The IT Nerd

This review took way longer than it should have. That’s because I needed to find the right environment to properly test the EnGenius Wifi 7 2x2x2 ECW526 Access Point as my standard testing protocol that I’ve used in the past wouldn’t work for this WiFi 7 access point. In short, I had to call in a few favours to source WiFi 7 devices and find a network and Internet connection fast enough to really give this access point a proper test. Thus I ended up borrowing a Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 which came with WiFi 7 from a client who is going to have me deploy them to their workforce in the next 10 days or so. And I convinced a client who has a 10GB Internet connection and a 10GB backbone that I set up for them to leverage said Internet connection to let me use their set up on a Friday evening to test this access point. You’ll see why I went through all these hoops in a few minutes. Right now, let’s have a look at the access point.

The access point looks like pretty much every other EnGenius access point. But it has a metal base for starters. And it only has a single light on the front.

Here’s another area where things are different. It has a PoE port that does 10 Gigabit Ethernet. You read that correctly, 10 Gigabit Ethernet. There’s also a DC 12v plug. But if you’re using PoE, you won’t need it.

There’s also a Kensington lock slot to ensure that this access point doesn’t grow legs and walk away.

In terms of speeds, here’s what EnGenius says that this access point can handle:

• 6 GHz: 5800 Mbps 
• 5 GHz: 2900 Mbps 
• 2.4 GHz: 700 Mbps

Those are pretty amazing numbers if they are accurate. And it explains why I needed to source a WiFi 7 compatible device and a network that could handle these speeds.

I won’t bore you with the setup details as in typical EnGenius fashion, it is trivial to set up. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t have this up and running within 15 minutes or less. But what you’re here to see is if this access point lives up to the numbers that EnGenius says it should. I should say up front that I always take the claims of those who make wireless gear with a pinch of salt. But having said that, on the 6GHz band where WiFi 7 lives, I encountered some pretty impressive speeds during my testing which involved copying a 4.65 GB file from a computer that was wired to the 10GB backbone directly to the Surface Laptop 7 on WiFi 7. Here are the results:

• 1 Meter from the access point: 1.95 Gbps per second
• 5 Meters from the access point: 1.2 Gbps per second
• 10 Meters from the access point: 1.03 Gbps per second

All of this was within line of sight of the access point. Meaning that if it had to go through walls, the speeds will drop. Regardless, the worst result was slightly faster than wired Gigabit Ethernet. And if you plot out your deployment of WiFi 7 to have no WiFi 7 dead spots, you can likely do a whole lot better in terms of speed. Quite simply, this is the fastest WiFi device that I have ever tested.

Is there a downside to the EnGenius Wifi 7 2x2x2 ECW526 Access Point? None that I can think of. And the price is right at $299.00 USD a copy. And if the price for one unit isn’t enough for you to jump on this bandwagon, EnGenius has a buy 2 get 1 free deal at the moment. Which means that you can deploy WiFi 7 without breaking the bank. Thus making this access point truly a cost effective way of getting cutting edge WiFi into your environment.

This entry was posted on July 20, 2024 at 8:20 am and is filed under Products with tags EnGenius. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.