The IT Nerd

The planet has really started to embrace WiFi 7. And companies are trying to get products out there that fill that need. EnGenius is no different as they have released the ECW516L which rolls up with the following WiFi specs:

• 6 GHz: 3×3 BE with up to 8,700 Mbps (20/40/80/160/320MHz)
• 5 GHz: 3×3 BE with up to 4,300 Mbps (20/40/80/160MHz)
• 2.4 Ghz: 2×2 BE with up to 700 Mbps (20/40MHz)

In terms of looks, it doesn’t look any different than any other EnGenius WiFi access point that I have reviewed. Though I will note that it does seem to be a bit thinner than I am used to.

Being a PoE product, there’s no power adapter in the box. And the Ethernet port that is included is a 2.5GB PoE+ port. That’s way less than the speed on the WiFi side of things which makes the inclusion of a port that runs at this speed a bit of a head scratcher. I would argue that this access point is a lower priced alternative to some other access points that are way more expensive than this. And if you really need lots of speed from your backbone to the access point to the client, EnGenius has the EnGenius Wifi 7 2x2x2 ECW526 Access Point for you to buy instead as that has a 10GB PoE+ port. And that’s a bit faster as well on the WiFi side of things.

As is typical for EnGenius products, it’s trivially easy to set up and manage via the web based portal or via their app which is on Android and iOS. And neither option requires a subscription. But let’s get to the speed testing as that is the only thing that really matters. In my case, I don’t have a WiFi 7 device handy to do some tests, but I do have an M2 Pro Mac mini that has WiFi 6E which support the 6GHz band and I got the following results:

• 1 Meter from the access point: 1.01 Gbps per second
• 5 Meters from the access point: 912 Mbps per second
• 10 Meters from the access point: 763 Mbps per second

In short, this access point with the Mac mini is still capable of maxing out my 1 Gbps symmetrical Internet connection under the right conditions. Thus I would recommend this access point to “prosumer” home users or a small business given what I am seeing here. And the price that EnGenius is selling it for reinforces that. You can get it directly from them for $199 USD. If you’re building out your home network or you’re a small business that wants to have WiFi 7 at a lower price, this access point is totally worth your time to look at.

This entry was posted on February 17, 2025 at 8:34 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.