Zyxel NWA210AX AP

Hello,

I'm considering whether to purchase this AP, have a few questions, mainly for @Tech Junky who has been very helpful and owns this. Just wanted to pull this out of the the general WiFi 6 thread.

Here is a link to the manufacturer's webpage: https://www.zyxel.com/products_services/802-11ax--WiFi-6--Dual-Radio-PoE-Access-Point-NWA210AX/

So, basically the features look fairly compelling on paper:
2x2 2.4GHz and 4x4 in 5Ghz, is fine - there are routers which offer more, e.g. 3x3 + 4x4 (Asus RT-86U) or 4x4 (Netgear RAX120), but this is the cheapest of the 3 to be fair.
Perhaps the main concern would be regarding the internal antenna design.

It supports PoE which is nice, and a 2.5G Ethernet. Now, of course, the devil is in the details, so I do have a few outstanding questions:

1. I wouldn't want to use any cloud management - how much of a functionality loss is incurred by using the standalone configuration mode? (for an example concern see 2.)
2. One of the cool features of this AP is its full support for 802.11k/r/v smart roaming standard. I noticed a Zyxel rep commenting on Amazon that Mesh configuration is only available in nebula mode - what does that mean? Does this have anything to do with 802.11k/r/v support? Will k/r/v still work in standalone mode and use smart roaming functions in presence of a non-nebula APs in the network (with the same SSID)? Now, that I think about it, the AP needs to know which APs are part of the network - making any assumptions just based on SSID wouldn't be safe, so this might not work in standalone mode.
3. Can PoE be delivered through both the 1G and 2.5G Ethernet ports?
4. There are a lot of comments about 160Mhz not working. Thoughts? If 160Mhz did work, over what 160Mhz channel?
5. Does mounting orientation matter, if so - what's the preferred one?

Many thanks in advance.

 

1- Nebula is their cloud management option and it's not required. Stand alone provides all of the same functions and doesn't require a subscription cost after the trial period. The Nebula option simply makes it a dumbed down version of managing more than 1 AP instead of having to login to each one to make changes it would allow for pushing the same change out to the registered devices at one push of the button.

I would either make the changes on 1 and them copy the command line changes into the others or login to the GUI and make the changes for each one. Since ultimately you're going to only use 2-3 of these for your space it's not that time consuming compared to if you were managing several sites / AP's as you would in an enterprise setup.

2. roaming isn't a special thing when it comes to switching from one "cell" to another as long as the channels are staggered you'll automatically connect to the stronger signal once you hit the threshold to switch. https://www.teldat.com/blog/en/roaming-802-11-k-v-r-wi-fi/ From my client devices only one of them is k/v compliant / advertising and that's the laptop with a AX210 card in it.

3. POE only works on the 2.5 port

4. 160mhz ... I'm kind of town on this since I can't get a full speed out of it at the moment due to DFS locking out channels and the complication of the QOS restriction at 1gbps that we have discussed. While initially I had some issues configuring 160mhz it's been more stable by selecting a static channel and coupling with the AX210 vs AX200 card.

Also, since some AP/router OEM's have discussed the potential for 6E / 6ghz firmware upgrades I proved Zyxel for this option and the chip they used won't be compatible with this upgrade process. Considering that 6E AP/router's coming out soon are anywhere between $600-$1000 the NWA210AX is a good middle ground until prices come down.

5. it's mostly preference and since there's not a orientation setting in the OS it's not going to change much on how the signals are pushed from the AP. Ceiling / Tabletop would produce the same results IMO and wall mounting would put the radios/antennae on their Axis which could produce less signal penetration towards the bottom side of the AP since the horizontal plane if the preferred mounting in most use cases.

I have mine sitting on a shelf in my entertainment setup in the living room since I didn't feel like mounting it and running cabling through the wall/ceiling.


MESH is a MARKETING term for you're not smart enough to setup your AP's on different channels and we'll setup the channels for you
//OR//
There's a backhaul band between the nodes to make it appear seamless yet slower due to the 50% drop per segment in speeds due to needing to wirelessly send data back through each hop to the main AP/router/node

on 2.4ghhz you would set things up using a honey comb of 1/6/11 so they don't overlap. On 5ghz you would simply do the same but aim for high / low channels but also depends on if you're using 20/40/80/160mhz spectrum as the overlap changes by the width.
https://commotionwireless.net/docs/cck/networking/guidelines-for-mesh/
https://dongknows.com/mesh-wi-fi-system-explained/

Some instances you'll see recommendations to pick 1 channel and spread it across all WIFI devices and this is more likely the k/v argument vs setting up offset channels in the honeycomb configuration to produce a hand off from one AP to the next due to signal strength w/o losing bandwidth due to a mesh "backhaul" / bridging situation as discussed.

So, below is the "current" 5ghz channel spectrum for which setting up a "mesh" / roaming would be optimal.

I opted to go 160mhz and select a manual channel of 40 - when in this setting the AP is using;

So, even though I went "160" and selected "40" since it won't "auto" a channel in this iteration of software on 160 but will in the lower 20/40/80 options. Based on a phone wifi analyzer app the cleanest channel was 40 and it seems to be the most stable in my environment. I played around with other options and settled on this due to less fluctuations in the signal broadcast / less needed scans for quality.



^^ this is the honeycomb approach on 2.4ghz