Wi-Fi 6 [EWS356-FIT] Dual Band AX3000 | Cloud & App & OnPrem Control Options | WPA3, MU-MIMO, Mesh & Seamless Roaming - Power Adapter not Included.

I had been looking for a wireless access point for some time to extend the range of my Apple Airport Extreme base station, so when my friend recommended I look into the AP that his office uses, I figured if it was good enough for a Fortune 100, it would be more than good enough for my needs. It has more than met my expectations! We primarily use Apple devices in our house, so I was worried that this device would be difficult to setup on a Mac. However, it was intuitive and easy. I followed the instructions and connected the AP to my MacBook Pro via ethernet. Then, I went through the setup screen and changed the SSID and password to what I wanted. I also setup the Band Steering feature, which lets the AP automatically assign the frequency (2.4Ghz or 5.0Ghz) that works best for your device when you log in. EnGenius did a good job of making the setup straightforward for even for a semi non-techie like me. My only stumble was when I found that clicking on "Save" did not save the edited settings. Instead, you have to click on "Changes" on the menu screen, then select "Apply". It took a little while to find this in the manual, so I hope this helps any readers in their setup. After setting up the AP, I just unplugged the ethernet cable from my laptop and connected it to the router and it was set to go. Physically, the unit was nice and small, so it was very easy to place on my ceiling. After connecting to the AP, I noticed an immediate speed and range boost. I am now finally able to connect to the internet from all over my house with no signal or speed degradation. It's a great product and I'm glad I bought it!

Setup didn’t take long and was easy to do. WiFi speeds are strong and stay consistent, even with all of our devices connected. Coverage is noticeably better than it was, with no random disconnects

It's not clear from the photos...it looks like a nice, clean access point. On the Engenius website, it is shown very neatly flush-mounted on a drywall ceiling. And most of the photos show it in residential settings, but it's not actually possible to mount it in a home with typical drywall construction, using what comes in the box. One might be able to hack up the included T-Rail bracket so that it could mount flat on a surface, but then it wouldn't be anything like a flush mount and it wouldn’t be pretty. None of the photos even show the unfinished side of the AP. I have attached a photo that shows what you will see, except that it will be a full inch off of the ceiling (and crooked if one uses the unmodified included T-rail clip). You’ll have your cable coming out in full view and then presumably going up through an fully-visible hole in your ceiling. Unless you terminate the cable in place, the hole will have to be big enough to accommodate the RJ-45 plug, so it will be extra ugly. And the access point will hang down so far that you might even be able to see the cable from the far side. When did it become acceptable for the Ethernet and power connectors to be fully exposed? That's not okay for a home or for a business. IMHO, it's just stupid. It is almost as if there should be a mounting plate with a plastic cover for the ports, but apparently it doesn't exist. This is someone's bright idea of how to build an access point. Very disappointing from a company that has made so very many perfectly acceptable access points over the years. FWIW, the EAP1300 mounts just like one would expect an access point to mount. Maybe this is some other brand of access point that Engenius just slapped their brand name on, although I can’t imagine why. Oh, and it runs pretty hot too. The specs say that up to 104F ambient is acceptable, but this thing might actually melt if the ambient temperature was that high. I’m not sure what’s it’s good for. Perhaps a very cold unfinished space with a suspended ceiling…(?)

I use these access points to create mesh WiFi networks to extend coverage without having to run more wires. In this case, there was a desire to provide WiFi to the unattached garage on the north side of the house, but the router was on the opposite side of the house. Using two of these access points, the first device was connected to the router via a hardwired CAT5 connection, and it was set as the base device. The second access point was configured as a mesh node, essentially a repeater. This second node connects to the first one to get it's internet connection wirelessly from the first access point, and broadcasts the WiFi to provide service as if the router was connected to the router via hardwire. The nice thing is that you can move this second device to any place that there is a standard electrical outlet, allowing you to test placement of the device and adjust the location as needed. Note that these access points do not ship with power supplies unless you specifically order one, they normally are powered by POE, or Power Over Ethernet which is not normally available in residential applications. Setting up a mesh network using this device is not terribly difficult, but it does help to be tech savy or have a tech savy friend. Note that I reserve rating five stars for things that go above and beyond expectations, this device is a solid performer, and does exactly what the manufacturer claims it can do.

