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Inferior physical design of new AP6 420 vs our older APX 320

Rafael Telles

We recently moved to a new office and decided to upgrade our two APX 320s to two AP6 420s. The specs on the new APs look great in paper but once we tested them in real life the increase in performance wasn't as much as we expected. Anyways at least in performance we improved a little, however in terms of physical design it went downhill!

I really dislike the new AP6s, the unit is larger and uglier, but the biggest complaint I have is with the positioning of the ETH, USB, Reset and power input on the side instead of in the back of the unit. Our APX 320s looked very nice installed in the dropped ceiling, the AP6 420 show the Cat6 cable connecting to it from the side (not a clean look), plus all the other ports/holes.

This post is meant as feedback for the design team, maybe for the next APs they will go back to a more compact unit and putting the Eth jack in the back again,



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[edited by: Erick Jan at 12:35 AM (GMT -7) on 11 Oct 2024]
  • 0 in reply to Rafael Telles

    I'm more of a programmer and statistics kind of guy than an engineer, it turns out. I also have my AP horizontally mounted, on a door, and running the cables from behind it doesn't buy me much, since they have to go under the bottom of the door (no room on top once the door closes). Weird situation, and I hope to ceiling mount it soon, but that will take more planning and experimenting due to ducting and metal-frame construction and not wanting to poke a lot of exploratory holes in the wall/ceiling. (Not a drop ceiling so exploration isn't easy.)

    I'll be most excited in a month or so when my laptop gets upgraded and has WiFi 6E and I can begin to truly survey the 6GHz band. I'm noticing that my phone jumps to 5GHz fairly quickly so I fear that 6Ghz won't go as far as I would like it to. :-(

  • 0 in reply to Rafael Telles

    The real joke is that the ceiling mounting bracket that is compatible with 420/420E and 840/840E is designed for the 840's / old layout:

    420/420E APs should at least have an option for a small plastic cover that is mounted on the plate for the cabling that helps hiding the cabling when ceiling-mounted.

      Yes, the older models had connectors on the side (AP15, AP55, AP100) too, but in those times ceiling models existed that don't had these issues. APX introduced a "one-for-all" design and AP6 is now going back to the roots without special ceiling models and with two completely different layouts. With twice the costs of the smaller model none of our customers would choose the 840s just for a better look.

    Regards,

    Kevin

    Sophos CE/CA (XG, UTM, Central Endpoint)
    Gold Partner

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