i use Mikrotik Hardware for a long time and it always working great. I also use them in my dayly work and design customer projects with them. Now i have a customer that comes primary from Zyxel and TP-Link Network Hardware. He wants to Upgrade his Setup to full Wifi 7. Actually there are only CAP ax and Wap ax as Wifi 6 APs available. Is there any chance for this year that we can get CAP be Version of that AP available?
Mikrotik is running so well and supports with the current Capsman so many Enterprise Features that you could only find in Cisco / Ruckus etc. High Enterprise Wifi Hardware, that i don´t wanna realize that project with an other Vendor. My Customer is a small Company with current 54 Accesspoints in use.
The only Software thing in my opinion that could also be intergrated would be WPA3-SAE with PSK support, so that you could assign multiple PSK with VLAN-ID to a WPA3 Network similiar to the todays WPA2 impelementation.
I was already aware of that, but it's a single device. Not Wi-Fi access points like the WAP or CAP that can be distributed throughout the building like the ones mentioned above.
I really hope they are announced next, right after hap be is released. I'm in your exact same boat.
I already opened a support ticket asking for that (a week before the teaser of hap be) but they couldn't give me any information. My distributor didn't know it either.
@ferferga Thank you for your info, thats exacly what i´m asking for. Can you inform me if you get new information from mikrotik in that case, because it´s not helpful if everyone opens a new ticket and ask for the same question.
Actually, I think it’s the exact opposite of what should happen. The more unique requests come in, the more they can see there is a market waiting and respond accordingly. User feedback is how things usually get addressed by customer-focused companies IMO.
Yes, that's true, you're right, but this forum also belongs to Mikrotik. And I think they also check their own forum to determine the size of the market and the level of buyer interest. And here in the forum, it's quite easy to see that I'm not the only one asking about Wi-Fi 7 access points.
Not necessarily.
There are zylions bug reports on the forum that do not magically got resolved. Raising a ticket is the only proper method to "kill the bug".
Yes, I agree with @BartoszP . My ticket also is closed as of today. I already expressed my interest and I don't see the point in raising awareness again, it's better if you open your own, so they see it comes from other user.
I will update this thread if I have any news of course! (You can check I did the same when I found the brochure for the hap be and I linked it to the Gifts for everyone and main wifi 7 thread)
MikroTik knows the level of interest and we are reading the forum. Realistically, WiFi 7 is the next logical step, nobody is waiting to see user interest to decide whether to make WiFi 7 devices or not. They are being made regardless. Hardware development takes time. Integrating completely new drivers and features takes time. New board design, new antennas, prototypes, testing, heat dissipation etc.
@normis Thank you very much for taking the time to answer.
I think we (with we I mean the forum users who follow the company's announcements closely) assume that, from now on, the WiFi releases will mostly be WiFi 7, hence they are in active development. I would even say that we are aware of the time it takes to put new products in the market and that you care a lot about them being of really good quality to last as much as possible (and definitely that takes time).
However, even if we understand all of the above, I think it's sensible to be a little "anxious" about how far/near they are, given they have been delivered a bit late compared to the products of the ax generation. In my case, I'm unfurtonately in the middle of a huge need for renovations for my client (same boat as @NetworkUser65), which aggravates this "anxiousness". It would be great if something like what was done with the hap be was made for the wAP be: a teaser, with no "formal announcement" (it's nowhere to be seen in the newsletter or website) and available for "preorder" on some distributors, so customers can already file their orders and expect to receive it when available. In the last newsletter post, you mentioned:
more exciting hardware news to follow soon
In my case, knowing if we can expect an announcement of the wAP be before May and the possibility for distributors to list the product so we can file "preorders" and get it as soon as they are released (even if it's at the end of the year), would be enough for my use case.
Honestly, all I need from the wAP be is the same hardware as the wAP ax, but with WiFi 7 chipset, the exact specifications are not that relevant for the use case I'm looking for them, so I don't care if they are announced from the beginning or not. If I could ask, 2.5 Gb on each port and PoE out on the secondary would be awesome, but they are not deal breakers.
Do you really don't know this information (whether a release it's going to happen this year) yet?
Even if @normis knows if there are any additional wifi7 devices in testing it’s probably a company secret and he’s not allowed to disclose that information here.
Also, WiFi7 is something new in Mikrotik’s lineup of devices so some bugs are expected (look at hAP ax S) so maybe it’s a good thing to wait until things became stable. (Personally I plan to buy be3 as soon as it become available at my distributor so I can test it.)
