MR36 and MR44 in same enviroment

[jmorphew]

I am in the middle of deploying 40+ MR36 access points in an office/warehouse environment.   I need to add an additional 15 access points to cover some changes with the building layout.  The MR36 is on backorder about 2 months and they are recommending the MR44 has a replacement.  Waiting 2 months is possible, but creates a tight timeline.

Is it OK to mix the MR36 and MR44 or will that lead to connectivity issues down the road?  

[Inderdeep]

@jmorphew : You can mix both these models as they are Wi-fi 6 models (MR36 and MR44) and i dont think there will be any issue at all.

https://documentation.meraki.com/General_Administration/Firmware_Upgrades/MR_Mixed_Firmware_Networks 

[jmorphew]

Thank you for the quick reply!

[jmorphew]

Thanks for the quick help!

[Bruce · Accepted solution]

Can't see why that would be a problem. The MR36 is a Wifi 6 access point with 2x2 MIMO on both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz radios, whereas the MR44 is Wifi 6 with 2x2 MIMO on the 2.4GHz radio and 4x4 MIMO on the 5GHz radio. They're both Wifi 6, so no issues there. Only possible issue is some clients may prefer to attach to a further away MR44 as it will potentially offer great bandwidth (being 4x4), rather than a closer MR36, but that should just take some fine tuning. (The MR44 devices should be slightly better for higher density areas if you have any, and if you can position them there).

[Frank3]

Hi,

Did you have any issues with PoE power on MR44's?  It take 30W to run in full mode, otherwise it would run in low power model which turns off couple of things.  MR36 take 15W.

[CHANDRODAY]

As per my knowledge - 2x2:2 Access points can be powered on with PoE (802.3af) capable switch port. anything beyond these specs e.g. 4x4:4 (MR44 5GHz) require PoE+ (802.3at) power to function in full power mode - with all four transmit, receive antenna and spatial streams functioning as per specification.

MR44 can be powered on with PoE (802.3af) switch port but then its 5GHz specifications will be reduced to 2x2:2 instead of 4x4:4.

below is the extract from Datasheet of MR44

• Power over Ethernet: 42.5 - 57 V (802.3at) or 37 - 57 V (802.3af) - low power mode ***
• Power consumption: 30W max (802.3at) or 18W max (802.3af) - low power mode ***

MR44 | Cisco Meraki

hope this answers your question.