Wifi 5 vs Wifi 7

[ITGuyInTraining]

Hello!

We use out of support Wifi 5 APs (eg MR32s, MR44) and I was wondering if we would notice a big change when upgrading to whatever the latest version of the APs are?  

Any help appreciated!

[Inderdeep]

Its not there yet but soon you will see the support for Wifi7 on Cisco APs. Technical doc is here 

https://documentation.meraki.com/MR/Wi-Fi_Basics_and_Best_Practices/Wi-Fi_7_(802.11be)_Technical_Gui... 

[Mloraditch]

This heavily depends on your endpoints being compatible with newer speeds. It also depends on your available lan and internet bandwidth. If you don't have a bunch of ancient equipment you will likely see some improvements. The biggest improvements of using 6 Ghz are perhaps the hardest to realize as compatible endpoints are fewer. Coming from MR32s if nothing else there are stability improvements in the overall platform.

MR44s are Wifi 6 so unless you have 6Ghz compatible clients, I wouldn't necessarily replace those yet unless you are getting a fantastic deal from your partner/account rep.

MR 32s are EOL and I would recommend replacing. Meraki is selling their WiFi 7 aps for the same pricing as their 6e options so I do generally recommend getting them, but be careful to understand the power requirements and what does and doesn't work if you don't yet have switching with the full PoE requirements necessary. The new 9172s just announced may be good for you: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/wireless/catalyst-9100ax-access-points/wireless-91...

[KathleenJ]

It really depends on what kind of clients you have. If your clients have devices that support WiFi7 then upgrading to APs that support this would not be a bad thing. I would suggest contacting your reseller and asking them about demoing one of the new wifi7 access points so that you can have a fair comparison to your existing APs. One thing to keep in mind there will probably be a higher power draw but this is why getting trial equipment is a good thing. Here is the data sheet for Meraki APs so you can compare features.