When will we see AX on WISP?

RouterOS Wireless Networking
1

We need to move forward with our wisp clients.
We already have enough ram in RBM11G (256Mb)
Enough to install Wave2
We need a replacement to R11e-5HacD
How hard is it to create such a card with an AX controller?
It would be the perfect combination…
TwistPortTM Adapter for RouterBOARD RBC
https://rfelements.com/products/tp-adaptor/twistport-adaptor-for-routerboard-gen2/twistport-adaptor-2

RF Horn 30º
https://rfelements.com/products/symmetrical-horn/symmetrical-horn-gen2-2/symmetrical-horn-tp-antenna-2

RBM11G
https://mikrotik.com/product/m11g


R11e-5HaxD* ,
https://mikrotik.com/product/R11e-5HacD


sorry, translated with google
RBM11G.png

2
  • 1
3

Some info about roadmap can help us to take the right choice. We have a large network with 4500 old AC mikortik antenna.

4

Ask a distributor.

They have the power to ask for a roadmap.
It will not be revealed on a user place like this.
Already has been asked multiple times, unless I missed it, I never saw an answer.

5

https://mikrotik.com/product/l11ug_5haxd

Finally, we have solutions in AP; we only need the clients now.

6

This is hardly a solution.
It’s a building block.

Interesting but nonetheless a building block.

7

Well, we finally have outdoor AX access points for our WISP setup, and we’ve already started deploying them with CPE clients.

I’m in the early stages of replacing our current APs, but so far, the lab tests haven’t shown any remarkable results…

The idea is to gradually replace our AC access points with AX ones, while keeping all existing clients in place. Later on, we’ll start migrating the CPEs step by step.

There are several questions that come up during this process, and I’d really appreciate if anyone with experience or knowledge could help clarify them.

First point:
When replacing the APs, only the access point will support AX. In this scenario, we shouldn’t expect any real performance improvements, right? In fact, performance might even degrade — especially since our current CPEs rely on NV2, which isn’t supported in AX mode. This would mean losing the TDMA benefits and likely facing hidden node issues again when using standard 802.11.
Is this assumption correct?

Second point:
As we start upgrading the CPEs, will there be any issues with mixing AX and AC clients? In other words, will the new AX clients benefit from the improved performance, or will having legacy AC clients in the mix still cause inefficiencies in a PtMP setup?

Third point – Security and WPA3:
We expect better security by switching to WPA3, but only if we don’t mix it with WPA2 clients (older CPEs).
Is that accurate?

Fourth point (for now):
I’ve read that MikroTik’s AX devices still don’t properly support TDMA for PtMP scenarios — is this true? That’s surprising, considering AX is supposed to improve multi-client communication among other things. (Of course, we shouldn’t believe everything we read in forums — but I’d like to confirm this.)

In summary:
It seems that unless I upgrade both APs and all CPEs to AX at once, performance may actually get worse. And even if I do a full upgrade, there’s still a chance TDMA won’t work as expected.
Is this the case?

I’d like to clear this up before making a significant investment and risking performance issues — or even losing clients during the transition.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can shed light on this!

8

Support response:

  1. Yes, AX’s, currently, do not support NV2, only 802.11:

  1. All WiFi standards are backwards compatible. The clients will need to switch to 802.11. Legacy standards do degrade performance. Not as much, as, say “g/b/a” but still, even slightly (specially in crowded environments).

  2. Yes.

WPA3 introduces (among other things):

https://praneethwifi.in/2020/06/08/sa-query-request-response-encryption-decryption-verification-in-wpa3-wpa2-pmf-802-11w/

|management-protection (allowed | disabled | required)|Whether to use 802.11w management frame protection. I ncompatible with management frame protection in standard wireless package.
The default value depends on the value of the selected authentication type. WPA2 allows the use of management protection, WPA3 requires it.|
| — | — | — |

  1. AX devices support OFDM, which is “TDMA” equivalent functionality-wise (to achieve the same results). There is no TDMA for AX in MikroTik.

  2. TDMA will not work with AX. It needs to be tested under specific conditions/under specific setup with real traffic. For some, NV2/TDMA was the “only” solution for their “environment” to increase the “performance” and “lower” interference and for this kind of setups, using 802.11 is a downgrade. While for others, “throughput” is more important. The only real way to find out how it behaves in your specific topology/setup is to test it.

In summary, we are halting the migration to MikroTik AX and exploring new alternatives.