MX with 802.11ax Wifi6?

[Jordan83]

when will a MX model come out with the new 802.11ax Wifi6 ?  I am holding off on any purchasing until then. 

[jdsilva]

Hi @Jordan83,

I don't work for Meraki, nor do I have any inside info that I can share with you that will answer your question, but if I look at the evidence around I suspect it will be quite some time before this happens. The MX64 is still going strong and the MX67/68 were recently released. It's my opinion that I doubt Meraki will refresh the MX67/68 hardware with a Wifi6 model so soon after they were released, and with client adoption at its current levels. My expectations are that we won't see a Wifi6 MX model until 2021 at the earliest, but more likely 2022. 

Maybe we'll get lucky and someone from the MX product team will give us more insight into this 🙂

[CptnCrnch]

Please don‘t hold your breath until that happens 😇

[BrandonS]

I would not give so much weight to it.  Unless you are planning a large purchase like hundreds or thousands of MX's and specifically need WiFi6 for something, there will always be something new around the corner.  And I agree with the other posters from my past experience it does not seem like a new wireless model is coming soon.

[BrechtSchamp]

I'm not sure I would. The MX67 and MX68 were launched last year while the MR42 (the first ac Wave 2 AP Meraki launched) had been launched back in february 2016. So it'll probably take a while before we see a Wi-Fi 6 MX. Note that I have no insight in Meraki's product roadmap, so this is just based on previous experience.

[kYutobi]

Haven't heard about any news on MX unit with 802.11ax. Meraki is usually very picky about what they release to the public from my experience. 

[Jordan83]

I just don't want to invest in an MX solution when the next best Wifi is right around the corner and they could release something any time.  

[jdsilva]

Is there something in AX that's not in AC that you require? If not then I wouldn't worry too much about it as you still have many many years of AX ahead. 

And remember, the standard isn't even ratified yet. 

[GreenMan]

While I do work for Meraki, I have no specific answer to this, at this time - but I would take a look at the kind of performance available from the likes of MX67/68, within the MX Sizing Guide - and wonder whether you could actually gain anything from the extra bandwidth that WiFi6 might offer..?   If it were me, I'd be choosing my MX and my preferred MR access point separately.  This also allows you to put the AP in the best place for coverage, leaving your MX safely in a rack or similar - plus you could deploy more than one AP, to have a fully roaming WLAN, should you need to extend your coverage.