Whereas getting good WiFi connections indoors was once a challenge. From now on, the focus is on external performance, particularly for those in the hospitality arena, for example.
The caveats about putting this kind of equipment outdoors are that it needs to be protected from rain, snow, and wind, but it also needs to be powered and have a data connection to internal network services.
EnGenius has an enviable track record of achievement in providing a MESH compliant internal wireless infrastructure. With its new EWS850AP, the company seeks to reiterate this success for those who need an external wireless network.
Award
The cost of EnGenius products reflects that it is developed for business users rather than family consumers, although certain family users may be interested in this particular device.
In the most extensive scheme of what EnGenius offers, the EWS850AP is the only WiFi Class XNUMX access point that they manufacture today for external use, although they have an extensive range of WiFi XNUMX access points and PtP/PtMP bridges.
Directly from EnGenius online, the EWS850AP costs €343.57, although we found it on Amazon.com for €XNUMX.
Availability in the UK and Europe is not strong, and outlets selling this material often import it from the US and charge extra for the high cost of transport. Therefore, finding it for less than €370 in Europe can be difficult.
Hopefully these distribution issues will be alleviated at some point, making this router cheaper for those interested.
Design and functionality
EnGenius designers like simple shapes, as the EWS850AP is externally just a beveled box with an entry point at the bottom for the patch cord and 4 threaded connectors for each of the 20cm long antennas. .
This unit can be mounted directly to a wall or metal stud, and all the hardware needed to accomplish this is provided in the box.
A metal mounting plate is used in both scenarios, and this can be either screwed to a wall or with two metal straps attached to a vertical post. The plate has four protruding bolts that fit into corresponding tabs on the access point, and a single screw prevents the two from coming apart.
EnGenius has excellent documentation for this product, but the less detailed section on installation is a bit missing.
For this to work, an Ethernet cable, which carries power and data, must be inserted through a waterproof grommet underneath.
We ran into some hiccups with this which we'll get to later, but it wasn't as easy to connect this device as it initially seemed, and there are some hiccups with the mechanics of the connection.
But, the critical part of this product is how it connects with the rest of the world and how it works too.
The Ethernet LAN port is 2,5GbE PoE, allowing you to transmit data and power simultaneously over a single LAN cable. This is good for those who want the best performance and a 2,5GbE switch. Unfortunately, the included EnGenius EPA5006GR PoE injector is only a gigabit-spec device, compromising this option.
EnGenius makes a 2,5GbE PoE injector, the EPA5006HAT, which costs an additional €59,99.
However, we cannot confirm that it will work with the EWS850AP. Considering the relatively high cost of this hardware, the lack of a 2,5GbE PoE injector is disappointing.
The great thing about this hardware is that it's made to survive the elements, and any decent DIYer should be able to mount it to a wall or post in no time. And, with the use of PoE (Power over Ethernet), a single cable installation is superior to any option that involves distributing electricity outside of a building.
What's a bit of a disappointment is that this is just a 2x2 WiFi setup, meaning it only supports two channels on each frequency with all four antennas.
Used
The instructions tell the buyer to "Connect one end of the Ethernet cable to the LAN (PoE) port of the access point and the other end to the PoE port of the PoE adapter."
This is what you need to do, but the details of this process are not covered further in the documentation.
To access the Ethernet port, you must remove the threaded plastic barrel and remove a rubber grommet designed to seal the cable against water ingress.
What is not documented is that the grommet splits into two parts, allowing it to be sealed once the end of the RJ45 cable is passed through and connected to the port inside the threaded barrel.
We finally figured out how it should all go together, but a step-by-step guide to this part would be helpful to many.
But what is also not documented is how limited the space is beyond the eyelet. If you terminate the Ethernet cables, that won't be a problem. But if you use pre-made cables that come with some kind of jacket, like we did at the beginning, you can't screw the barrel cap on and thereby waterproof the unit.
If you want to replace the cable at some point, you must have a long screwdriver handy to unlock the receptacle block, as it is impossible to stick a finger into it.
Another area not covered in the documentation is device grounding. This is critical as it could be hit by a lightning storm. A grounding strap is included, but no advice is given on how this could be implemented and the best policy to follow towards them. As the cable is only about 1,6m long, this also means that the access point will not be too far from the ground or other grounding material. More information would still have been useful.
Once the installation hurdles are cleared, setting up the access point through its web interface is remarkably straightforward, and just like other EnGenius routers we've seen before.
While experimenting with the hardware, we spent some time on the web interface and found it to be nearly identical to the indoor EWS377AP we tested earlier.
It has the same business-friendly security features, the ability to configure up to eight SSIDs, and more. The only changes we noticed were that the EWS850AP v1 has much more available memory than the previous design, and controls to adjust the signal strength at the outdoor access point.
Any IT specialist who has worked with previous EnGenius equipment should have no problem with this design as it is compatible with other EnGenius hardware access points.
Performance
For a 6x2 WiFi 2 access point, the performance of the EWS850AP is excellent. And easily one of the fastest we've tested. But, with only two transmit antennas and two receive antennas, the bar is pretty low, especially compared to some 4x2 rigs.
Or rather, we should say that performance between individual AX-class adapters is good. It's just that the total bandwidth available to be distributed among the connecting devices is limited and therefore its performance would be low if the number of concurrent users were high.
How high ? It is a question impossible to answer precisely in a general way. Any random grouping of connected devices with different capabilities is likely to make the situation less likely to frustrate those connecting, or considerably worse. And, as these devices moved, the situation would be dynamic.
What we can theorize is that if this hardware is used in MESH mode and transmits a return channel from other access points, it could experience issues with fewer users due to a lack of available bandwidth to communicate with client devices.
Curious why EnGenius didn't give this unit the same capability as their excellent indoor access points, and we suspect an improved version of the EWS850AP is likely to emerge at some point to address these limitations.
We should also mention that while the access point can be connected via 2,5GbE, there is not enough wireless bandwidth on the unit to fully utilize that connection. Therefore, it may not provide a significant improvement over Gigabit PoE under certain circumstances.
Final verdict
Obviously, EnGenius listens to reviews and customers alike and has included many critical parts to make this device work right out of the box as a PoE injector.
While we won't entirely forgive them for bundling a 1Gb PoE injector with a 2,5GbE access point, it's still an improvement over other products that ship without an injector on the all.
We finally understood why the injector is not what we expected. The EPA5006GR has a special function that allows it to send a reset signal to the access point.
Due to the waterproofness, there is no reset button on the unit, so it is necessary if you ever want to restore the router to factory settings (such as if you forgot the password).
The documentation only says to use the EPA5006GR to power the unit, so until EnGenius offers a 2,5GbE version with the ability to reset, this product cannot be used in its best performing network mode.
Other than that, what the EnGenius EWS850AP represents is a relatively easy-to-deploy and manage solution that offers good performance at an excellent range.
However, considering its cost, it has modest channel selection and the lack of a 160Hz rear channel is a bit of a let down. With 4 antennas available, we expected to receive from all four, not just 2.
The use of WiFi 6 technology that limits the total bandwidth to 1750 Mbps, and in WiFi 5 and 4 reduces this value to only 1157 Mbps.
The extent of the inconvenience for the buyer is going to depend on how many external connections it expects to accept simultaneously.