Netgear releases new managed Wi-Fi access points for SMBs: WAX620
I've long used Netgear networking equipment in my home office. Most of it is prosumer gear, such as the NETGEAR Orbi Whole Home Tri-band Mesh WiFi 6 System (RBK852). That's great, but it's also expensive, and it's not a perfect fit for a small-medium business (SMB) network. There, you want business-grade management tools such as Netgear Insight 6. That's what you'll get with Netgear's latest Insight Managed WiFi 6 AX3600 (WAX620) Wireless Access Points.
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First, it's fast. This new dual-band access point uses Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) performance to deliver up to 40% higher communication speeds to each connected device as compared to Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac). What that means for you is its dual-band 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz data streams can handle up to eight streams of data for an aggregate throughput of up to 3.6Gbps. Individual users can expect to see speeds of up to a single Gbps. It's also, of course, backward compatible with all prior Wi-Fi generations, so even your oldest network PCs won't be left out.
To back this up with connectivity, the WAX 620 uses a Gigabit Ethernet port that can also double as an 802.3at 2.5Gbps Power over Ethernet (PoE) port.
It's also capable of handling a lot -- and I mean a lot -- of users at once. In its tech specs, Netgear claims it can deal with up to 256 total users and 75 concurrent users.
Making it even more useful the WAX620 can work hand-in-glove with other Netgear Insight Managed Access Points. This includes the Wi-Fi 5 (WAC 510, WAC 540) and Wi-Fi 6 (WAX 610, WAX610Y) models. Better still, WAX 620 enables access points to be connected using Instant Mesh. This lets you connect your network equipment without a wired connection using dedicated wireless backhaul technology.
Besides the Instant Mesh feature, the WAX620 is very flexible. You can use it as an access point (AP), bridge, repeater, or as a bridge and an AP.
For security, it comes with WPA3 128-bit to 192-bit encryption. You can also set up Virtual LANsANS (VLANs) with up to eight different SSIDs.
Netgear claims the WAX 620 is ideally suited for environments with open spaces where there is a need to provide Wi-Fi connectivity for a large number of concurrent users such as schools, community colleges, mid-sized manufacturing facilities, and warehouses.
They're right. It is well suited for most SMB uses. And, for $239.99, it won't break your business credit-card limit.