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OpenFiber
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hAP AC2 successor (WiFi 6 + nBase-T ???)

Mon Jan 03, 2022 11:01 pm

We are hoping / wondering if a hAP AC2 successor is on the roadmap, with at least:

- WiFi 6 support
- nBase-T / 2.5G / 5G RJ45 port(s)

It's not that the technology is currently unavailable or too expensive, brands like TP-Link offer WiFi 6 capable routers for < €40.

Preferable in a semi robust tiny enclosure (like the hAP AC2) with internal WiFi antenna's + the option to add / skrew-on external atennas (for increased wifi reach)
 
djdrastic
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Re: hAP AC2 successor (WiFi 6 + nBase-T ???)

Tue Jan 04, 2022 10:19 am

Would be all over this myself though I want a SFP port as well.
What bugs me is we haven't seen any router codenames get revealed either in new ROS 7 code in FCC docs so I still think it's a long ways away :(
Been rocking my hAP AC1 setup since 2017 and need to upgrade as most of my devices will be WiFi 6 compatible by the end of year.
 
infabo
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Re: hAP AC2 successor (WiFi 6 + nBase-T ???)

Tue Jan 04, 2022 10:36 am

We would be lucky to see stable wave2 package by the end of the year. Wifi6 is years away and a capable device is nowhere in sight. And even they would release a wifi6 device, then you have hardware that is theoretically wifi6 compatible - but have to wait another 1-2 years for support in ROS 7.
 
mada3k
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Re: hAP AC2 successor (WiFi 6 + nBase-T ???)

Tue Jan 04, 2022 1:04 pm

No thanks. I would rather see a cAP with WiFi6 and 2.5GBase-T.
 
LSan83
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Re: hAP AC2 successor (WiFi 6 + nBase-T ???)

Tue Jan 04, 2022 1:33 pm

Preferable in a semi robust tiny enclosure (like the hAP AC2)
No thanks!!! The hAP AC2 is too small for good Thermal Dissipation. I can't get both 2.4 and 5 GHz active and stable on it. I have to turn off the 2.4 Ghz on the AC2.
The hAP AC3 case is much better.
We are hoping / wondering if a hAP AC2 successor is on the roadmap, with at least:
- WiFi 6 support
- nBase-T / 2.5G / 5G RJ45 port(s)
It's not that the technology is currently unavailable or too expensive, brands like TP-Link offer WiFi 6 capable routers for < €40.
Not with 2.5G/5G RJ45 ports too at that price....
Would be all over this myself though I want a SFP port as well.
Been rocking my hAP AC1 setup since 2017 and need to upgrade
Better to look on RB4011/RB5009 successor for that :wink:
 
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mozerd
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Re: hAP AC2 successor (WiFi 6 + nBase-T ???)

Tue Jan 04, 2022 2:08 pm

Hopeful MikroTik have 6E in their roadmap because its revolutionary .... Why revolutionary?
The Great 6 GHz Invasion – Here Come the Wi-Fi 6E Clients!
Key Takeaway
But with all due respect to some of the Wi-Fi 6E naysayers, “you just don’t get it.” Wi-Fi 6E is not just another ho-hum technology upgrade, it’s a spectrum upgrade. As I have written in numerous blogs, Wi-Fi 6E brings us up to 1,200 MHz of new spectrum in the 6 GHz band. This, my friends, is an enormous spectrum bonanza. And guess what? This 6 GHz spectrum upgrade will pave the path for many new Wi-Fi innovations for the next 22 years. If your company is due for a Wi-Fi infrastructure upgrade, you should be thinking seriously about Wi-Fi 6E.
............
Wi-Fi 6E is entirely different when it comes to clients. One key difference of using the 6 GHz frequency band is there is no need for backward compatibility. The 6 GHz frequency band will be a “pure” 802.11ax technology band for Wi-Fi communication. Because 802.11a/b/g/n/ac radios operate only on the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz band and not the 6 GHz band, protection mechanisms aren’t needed. Therefore, the overhead caused by legacy clients will not be an issue in 6 GHz.
 
olivier2831
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Re: hAP AC2 successor (WiFi 6 + nBase-T ???)

Tue Jan 04, 2022 2:21 pm

We are hoping / wondering if a hAP AC2 successor is on the roadmap, with at least:

- WiFi 6 support
- nBase-T / 2.5G / 5G RJ45 port(s)

It's not that the technology is currently unavailable or too expensive, brands like TP-Link offer WiFi 6 capable routers for < €40.

