CW9163E-CW indoor use of 6GHz

[SanderBoerdijk]

Hi All, I am planning of using the CW9163E outdoor access point to use indoors with external antenna's to leverage the 6GHz band. This is the only access point that supports both external antennas and 6GHz. However, in the EU it is not yet allowed to use the 6HGz outdoor. As long as this access point is in regletory domain EU and set to outdoor it will not broadcast on the 6GHz. is it possible to configure this AP for indoor use so the AP can be used as low power ap?

[PhilipDAth]

I don't know the answer.

Going sideways, at this point in time, there is poor general device compatibility with  6Ghz, as it is a mandatory requirement to use WPA3 in the 6Ghz band - and WPA3 breaks many devices.

You could try an experiment, and see if you can get WPA3 running in your environment now.  If not ... then 6Ghz might not be on the horizon for a while for you.

[cmr]

@SanderBoerdijk not at the moment, although for testing I was able to get Meraki to allow an indoor profile to be applied to one and the 6GHz worked as expected.  You might be able to also get this, I would contact support in the first instance if you already have one and your account manager if you have yet to get one.  Is it the directional patch antenna that you need to use?

[KarstenI]

Adding to what was already said, the CW9166D1 solves some of the problems when it normally requires external antennas.

[cmr]

Indeed @KarstenI, it is probably a lot cheaper as well!

[SanderBoerdijk]

Thanks for the replies. I found out it has to do with the low power and standard power settings. The EU has not yet implemented standard power regulations so only low power and very low power is allowed. One of the requirements for a low power AP the antennas needs to be non detachable in order to use the 6GHz. the 9166D is not an option in this case. The AP is going to be installed in an indoor pool area so moist air, that's why I figured to go with a rugged ap and omni external antenna. WPA3 is definitely a challenge, even more in a BYOD enviroment.

[cmr]

The CW9166D1 has an integrated patch antenna, so it should support low power in the EU.  The CW9163E would only support very low power in the EU at best for the moment.