WiFi 6 2x2 or WiFi 5 4x4?

[Dimitris Krekoukias]

Hi all,

I have a mix of WiFi 5 and WiFi 6 devices.

Is it better to have a WiFi 5 4x4 AP or a WiFi 6 2x2? (Those are my only two options).

I could move stuff like a smart TV and IoT devices to 2.4GHz so they don’t interfere with 5GHz, that would really then leave just the one WiFi 5 device that needs high speed on 5GHz, the rest would all be WiFi 6.

1000 square feet/100 sq m. I saw 4x4 in general should be able to go further distance wise? Is that right?

Same vendor (Nokia), they’re the choices from my ISP (I get fibre and they have a fibre port in them).

WiFi 5: Nokia G-240W-C
WiFi 6: Nokia G-2426G-A and Nokia XS-2426G-A

I have a 300 down/100 up package. I currently have the first router (WiFi 5) and it does work OK, just won’t share efficiently between devices (no SQM or similar QoS options).

I could just connect a nice AP to an Ethernet port of the router but that adds more clutter than I need.

 

[Tech9]

Get one of the newer Wi-Fi 6 models. If the coverage is not enough - add compatible EasyMesh extender. Most clients are 2-stream, in close proximity they will can get about 800Mbps. With Wi-Fi 5 it's about 500Mbps. You perhaps won't notice any difference, but the newer model will have longer support.

 

[L&LD]

WiFi 5 is long past outdated.

Get a quality WiFi 6 model instead.

Without knowing what specific models you're talking about, it is hard to make a call for you.

 

[Dimitris Krekoukias]

WiFi 5 is long past outdated.

Get a quality WiFi 6 model instead.

Without knowing what specific models you're talking about, it is hard to make a call for you.

Thanks. These are the exact models:

WiFi 5: Nokia G-240W-C
WiFi 6: Nokia G-2426G-A and Nokia XS-2426G-A

 

[L&LD]

Sorry, not familiar with those models at all.

The RT-AX68U would be an excellent choice to test in your environment with 1000 SqFt and your stated ISP speeds.

See the link below just how far above the RT-AX68U is over even two RT-AC86Us (the AC class 'king', not so long ago). Note that a single AX class router was almost double the throughput of the 2x RT-AC86Us in AiMesh mode).

[ 386.4 alpha Build(s) ] Testing available build(s)

There are some odd regressions being discussed on the dnsmasq-discuss list from the PiHole guy (Dominik). https://lists.thekelleys.org.uk/pipermail/dnsmasq-discuss/2021q3/015598.html https://lists.thekelleys.org.uk/pipermail/dnsmasq-discuss/2021q3/015596.html I see Merlin is testing 2.86 out...

www.snbforums.com

 

[sfx2000]

Is it better to have a WiFi 5 4x4 AP or a WiFi 6 2x2?

All things being equal - there is benefit to either approach - the 4-stream chipsets are typically higher-end, and tend to do better at a longer range (because of how mimo works).

Have to offset that against improvements to WiFi6, but there, one may not get all the benefits if the client base is mixed between WiFi 4/5/6...

WiFi 5: Nokia G-240W-C
WiFi 6: Nokia G-2426G-A and Nokia XS-2426G-A

Looking at specs - I would go with the G-2426G-A, much better on the WAN side...