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EnGenius Now Shipping Its 4x4 Wi-Fi 6 AP for SMBs

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Julio Urquidi

News Editor
engenius-ews377ap.jpg
As a follow-up to its 2x2 EWS357AP, EnGenius’ new low-profile 4x4 EWS377AP Wi-Fi 6 access point is built for small and medium-sized businesses.

It sports Qualcomm’s 2.0 GHz quad-core ARM Cortex A53s processor and a 4x4 antenna design, helping non-enterprise customers cross over to the 802.11ax standard. The EWS377AP delivers maximum link rates of 1,148 Mbps at 2.4 GHz and 2,400 Mbps at 5 GHz and uses WPA3 and WPA2-EAS security. Power options for the EWS377AP include 12V DC (adapter not included) and PoE via a built-in RJ-45 port.

Available now, the EnGenius EWS377AP is priced at $339 MSRP.
 
Samsung S10 is about it for now.
Not that it matters. OFDMA isn't working in any of the routers you can buy and probably won't be for awhile.
 
Where are the Wi-Fi 6 devices that this thing will connect with?
You can upgrade your laptop (or desktop) with a Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 network adapter, that offers 802.11ax on both 2.4 and 5 GHz (2x2 MIMO, 160 MHz). It's available in most countries for about €15-€20.
 
The EWS377AP seems to be the "cheapest" (280$) 802.11ax (sub enterprise?) access point with PoE+ which promises upload MU-MIMO aswell. It would be great if you could test it some day within this year perhaps with some Intel AX200 cards in laptops. I really want to see whether OFDMA works as advertised. Also MU-MIMO tests would be great.
 
The EWS377AP seems to be the "cheapest" (280$) 802.11ax (sub enterprise?) access point with PoE+ which promises upload MU-MIMO aswell. It would be great if you could test it some day within this year perhaps with some Intel AX200 cards in laptops. I really want to see whether OFDMA works as advertised. Also MU-MIMO tests would be great.
I have run initial tests on the 2x2 version of this AP. OFDMA definitely does not work. Trigger frames are being sent, but they make no sense.

I have not looked at MU-MIMO. But, according to my sources, if it works, it is likely only the AC version of MU-MIMO. Downlink AX MU-MIMO is likely not enabled and uplink AX MU-MIMO is not supported by any of the current generation AX chipsets.
 
Wow, that would actually be sad. Engenius promises a lot within the datasheet:

• Uplink & downlink of OFDMA for more efficient channel use
• 1024 QAM for 25% increase in throughput
• BSS Coloring for tagging packets with “color” to differentiate data
• Spatial reuse for simultaneous tranmissions on same channel
• Uplink & downlink of MU-MIMO for optimal signal & reception reliability

So some only exists on paper, disappointing.
 
EnGenius is not alone in not delivering what's in the spec sheet. None of the consumer AX routers currently have OFDMA or downlink AX MU-MIMO enabled.

About the only AX thing being supported is the higher link rates, with AX devices.
 
What abut naming ans shaming those vendors? Publish a list with access points with promised and broken features in order to make them implement the features...
That's a good idea! If they claim support, but don't deliver it, that's dishonest of them.
 
It's also illegal so I hope someone has reported this behavior and the FTC is feeling froggy!
FTC actions like this are sometimes started by one company dropping a dime on another.

But when everyone is playing the same game (and they are), no one is going to break rank.
 
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Good info, thanks. As always seems to be the case, early versions don't support the features that make the new tech appealing. Probably have to wait at least a year for fully-functional 802.11ax in a ceiling-mount form factor.
 
So, according to the FCC images, the EWS377AP uses the Qualcomm IPQ8072 chipset. Does this chipset even support Uplink OFDMA? There´s no information on the chipset´s homepage...
 
So, according to the FCC images, the EWS377AP uses the Qualcomm IPQ8072 chipset. Does this chipset even support Uplink OFDMA? There´s no information on the chipset´s homepage...
The information I have says that when OFDMA is supported, both up and downlink will be supported.
 
Looking at the product page of the EWS377AP there is a section with "customer questions". Engenius itself answered the question. They persist to support certain features:

- Uplink OFDMA
- Using "26 subcarriers" (== 37 concurrent clients on 80 MHz)

How can we falsify those statements?
 
This I why I miss SNB reviews, which "4×4 Wi-Fi 5 AP" did you use? Those results seem too good to be true. What's going on here?
I used a ruckus R720 4x4 11ac AP for my testing the results even surprised me. I also tested against a R730 11ax AP in 4x4 mode and got similar numbers to the EWS377AP. Now for some testing with a actual Wi-Fi 6 client.
 

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