Preferable in a semi robust tiny enclosure (like the hAP AC2) with internal WiFi antenna's + the option to add / skrew-on external atennas (for increased wifi reach)
Nbase-T/PoE switches are still very rare these days unlike WiFi6 devices.
So, I would easily give Nbase-T support up for an earlier release of a Mikrotik WiFi6 device.

And I also doubt you'll often come close to the point of saturating a Gibabit uplink with WiFi traffic given common ranges within 5GHz band.
 
olivier2831
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Re: hAP AC2 successor (WiFi 6 + nBase-T ???)

Tue Jan 04, 2022 3:03 pm

Hopeful MikroTik have 6E in their roadmap because its revolutionary .... Why revolutionary?
The Great 6 GHz Invasion – Here Come the Wi-Fi 6E Clients!
Key Takeaway
But with all due respect to some of the Wi-Fi 6E naysayers, “you just don’t get it.” Wi-Fi 6E is not just another ho-hum technology upgrade, it’s a spectrum upgrade. As I have written in numerous blogs, Wi-Fi 6E brings us up to 1,200 MHz of new spectrum in the 6 GHz band. This, my friends, is an enormous spectrum bonanza. And guess what? This 6 GHz spectrum upgrade will pave the path for many new Wi-Fi innovations for the next 22 years. If your company is due for a Wi-Fi infrastructure upgrade, you should be thinking seriously about Wi-Fi 6E.
............
Wi-Fi 6E is entirely different when it comes to clients. One key difference of using the 6 GHz frequency band is there is no need for backward compatibility. The 6 GHz frequency band will be a “pure” 802.11ax technology band for Wi-Fi communication. Because 802.11a/b/g/n/ac radios operate only on the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz band and not the 6 GHz band, protection mechanisms aren’t needed. Therefore, the overhead caused by legacy clients will not be an issue in 6 GHz.
@mozerd:
I don't have any opinion yet on WiFi 6E but if I had to say something on it, I would say that with a higher frequency, you'll get a shorter range too !
If WiFi 6E range is so short that you need one AP per room or desk, would you still use it ? I probably won't !
Alternatively, if removing legacy protocols from WiFi6E and using more sensitive radios allow for an increased range over 5GHz, then WiFi 6E would very, very interesting, no matter the cost difference with WiFi4/5 hardware.
 
holvoetn
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Re: hAP AC2 successor (WiFi 6 + nBase-T ???)

Tue Jan 04, 2022 4:05 pm

I don't have any opinion yet on WiFi 6E but if I had to say something on it, I would say that with a higher frequency, you'll get a shorter range too !
Range will be shorter due to the higher frequency and indoor usage.
Combine that with (from what I can see) lower transmission power and it's a double impact.
 
OpenFiber
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Re: hAP AC2 successor (WiFi 6 + nBase-T ???)

Thu Jan 06, 2022 12:43 am

Olivier,

We are a FttH network operator and ISP, our customers receive a fiber optic modem (DKT Comega series: https://dktcomega.com/product/juma-series/) which is basically a managed switch / media-converter and a Mikrotik hAP AC2 as router.

The major networks in our country are beginning to offer connections with a higher than 1Gbit speed for marketing purposes.
For example Delta is offering 8Gbit, but also KPN will start offering > 1 Gbit using XSPON and Ziggo is also preparing for faster connections using DOCSIS 3.1 / 4.

I'm quite sure that there's no technical need, but most customers don't know and simply see: "Delta offers 8Gbit", "OpenFiber offers 1Gbit".

And I also agree that improved WiFi is most important, the current hAP AC2 is limiting WiFi to 100 ~ 200Mbit.
We are hoping / wondering if a hAP AC2 successor is on the roadmap, with at least:

- WiFi 6 support
- nBase-T / 2.5G / 5G RJ45 port(s)

It's not that the technology is currently unavailable or too expensive, brands like TP-Link offer WiFi 6 capable routers for < €40.

Preferable in a semi robust tiny enclosure (like the hAP AC2) with internal WiFi antenna's + the option to add / skrew-on external atennas (for increased wifi reach)
Nbase-T/PoE switches are still very rare these days unlike WiFi6 devices.
So, I would easily give Nbase-T support up for an earlier release of a Mikrotik WiFi6 device.

