Cisco CBW150AX Access Point

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Cisco’s caller CBW150AX Wi-Fi 6 wireless entree point (opens successful caller tab) and CBW151AX mesh extender (opens successful caller tab) supply accelerated wireless connectivity connected a shoestring. It is elemental to deploy and works retired of the box. A 1.5Gbps wireless throughput volition beryllium much than capable to afloat utilize the built-in 1G Ethernet port, portion a 2x2 vigor offers capable summation to screen a 10-meter radius astatine implicit 100Mbps.

The CBW150AX tin enactment up to 25 CBW151AX mesh extenders. Accessories provided with the Access Point see a 15W 1G PoE AC. The AP firmware has features specified arsenic VLANs and a basal firewall. Monitoring the AP and its connected clients is constricted to the intranet with nary unreality option, portion the mobile app could payment from immoderate polishing, specified arsenic giving customized names to clients. 

Cisco CBW150AX: Pricing

The Cisco CBW150AX (opens successful caller tab) entree constituent volition instrumentality $125.58 disconnected your budget, portion the CBW151AX (opens successful caller tab) mesh extender volition outgo different $105.49. Both Cisco products travel with a constricted 3-year warranty. 

Cisco CBW150AX: Design

The Cisco CBW150AX entree constituent ships successful a generic brownish box. It is tiny for a Wi-Fi 6 AP, measuring 15 cm x 15 cm x 4 cm and weighing 330 g. The achromatic integrative enclosure blends perfectly connected a achromatic partition and tin beryllium mounted either horizontally oregon vertically. The accessories are a 15W 1G powerfulness injector and a mounting bracket with hardware. The entree constituent is passively cooled, drafting a maximum of 9.2W implicit the PoE port.

The CBW150AX has 1 multi-colored LED connected the beforehand and a azygous 1G Ethernet larboard astatine the back. A reset fastener besides accessible astatine the backmost with a pin allows restoring the instrumentality to its mill settings. A tiny rubber pad conceals a four-pin header that connects to a work port. A tiny slot prevents unauthorized removal of the AP erstwhile combined with a Kensington lock.

The entree constituent sports a Broadcom quad-core processor clocked astatine 1.5GHz with 1GB of DDR4 and 512MB of flash memory. Four radios arranged arsenic 2 transmitters and 2 receivers supply the hardware to utilize the 1.5Gbps Wi-Fi 6 bandwidth crossed aggregate devices efficiently. Finally, an onboard Bluetooth Low Energy vigor is included but unused.

The Cisco CBW151AX mesh adapter has akin hardware arsenic the AP. The achromatic integrative lawsuit measures 17cm x 9.2cm x 5.3cm and weighs 285g. It ships without immoderate accessories and integrates an AC adapter. The full powerfulness drawn is nether 9W, which is what the entree constituent consumes. 

Cisco CBW150AX: In use

Powering the CBW150AX requires connecting the supplied PoE injector and Ethernet cablegram to an existing LAN. The entree constituent is dilatory to footwear and tin instrumentality up to 10 minutes connected the archetypal power-up. When ready, the beforehand presumption LED goes green, and the setup continues connected the mobile app oregon a web browser.

As with astir entree points, bundle setup requires registering a username and password earlier the existent configuration tin begin. Cisco uses QR codes printed astatine the backmost to place its products. After registration, the idiosyncratic tin adhd web components by scanning the QR codification with the mobile app. Clear on-screen instructions usher the idiosyncratic done the remaining steps.

Once added, the AP and mesh extender enactment without immoderate hitch. It is recommended to update some devices’ firmware earlier utilizing them. The invited leafage provides a speedy overview of connected clients, the astir utilized SSIDs, and if impermanent accounts are successful use.

The Wi-Fi 6 AX modular allows wireless clients to seamlessly power betwixt the superior portion and extender. In practice, a trial smartphone favored the extender module much than the entree point. A thorough probe showed that Optimized Roaming is disconnected by default, and enabling the diagnostic solved the issue.

The scope of the entree constituent increases with the usage of mesh extender modules. Radio channels reserved for the information backhaul disagree from what clients volition use, frankincense preserving lawsuit bandwidth without degrading throughput. The AP contains bundle to benchmark the wireless link, which tin assistance troubleshoot and optimize the network.

Cisco CBW150AX: The competition

There are plentifulness of options erstwhile it comes to Wi-Fi 6 entree points. The main differentiators are the mobile app and method support, portion the hardware is mostly the aforesaid astatine this terms point.

For conscionable nether $100, the TP-link EAP610 is 1 of the cheapest Wi-Fi 6 entree points available, and with an advertised throughput of 1800Mbps, it is simply a decent investment. But hidden beneath these fantabulous specifications are drawbacks that volition marque the EAP610 much costly successful the agelong tally compared to the CBW150AX.

The EAP610 consumes astir 5W much than the CBW150AX, which mightiness look negligible but volition outgo with the AP moving 24/7. Lastly, the EAP610 requires further hardware to enactment a mesh configuration successful summation to the extender module.

Cisco CBW150AX: Final verdict

The Cisco CBW150AX Wi-Fi 6 entree constituent is simply a accelerated and easy-to-use Wi-Fi. It comes with each bells and whistles that 1 tin expect successful a modern AP, specified arsenic further scope with mesh extenders, RF optimization, and mobile app support. With its 1GE larboard and PoE support, it volition adequately find its spot successful a tiny bureau setup. The 1.5Gb throughput is little than competitory products, but that should beryllium capable for regular usage, including streaming media connected aggregate connected devices.

What we liked astir the CBW150AX and its mesh extender, the CBW151A, were the elemental setup process and the snappy web interface. The extender module tin pb to little throughput oregon regular disconnect without due setup. The online documentation provided by Cisco is capable to resoluteness astir issues.

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