802.11ax Enterprise AP with PoE

Product Discussion
#1

Hi,
is there any enterprise-level AP with PoE and 802.11ax in the pipeline? Basically a refresh of GL-AP1300? Would be great to see a Mediatek based enterprise AP from GL.inet with SFP connectors.

Sinovoip will be shipping a board using Filogic 830 soon: BananaPi R3.

Kind regards

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#2

Is PoE must?

Product are upgrading but difficult to integrate everything in one box.

#3

Hi @alzhao,
glad to hear. Yes, for my use case, PoE is a must. It’s quite common for enterprise APs to support PoE.
Also, GL-AP1300 (Cirrus) seems to still have only limited stock :frowning:

#4

Yes enterprise APs generally need PoE.

I have one question, the Enterprise APs from Ubiquiti has been cheap enough and they provide very conprehensive cloud management. What is our chance in this area?

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#5

The flagship APs like U6-LR from Ubiquity are a bluff package, since they are only equipped with an 1 Gbit/s port.

Currently, there is no product on the market for use cases, where mainline OpenWRT support is necessary. For instance, the Freifunk community in Germany builds mesh networks over whole cities using a firmware built on top of OpenWRT.
Also, there is the self-sovereign and open source cloud management system OpenWisp for APs running OpenWRT.
There is currently a market gap of Wi-Fi manufacturers providing enterprise level APs with mainline OpenWRT support for this kind of installations.
To give you some numbers: In Germany, there are >10,000 APs operated by Freifunk [source].
I’m sure both of these projects would be happy being able to finally have a manufacturer that builds for their needs.

What do you think about it, @alzhao ?

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#6

So summary, this is all what you need

  1. AX router
  2. OpenWrt support
  3. PoE
  4. 2.5G Ethernet or SFP connector

I will let product managers have a check.

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#7

Yes, exactly.

My favourable solution would be some Mediatek based solution like the Filogic 830 since Mediatek provides Linux kernel drivers by themselves.
I think since Sinovoip soon starts to shipping their development board based on Filogic 830, the efforts are maybe not too high (at least from the software perspective) for your engineers.

#8

Hi，We have plans to use the Filogic 820 to develop new 4G LTE Router products,It is possible to be based on the casing of the AP1300.I would like to know your specs you expect？Want to confirm that removing the 4G module will meet your expectations?
1)What is the wifi speed and coverage?
2)How many ether ports?Is one 2.5G ethernet port ok?

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#9

Hi Dipin,

Great to hear. Are you speaking on behalf of GL.iNet?

Yes, 4G or other WAN is not necessary for our use case.

Regarding Wi-Fi: Basically an upgraded version of AP-1300 from AC to AX

  • Either Dual Radio 802.11 b/g/n + ax (AP-1300 is 802.11 b/g/n + ac)
  • or a plus would be three radios: 802.11 b/g/n + two ax radios.
  • Software: Mainline OpenWRT support. (see AP-1300 support page)
  • Wall mount

Use cases:

  • single room indoor
  • Area of 50-100m radius outdoor
  • Yes, one 2.5G ETH is OK (it’s just an access point).

Nice-to-have:

  • SFP port to enable connecting an additional fibre.
  • Would be great if antennas are connected via connectors with the PCB and not soldered on it (I think all GL.iNet products use connectors, as far as I know)
#10

Yes,I’m the product manager of GL.iNet.We are a Filogic 820 instead of a Filogic 830, and these two chips will be different.The general Filogic 820 platform refers to the MT7981,while Filogic 830 is the MT7986.

#11

Cool! Nice to meet you.
I just checked and the differences between Filogic 830 and 820. Seems that 820 has two (compared to four) Cortex-A53. But since Wi-Fi APs usually have low to zero CPU load, this seems to be a perfectly fine choice.
But it’s great to hear that you’re already have plans! I’m really curious to get some news.
I also added other points to the requirements above:

  • Would be great if antennas are connected via connectors with the PCB and not soldered on it
  • Wall mount
#14

you too.yes, Filogic 820 is a 1.35GHz Dual-core Processor &Cortex-A53.

  • Would be great if antennas are connected via connectors with the PCB and not soldered on it
    yes,The wifi antenna is connected to the PCBA via IPEX
  • Wall mount
    We will support this.
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#15

Hi @Dipin,
I have another “nice-to-have” idea: Outdoor mounting

Would the new Access Point support this? For instance, the “Ubiquiti UniFi AP-AC Pro” is listed as outdoor mountable. I don’t think it’s water proof, but it would be nice if your product could resist to some spill water and no insects can get into it, …
What do you think about it?