And I also doubt you'll often come close to the point of saturating a Gibabit uplink with WiFi traffic given common ranges within 5GHz band.
 
OpenFiber
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Re: hAP AC2 successor (WiFi 6 + nBase-T ???)

Thu Jan 06, 2022 12:52 am

Hi LSan83,

We've deployed hundreds (or even thousands) Mikrotik routers (in the beginnen hAP AC, later hAP AC2), we haven't seen any thermal issue actually.
But maybe this is because most routers are often idle, because people use their internet connection primarily for browsing and streaming so only a few Mbit :-)

When they were just released, we bought some hAP AC3's for testing, but it's technically almost a hAP AC2 in a bigger package / housing with a significant higher price level and external fragile antenna's. WiFi performance was a little better than hAP AC2, but not worth the price difference, besides the fact that multiple users of our pilot group broke one or more antenna's.

I've to admit that our tests were is the RouterOS 6 time, not tested with RouterOS 7 and the new / alternative Wave2 Package.
Preferable in a semi robust tiny enclosure (like the hAP AC2)
No thanks!!! The hAP AC2 is too small for good Thermal Dissipation. I can't get both 2.4 and 5 GHz active and stable on it. I have to turn off the 2.4 Ghz on the AC2.
The hAP AC3 case is much better.
We are hoping / wondering if a hAP AC2 successor is on the roadmap, with at least:
- WiFi 6 support
- nBase-T / 2.5G / 5G RJ45 port(s)
It's not that the technology is currently unavailable or too expensive, brands like TP-Link offer WiFi 6 capable routers for < €40.
Not with 2.5G/5G RJ45 ports too at that price....
Would be all over this myself though I want a SFP port as well.
Been rocking my hAP AC1 setup since 2017 and need to upgrade
Better to look on RB4011/RB5009 successor for that :wink:
 
olivier2831
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Re: hAP AC2 successor (WiFi 6 + nBase-T ???)

Thu Jan 06, 2022 11:03 am

I'm quite sure that there's no technical need, but most customers don't know and simply see: "Delta offers 8Gbit", "OpenFiber offers 1Gbit".
Someone selling 10G/s shared among 100 users may even get more success than an other one sharing 1G/s among 5 !

That's the reason why I would favor WiFi6 over 2.5Gb/s, if I had to choose: end users mostly see WiFi "peek rates" and can't directly see wired uplink speeds.

While reading this topic, I thought that 2.5Gb/s would be interesting if coupled with daisy chaining features: you power one AP and this AP powers a second one.
I'm not sure I would prefer to have this daisy chaining capability integrated into an AP or "outsourced" to an external 3 ports 2.5 Gb/s, PoE switch (1 PoE-IN, 2-PoE out).


On another matter, I see in hospitality a need for integrated GPON/WiFi devices.
In this market, I would rate the WiFi speed as the most important end user satisfaction point (but end users are not direct buyers).
I would be very interested to see Mikrotik OLTs/ONTs as I would expect them to the most versatile to manage.
 
Valerio5000
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Re: hAP AC2 successor (WiFi 6 + nBase-T ???)

Sun Jan 09, 2022 1:29 am

I totally agree with the author.

Hap AC2 is perfect as a case and I don't have heat dissipation problems either.

HAP AC2 v2 if I can tell Mikrotik:

identical case with frontally the LEDs with the possibility of being seen both frontally and from above.

Addition of 4 LEDs two for the two WLAN interfaces and 1 for USR LED which in the current HAP AC2 is behind unnecessarily. Even the Led Power I don't understand how you could have conceived a wifi rotuer without activity LED for the WLAN interfaces!

Connector for external antennas would be perfect, I don't mean essential but a must

For the rest please Mikrotik do not abandon the small form factor, HAP AC3 is great and several times I have provided it in professional studios, but even the small form factors like AC2 are perfect do not abandon them!

A switch like the 250GS with the same AC2 form factor would also be great. !
 
OpenFiber
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Re: hAP AC2 successor (WiFi 6 + nBase-T ???)

Fri Aug 05, 2022 1:30 pm

I think our device is released (hAP AX2), having almost all features:
- WiFi6
- WPA3
- Wave2
- Better cooling

Only 'missing' nBase-T (2.5 / 5G).

See:
viewtopic.php?t=188139

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