does the the meraki go access point support 802.11 AX?

[speakerfritz]

does the the meraki go access point support 802.11 AX?

if you want to read thru the whole story, here its is......

We have 2 pre-pandemic bought new laptops which probably were on the shelf at least a year before we bought them so figure at least 3 years old maybe 4.  low cost $400 model s but have intel chipsets and can run windows 11.

But, as of late (last 90 days or so) some updates have crippled the internet use.   dont think its speed per say but probably excessive OS related back ground tasks.

The laptops are 5G capable but probably at legacy 56mb speeds.

so time to buy new laptops.

Was planning MSI GF63 for my wife and GF66 for me.  I am retired military and there is a local cost guard store that sells these and I would save the taxes.

BUT, was googling for problems with these models and it turns out the GF63 has a problematic internet connection no one knew why.  it works ok on some routers and not ok on others.   suspected wireless chipset compatibility. or incompatibility.

SO, this will not be easy.

I decided to start with what I could find out about the meraki go wireless access points and go from there.

the access points support 802.11 AC WAVE 2.   WAVE 2, what is that.  google says its a new standard that can support 300mb+  interesting.  

so I decided to investigate chipsets that were certified with wave 2 .

1. Broadcom BCM94709R4366AC
2. Marvell Avastar 88W8964
3. MediaTek MT7615 AP Reference Design and MT6632 STA Reference Design
4. Qualcomm IPQ8065 802.11ac 4-stream Dual-band, Dual-concurrent Router
5. Quantenna QSR1000 4×4 802.11ac Wave 2 Chipset Family

checked to see if the MSI GF63 has any of these chipsets....phooey...it has a 

Intel 9560 Jefferson Peak (2x2 802.11 ac) chipset so the MSI GF 63 is not compatible.  this explains the problem people are having.

so I decided to check the MSI GF 66, no chipset info, but it says...802.11 ax Wi-Fi 6 .   ok, another standard  802.11 AX, what is that...its a new standard that supports 10+GB.

so now...does the the meraki go access point support 802.11 AX?

[speakerfritz]

found this list of wave 2 compatible laptops....humm...the models are 7 years old and no longer sold.

Exhibit 9 802.11ac Wave 2 Client Devices
Brand Model Comments
Acer Aspire E 14, E15, R13, V13, V Nitro,
Predator
Notebook PCs
Asus Zenfone 2 (2 variants) Smartphones
Asus Transformer TP200SA Flip book 2-in-1 PC
Compex WLE 1200V2-22 and WLE 1200V5-22 Mini PCIe adapters.
Dell DW1820, Alienware 13, 15, 17 Notebook PC
Fujitsu Arrows NX F-04G Smartphone
Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 Motherboard
HTC One M8 Smartphone
LeTV LeMAX, LePro1 Smartphones
LGE / Google Nexus 5X Smartphone
Microsoft / Nokia Lumia 950XL, Lumia 950 Smartphones
MSI GT72, GT80 Gaming laptop PCs
MSI X99A Godlike Gaming motherboard
Oppo / OnePlus OnePlus 2 Smartphone
Rivet Networks Killer Wireless AC-1535 Wi-Fi adapter for notebook PCs
Samsung Galaxy S5, Galaxy S6 Smartphone (MU-MIMO not enabled?)
Samsung NT500R5H-K28L Notebook PC
Sharp Aquos Zeta, Aquos Pad, Aquos Serie,
Aquos XX
Smartphones
TCL Evoque (Aurora) Smartphone
Xiaomi Mi Note Pro (7 variants) Notebook PCs
Xiaomi Mi 4i (9 variants), Mi 4C Smartphones
ZTE Nubia Z9 (7 variants), Axon (2 variants) Smartphones

[speakerfritz]

just found the "meraki 802.11 AX wireless access points device list".   a half dozen or so Meraki MX access points are list.  No meraki go access points are listed.

phooey.

so it appears the meraki go access points are using a 7 year of 802.11 WAVE 2 standard and not the latest 802.11 AX standard that the meraki MX lines uses.

someone jump in and tell me I am wrong.

[speakerfritz]

phooey...not liking what I am learning today.

it looks like I will need to create an additional high speed wifi network for my wifes laptop using my old netgear night hawk router  (connect to the meraki go switch) since the netgear night hawk router  wifi supported almost a GB wifi  and my laptops were connecting at 300mb+ consistently.   

• AC1900 WiFi†
- Band 1: 600Mbps @2.4GHz + 256-QAM
support
- Band 2: 1300Mbps @5ghz 11ac

maybe the next hardware version of the meraki go access points will support  the 802.11 AX  standard.

[speakerfritz · Accepted solution]

update

if I go into "wireless network name"  > advance settings > radio settings and select "dual band operation with band steering" my 802.11 ac devices connect at 433mbits speed in stead of 6mbits to 54mbits speed if I leave the default radio setting of "dual band operation (recommended)" enabled.

there is also a microsoft solution in which you go to the wifi driver properties and select 5ghz as the preferred band.  I didnt try that becuase the speed range on 5ghz is pretty wide.

so for now, it looks like my wifi 5 802.11 ac devices can connect at 433mbits if I change the default radio settings.

not sure what will happen when I put wifi 6 devies on.   

some wiki info.

802.11be	40000	TBA	2.4/5/6
802.11ax	600 to 9608	2020	2.4/5/6
2019	2.4/5
802.11ac	433 to 6933	2014	5
802.11n	72 to 600	2008	2.4/5
802.11g	6 to 54	2003	2.4
802.11a	6 to 54	1999	5
802.11b	1 to 11	1999	2.4
802.11	1 to 2	1997	2.4
*: (Wi-Fi 0, 1, 2, 3, are unbranded common usage.[2][3])

[speakerfritz]

Update

bought 2 new laptops

1 is an I7 with intel wifi 6 ax201 160mhz chip.  That one connects at wifi 5 802.11ac 866/866 mps

the other is an I5 same chip info and same connection speed.