Sign in / up

back to article Switchzilla rolls out Wi-Fi 6 kit: New access points, switch for a standard that hasn't officially arrived

Networking overlord Cisco has unveiled Wi-Fi access points and core switches supporting the latest wireless networking standard, the 802.11ax – otherwise known as Wi-Fi 6. Plenty of its competitors have already launched their own takes on the standard, including HPE's Aruba, Huawei, Netgear and TP-Link – even though the …

COMMENTS

Post your comment
House rules Send corrections
Add to 'My topics' unstar *
  1. lafnlab
    Headmaster

    Nomenclature

    I'm sure absolutely no one will confuse 5G and WiFi 6.

    6 1 Reply
    1. Phil Kingston
      Reply Icon

      Re: Nomenclature

      I've been hearing people claim their mobe is 5G for some time now, just because it has 5GHz Wi-Fi.

      3 0 Reply
  2. Hans 1

    Wifi 6, finally branding that the consumer will understand.

    7 2 Reply
    1. JeffyPoooh
      Reply Icon
      Pint

      LET N_starting_point := 6

      Hans 1 offered, "Wifi 6, finally branding that the consumer will understand."

      At least they've achieved MNP (meaningless numerical parity) with "DECT 6.0".

      3 1 Reply
  3. Jamie Jones Silver badge

    Dave

    They should have just called it "Dave".

    Anyway, as for this: 'Wi-Fi 6 promises lower latency – as low as 10 ms, versus 30ms on Wi-Fi 5"

    Huh? I average 8 or 9 ms router-ping on my "wifi 5" devices. I'm sure the 2.4Ggz devices are similar.

    3 0 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Dave

      It’s worst case latency on congested networks.

      It’s a large venue feature rather than something for most homes to allow multiple clients to communicate at once and to schedule clients time to communicate with APs to reduce congestion with high client counts.

      9 1 Reply
      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Dave

        In large venues with WIFI 5 we regularly see latency over 200ms (though mainly only for some Apple devices). 30ms average when busy is something to aim for...

        5 0 Reply
      2. Jamie Jones Silver badge
        Reply Icon
        Thumb Up

        Re: Dave

        Ahhh ok, thanks for the clarification.

        Cheers!

        3 0 Reply
  4. A.P. Veening Silver badge

    But the question remains: Does it come with the standard NSA back door?

    1 0 Reply
    1. PaulVD
      Reply Icon
      Black Helicopters

      The backdoor is not required by the standard, but is allowed in the implementation.

      9 0 Reply
  5. Jim84

    Active scanning of DFS channels?

    I think current routers scan the DFS channels between the 2.4 and 5Ghz channels when turned on and if they detect a radar signal in them then won’t rescan them until the router is switched off and on again (apparently due to a lack of a second radio and enough cou processing power).

    https://spectrum.ieee.org/telecom/wireless/why-wifi-stinksand-how-to-fix-it

    0 0 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Active scanning of DFS channels?

      This behaviour will be AP dependent.

      The lower end AP's only have client facing rados unless set as monitoring AP's, so exhibit the behaviour you note, although I believe that may also be a requirement in some regulatory zones.

      In the enterprise class AP's (i.e. anything using CleanAir - additional radios to scan for interference), they will scan channel availability based on controller settings - either manual/on-demand/scheduled.

      Some DFS channels you may want this behaviour, others, like those used for weather radar that scan regularly, you really want to avoid entirely as they will cause client problems.

      0 0 Reply
  6. sanmigueelbeer

    The Cisco 9600 (chassis, supervisor card, line card) is based around the Sup10T that was developed for the Catalyst 6K.

    Target market for this platform are for "high density 100 Gbps" (up to 24 ports x 100 Gbps per slot) with Sup1.

    0 1 Reply
  7. sanmigueelbeer

    The Cisco Catalyst (yes, the APs are called "Catalyst") 9115ax and 9117ax are based around "merchant silicone" chips. These APs are "equivalent" to an 1800-series AP and target market is aimed squarely on the "price conscious" buyers.

    Please take note the different power draw: 15.4w (eco mode), 30.0w (full power) and 32.0w (USB support).

    0 0 Reply
    1. LewisRage
      Reply Icon

      Sorry... Cisco have reused the model name Catalyst for their WAPs.

      I just find this stuff astonishing, like there aren't enough words to use to give a new thing a new name?

      I can see it now "Dave bring a Cisco Catalyst in the van with you, we need to increase capacity at site"

      "No problems Steve, I've got one to hand, see you in an hour"

      ...

      "Steve you spanner, you've brought a fucking switch/access point [delete as necessary] when I clearly meant you to bring an access point/switch [delete as appropriate]"

      3 0 Reply
  8. sanmigueelbeer

    Cisco Catalyst 9120ax

    0 0 Reply

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

Forgotten password ?

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like