2x2 ax vs 4x4 ac

[Paradise]

I see people buying 2x2 ax devices.

Is there something i overlook? Why would somebody pick a more expensive 2x2 ax instead of a cheaper 3x3 or 4x4 ac router/AP?
Especially since there are not many WiFi 6 clients...

 

[Zetto]

in my case, ax 2x2 is cheaper than even some n routers lol. Not everyone lives in the US to enjoy low hardware prices also, not everyone has the need for 3x3 or 4x4 routers.

 

[thiggins]

I see people buying 2x2 ax devices.

Is there something i overlook? Why would somebody pick a more expensive 2x2 ax instead of a cheaper 3x3 or 4x4 ac router/AP?
Especially since there are not many WiFi 6 clients...

Because some people want the latest thing, but still don't want to pay $300+ for a four stream AX router.

 

[ulaganath]

I always get this debate on wondering on the ax router say RAX120 have only dual band but can it support both ax and ac on 160mhz ie 2x2 1733 or 4x4 ac/ax the max 2400 or 1733 Mbps at same time

so one get best bandwidth on both ax and ac simultaneously

 

[ulaganath]

Wondering on when commercial router will have 2.5gb on all ports

 

[thiggins]

Wondering on when commercial router will have 2.5gb on all ports

When 2.5g switch chip prices approach 1g. We're nowhere near that yet.

8 port 2.5GbE switch: $165
8 port 1GbE switch: $18

 

[ulaganath]

its not in mass production as demand is yet to rise when the need of nas or isp hit that ball park. Not even 200Mbps internet is common. 1gbs is very rare

2gbps is just started. with price of 100 to 200 in most places.

 

[Krisbi]

Well, 4x4 or even 8x8 is useful for our class rooms, lecture hall and libraries, where are lot of concurrent clients are connected simultaneously. 2.5GbE ports are not necessary.
The picture shows a comparison between Aruba AP-515, AP-535 and AP-555 access points published by Aruba Networks. Unfortunately there are no details available about the test setup. My guess is that 5.0 GHz with a 80 MHz channel is used for this.
So even on the AP-555 (2.4 GHz: 4x4:4, 5.0 GHz: 8x8:8) and 50 or 60 concurrent connected clients, a port with 1 Gbit/s would be ok:

 

[thiggins]

@Krisbi More streams on the AP primarily help improve receive signal gain. Available bandwidth is limited by 2x2 and 1x1 STAs.

Most non-consumer WiFi installations use 20 MHz 5 GHz channels; 40 MHz at the most. Otherwise frequency planning is unmanageable. Top link rate for 2 stream AC @ MCS 9 is 230 Mbps; 2 stream AX @ MCS 11 is 287 Mbps. Both are below the totals shown. So the Aruba numbers do indicate 80 MHz channels (960 Mbps max @ MCS9, 1201 Mbps @ MCS 11).

2.5 GbE is likely going to be driven by 6E deployment, which will make 160 MHz channels feasible, bumping link rate up to 2402 for two stream devices. And with 7 160 MHz 6E channels available, 160 MHz support in business environments might be more common.