As I finalise my review of the budget-friendly WAX214 access point, Netgear has just announced a new model which will sit at the top of their range and offer cloud management via Netgear Insight.
The new Netgear WAX620 is being launched for £219.99, making it around £50 more than the excellent WAX610, which is available on Amazon now.
For that money you basically get twice the bandwidth available with the help of a 4×4 MIMO radio on both the 5GHz and 2.4Ghz network.
There is a big caveat though, this still lacks 160Mhz so the maximum theoretical speed a client can achieve will be 1200Mbps, the same as the older WAX620.
However, that’s not necessarily bad news, 160Mhz can be problematic to run in a congested environment. While the 4×4 MIMO may not offer a huge benefit to home users, in denser commercial environments this will allow more users to connect at the same time, without suffering a loss of throughput.
The Netgear WAX620 should be available today from Netgear with other sellers soon.
Netgear WAX620 vs WAX610 Access Points
Full Press Release:
Netgear, today announced the availability of the latestInsight Managed WiFi 6 AX3600 Dual-band Multi-gig Access Point (WAX620), designed to provide the optimal WiFi experience for small and medium businesses.
This new dual-band access point brings next-generation premium WiFi 6 (802.11ax) performance to small and medium businesses (SMBs), delivering up to 40% higher communication speeds to each connected device as compared to WiFi 5 (802.11ac). WAX620 interoperates with other NETGEAR Insight Managed Access Points, including existing WiFi 5 (WAC 510, WAC 540) and WiFi 6 (WAX 610, WAX610Y) models. Additionally, WAX 620 allows access points to be connected to each other using Instant Mesh – a NETGEAR wireless backhaul technology. The new WAX 620 access point can be connected via gigabit or 2.5 Gbit (multi-gig) Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) switch ports.
WAX 620 is ideally suited for environments with open spaces where there is a need to provide WiFi connectivity for a large number of concurrent users. Schools, community colleges, mid-sized manufacturing facilities and warehouses, etc., will all find value in the capabilities of this new Insight Managed WiFi 6 Dual-band Multi-gig Access Point. This powerful access point is backward compatible with all prior generations of WiFi while offering the maximum speed when connected to the WiFi 6 enabled client devices such as the latest smart phones, tablets, and laptops.
NETGEAR Insight enables management of WAX620 and other devices from the Insight App or a connected browser. With Insight, resellers and Managed Service Providers (MSPs) can remotely set up, monitor and maintain a customer’s network without requiring a technician to go on-site.
“Due to the ever-growing number of WiFi-connected devices, SMB’s need more from their WiFi network. The performance, scalability and security features offered by the WAX620, along with the ability to manage it remotely using NETGEAR Insight, make it a compelling WiFi access point investment,” said Doug Cheung, senior product line manager of SMB Wireless at NETGEAR.
The WAX620 provides robust enterprise-grade WiFi network security with WPA3 128-bit to 192-bit encryption and the capability to set up VLANs and up to eight different SSIDs. WAX620 also provides 8-streams (4×4) with each unit capable of delivering up to 3.6 Gbps of aggregate data throughput with both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands supporting WiFi 6. With the dual-band WiFi 6 technology of the WAX620, businesses can now be confident that they are making an investment in a high-performance WiFi system.
Posted by Mighty Gadget Blog: UK Technology News and Reviews