I'm no network expert, but I found this relatively easy for a noob to set up and manage locally. There is a learning curve with all things networking, so do some research. YouTube is your friend with this stuff. My only other experience is with store-bought all-in-one routers, but this device completed my home-built pfSense router/switch(s) combo. Most of the rest is 2.5 Gig, but this was all I could afford for a WAP, and honestly, all I need. I have a pedestrian job for a huge company, yet the internet at my home - both wired and WiFi - is much better. The plus is that my system is much more secure and versatile than something you buy off the shelf as a single unit. It has also been in service for about a year with no reliability issues at all.

Upgraded from WIFI5 to WIFI6 and I think it's a good time since these are on sale to make room for new WIFI7 devices. Installation was dead easy with the FitController. I was going to use these in standalone mode but I saw a returned controller sold by Amazon for just $60 so that was a no brainer. It's really plug and play. The FitController handles all of the setup for new APs connected to the network. Really good signal strength compared to that Orbi crap. I'm actually getting AX speed with my laptop whereas on the Orbi it was about the same as AC. Plus these are hardwired APs instead of that unreliable wireless mesh system and even when you hardwire the Orbi, getting it to work properly was a bit of a challenge. I don't know if it was software or hardware or both but on the Orbi, hardwire connections on satellites would just die randomly and it would take forever for that satellite to get back on network. This might even be easier to setup and deploy than Ubiquity and costing a lot less as well. Nice work, Engenius.

I initially had a TP-Link EAP670, but I was experiencing some odd issues with it, so I decided to look for a different brand as a replacement. I first chose a Netgear access point, which worked really well—until it completely failed when handling inter-VLAN connections. I have about four VLANs, and I like to connect to them through my main VLAN only. Unfortunately, Netgear doesn’t support that (while TP-Link did). That led me to this access point, and I decided to give it a try. I like that it allows for local management since I'm avoiding cloud-based solutions. Once everything was set up, it seemed to work just fine and even had better throughput than the EAP670. However, I quickly noticed a major issue—whenever I made any change, no matter how small, the access point would restart. After booting back up, it would work for about 3 minutes and 30 seconds before rebooting again. This cycle continued over and over. I eventually counted how many times it would do this before stabilizing… NINE times. It would reboot, broadcast my SSIDs, allow connections, and then restart every 3 minutes and 30 seconds—NINE times in a row. Thinking I had a defective unit, I requested a replacement from Amazon. The replacement is better so far, but it still reboots multiple times when I make a change—today, I counted four times before it finally stabilized. While this might not be an issue once all settings are finalized, I also noticed that the access point randomly restarts on its own for no apparent reason. I have Uptime Kuma tracking pings to my AP every minute, and I’ve observed unexpected reboots about once every two days. The auto-restart function is disabled, so this is happening on its own. I checked the logs, hoping for some insight, but even with "all" selected, only basic informational messages are recorded. I also configured it to send logs to a syslog server, but there’s still no useful information. At this point, I’m already concerned about this device's longevity, so I’ll likely have to return it. I really wanted to like it—Engenius seemed like a worthy underdog—but unfortunately, it has too many reliability issues for me to keep it.

I admit that for the price, I am disappointed that this did not include a charging cable, but I digress. The access point is larger than what I’ve had in the past, measuring at 8.1 inches on all sides, and includes the mounting bracket and hardware. It’s a nice white shade that easily blends into my wall space. Setup was not problematic and straightforward to walk through using the given QR code to start. My residential area has patchy service at best, and this access point is helping to achieve better coverage all over the house, so dead zones be gone. I’m really pleased that I don’t have to struggle to find just the right spot near one of the windows at a particular time of day to have service. Functionally sound and connectivity is consistent. Haven’t had any security issues regarding this device. I certainly recommend if you need a boost to unpredictable or patchy service.