6

I am looking for an enterprise-grade access point for our company and looking through some information came up to the conclusion that I'll need at least a dual or even tri-band wireless access point (for about 30+ laptops) because of the way they transmit data; I am not too well informed on that but as far as I know a dual-band AP will, supposedly, send or receive data from two different devices at the same time. I learned this on this video.

But looking through Cisco's product pages I can only see APs that operate with a feature called 2x2 MIMO, 4x4 MIMO, etc., and by doing some research I've found out it means that, e.g. a 4x4 MIMO AP has 4 tr and 4 tx physically separated antennas. But the articles I've read don't say anything about its efficiency with several devices. The question is: is a 4x4 MIMO AP equivalent to a 4-band AP? Or can I have a 4x4 MIMO but single-banded device? Which configuration will be the best for this kind of wireless network load (30+ devices)?

Improve this question

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
6

No, they're completely different things.

MIMO refers to the ability to split a single data stream over multiple, adjacent communication channels and requires more than one antenna. MIMO can, in theory, be used to improve both the bandwidth and the directionality of WiFi signals. In practice, implementations available today just seem to increase the bandwidth.

Dual-band refers to the ability to operate two distinct communication channels, even on different frequency bands, at the same time. A dual band router can transmit two completely different signals at the same time and operates somewhat like two routers connected by a bridge.

Improve this answer
0
0

30+ devices is nothing. If you were talking about covering a few floors, with at least 5-6 offices on each floor, I'd say you need something bigger.

But you are not considering a great manufacturer who does amazing quality enterprise-level stuff - Ubiquity. Check out their latest AC wireless APs - one of those and your office's network connection needs are fulfilled.

I've used Ubiquity products in various places - including a high school where we, after fighting to fix a bad wireless network for months (without any new hardware), finally received 3 of their latest routers. The routers kicked in in no time, setup was a breeze, and since, they work without a hitch, serving about 300-350 wireless clients.

Improve this answer
3
  • Thank you for the information, I was after some more in-depth references but I'll have a look at their products, I have to check if they're available in my country first. Thank you.
    – arielnmz
    Dec 24, 2014 at 19:32
  • 1
    Yeah. A larger number of cheaper access points will likely be cheaper and better. I will just caution that while I've had great luck with the UAP-PRO and UAP-LR devices, Ubiquiti's AC stuff is not quite ready for prime time, IMO. If you don't absolutely need AC, they're great. Otherwise, look at their competitors.
    – David Schwartz
    Dec 24, 2014 at 20:16
  • True, the AC part can be wonky at times, but I disagree with the more-of-the-cheaper approach. In my experience, the cheaper models do not work as consistently when they have to supply one united wireless network (instead of their own access points). Ubiquity's firmware, on the other hand, handles wireless roaming almost perfectly, but definitely seamlessly.
    – fonix232
    Dec 24, 2014 at 22:15

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .