering to recommend the RBD53iG-5HacD2HnD or maybe C53UiG+5HPaxD2HPaxD (RB4011iGS+5HacQ2HnD is good but not for wifi). Do you recommend anything else?
If you want quality wifi AND pass 2 walls, you need to extend network using wire and have multiple APs.
Doesn’t matter what brand you choose then.
I cover my home with AX3 and AX2, connected via CAT6 cable to RB5009 (but before AX3 was the main router so RB5009 is not really relevant here).
1 floor is roughly 10mx10m, there is basement, ground floor, first floor. Also attic under the roof but there is nothing there except for storage.
Thick brick walls in between and concrete floors reinforced with plenty of steel rods (just to indicate this is NOT an ideal environment for radio waves).
2 APs, diagonally located on corners, different floors.
I don’t need more.
Wifi strength is limited by local regulations - maximum EIRP limits.
Basically every device respecting those limits will have the same signal strength. (EDIT: If it is strong enough to reach those limits.)
Based on your country, pick correct information source. The majority of Google results (images, articles) are for USA limits, which quite differ from EU limits, and are misleading about the best channel source.
In EU, the lower range for 5GHz frequencies is limited to use lesser power - max 200mW:
Transmit power / Power density: Max. 200 mW e.i.r.p. Max. 10 mW/MHz e.i.r.p. density in any 1 MHz band. WAS/RLANs operating in the band 5250–5350 MHz shall either employ transmitter power control (TPC), which provides, on average, a mitigation factor of at least 3 dB on the maximum permitted output power of the systems; or if transmitter power control is not in use, the maximum permitted e.i.r.p. and the corresponding e.i.r.p. density limits shall be reduced by 3 dB. Type of Antenna: integral or dedicated. Max. 25 mW e.i.r.p. (5150–5250 MHz) inside cars for RLAN use. RLAN use inside cars (passenger cars, lorries, buses) in the band 5150–5250 MHz is allowed at a maximum e.i.r.p. of 25 mW. EN 301 893 / ECC/DEC/(04)08 / ERC/REC 70-03, Annex A
The middle range of 5GHz frequencies can use up to 1W in EU:
Transmit power / Power density: Max. 1 W e.i.r.p. Max. 50 mW/MHz e.i.r.p. density in any 1 MHz band. WAS/RLANs operating in the band 5470–5725 MHz shall either employ transmitter power control (TPC), which provides, on average, a mitigation factor of at least 3 dB on the maximum permitted output power of the systems; or if transmitter power control is not in use, the maximum permitted e.i.r.p. and the corresponding e.i.r.p. density limits shall be reduced by 3 dB. Type of Antenna: integral or dedicated. EN 301 893 / ECC/DEC/(04)08 /-.
Though, different antenna would make difference in shape of wireless coverage. However, for one floor coverage, standard antennas with donut-like coverage shape are probably the best.
I would recommend WifiWave2 products for multi-AP solution. This should include all 802.11ax MikroTik devices and hAP ac³.
And, I would even recommend to go with multiple access point with ethernet backhaul. Multiple access points with weaker signal would provide much better experience and speeds, and together with total radiated power being less, than one access point with strong signal, that is trying to penetrate multiple metal-reinforced floors and walls. And, I don’t like grilling nearby people as well, so I would not go over EIRP limits.
With WifiWave2 CAPsMAN it’s possible to setup 802.11r/k/v fast roaming.
I personally have a good roaming experience with combination of hAP ax³ as edge router and WifiWave2 CAPsMAN and hAP ac³ as WifiWave2 CAP.
And, I plan to extend this setup with one extra hAP ax², due to layout of property with lots of metal-reinforced concrete floor and walls, plus I also want my indoor APs to cover nearby outdoor area. And, waiting for wAP ax (or else wAP ac successor) to cover distant outdoor space.
Wireless repeaters will always give you limited performance, and properly placed APs will usually perform better than a single AIO unit (some of those ugly spiders do perform very well over wireless, though). Meshed units are another solution. With Wi-Fi 7 around the corner, I would wait if possible for the heavy discounts on AX gear or new products. MT didn’t update the RB4011 AIO (it’s the RB5009 + APs now). Your options depend on the throughput requirements vs the area that needs to be covered (and budget, obviously).
So, with respect to device capabilities, this makes hAP ax³ a stronger device, than hAP ax². The hAP ax³ has roughly 2dBm stronger transmit power than hAP ax². See Wireless specifications table in product specifications for both devices.
Of course you also need to consider if you want to recommend MikroTik to your friend, or if that is just overkill.
When he does not have any special routing requirements, and is only interested in providing his house with good wifi strength and quality on a single SSID behind a standard ISP NAT router, there are many products on the market that easily outperform MikroTik.
Of course, when he (like you) wants to tinker a lot with the routing functionality, it may be different. But still then, I would recommend MikroTik for routing (like the mentioned 5009) and go somewhere else for WiFi.
I do not work for MikroTik and 6e will be like Vista if Wi-Fi 7 delivers on only 50% of its promises. Objectively, a 5009 combined with some new Wi-Fi 7 APs (when available) will probably last another 5 years and outperform anything produced by the big 3 in the consumer market for most of that, unless they suddenly decide to drop the low performance cores they all have been using.
But not everyone’s wants or needs that level of complexity, and this is where AIO solutions from other vendors can outperform anything in MT’s current catalogue taking price/performance/coverage into account.
I got curious and searched around for information on these new Wi-Fi 7 routers. Broadcom just makes it ridiculously difficult to get any performance information for their SoCs…why would end-users want to make informed decisions based on tested numbers instead of marketing BS…
Anyway, one manufacturer is placing its product squarely in Ruckus territory by asking $700+ US just for the privilege of being a Beta tester. Early reports indicate impressive wired speeds from the 10G ports (and lacklustre/buggy Wi-Fi) using highly optimized BCM4916 quad chips. But this seems yet again another A53 variant (B53 in Broadcom land), just like the BCM4912 was. The telltale sign is how the performance of the 4912 gets completely crushed as soon as the proprietary NAT acceleration blobs get disabled to use Cake, WireGuard or any other incompatible feature on those routers.
If I needed something now, like I said, I would have a serious look at those discounted products (AIO or AX APs). Post COVID, prices on disposable consumer gear are completely out of hand…
In my opinion it will take years until WiFi7 became mainstream (and then couple of years more until mikrotik releases their be device )
A lot of laptops are still using ac standard but it’s not a problem to change wireless card, ax200 are fairly available, phones are better in this as more and more of them supports ax standard.
I also recommend multiple APs. As alternatives to Ethernet consider Mesh systems (more expansive) and Powerline adapters (depends on how electric lines are wired).
