EnGenius FIT6 Lite Access Point Test and Review (EWS276-FIT) – MBReviews Leave a comment

A couple of 12 months in the past EnGenius made the choice to divide its entry level line, leaving the ECW sequence for enterprise-level customers, whereas the FIT line was speculated to cater to the house or on the very most, the small companies.

It appears that evidently this method paid off, and EnGenius launched a number of fashions, together with the newer FIT6 4×4 Lite, also called the EWS276-FIT which, as its identify suggests, appears to be a stripped model of the FIT6 4×4. However how lite is it really? Each entry factors are WiFi 6 and there may be assist for OFDMA, and sure, each of them provide 4×4 spatial streams on the 5GHz and the two.4GHz radios.

One notable distinction is the 5dBi antenna of the FIT6 Lite as in comparison with the 6dBi of the FIT6 mannequin, and it additionally appears that the previous doesn’t assist the mesh know-how. It’s a really curious resolution, so maybe it’s hardware-related.

Apart from that, there’s a 2.5GbE port, there may be each native and Cloud-based administration utilizing the FitController and the FitXpress which for now are fully free, so let’s first have a more in-depth have a look at the design of this machine.

The Design and Construct High quality

EnGenius has completed a positive job at differentiating its entry factors from the opposite manufacturers. Whenever you see that slim rectangular case, you already know it’s from EnGenius, form of just like the flying saucer fashion of Ubiquiti’s entry factors. And sure, the FIT6 Lite is pretty compact, having the identical dimension as FIT6 4×4, nevertheless it’s a bit smaller than the WiFi 7 ECW536.

The highest is product of plastic, whereas the underside part is metallic and it does have the identical space for including the mounting bracket or to easily use a few screws to hold the entry level to a wall. We proceed to get a sequence of LEDs which does make me pleased and we will see if the FIT6 Lite is powered, when you related an Ethernet cable and if the 2 radios are enabled.

Shifting again to the rear facet, there may be carved-in space the place you’ll find a recessed Reset button, a 2.5GbE PoE port and a 12V DC energy port. So, in contrast to Ubiquiti APs, we get the choice to not depend on PoE.

The Thermal Administration

The underside facet of the entry level is actually one large warmth sink, so sure, it does have the potential to get sizzling, however does it occur? It didn’t occur throughout my assessments, however then once more, all is ok so long as the warmth is being pushed out and away from the interior elements. And through my assessments, the machine didn’t present any indicators of throttling, in order that’s excellent news.

The EnGenius FIT6 Lite Teardown

EnGenius makes it quite simple to entry the within of their gadgets, which is all the time appreciated. So, to open up the FIT6 Lite, take away the 4 screws from the underside facet after which use a prying device to take out the plastic high piece.

Additionally, you will must take away the antennas and fortunately none had been soldered to the board and after taking out a few screws, we will lastly get entry to the entire PCB. I already went by way of the teardown course of in the dedicated video, so I’ll merely add the primary elements right here. There may be additionally a comparability desk to get a good suggestion how the ESW276-FIT compares with different entry factors.

EnGenius ECW536 vs EVW336 vs ECW220S vs ECW230S

The WiFi Options

I’ve talked about the assist for OFDMA which is able to assist cut back the latency in a crowded atmosphere and sure, MU-MIMO can be supported regardless that its affect is considerably much less spectacular. However what caught my eye is the dearth of assist for the Mesh know-how. Certain, it’s proprietary to the FIT sequence as no model needs to cope with gadgets outdoors their walled backyard, however why hasn’t EnGenius add assist to it?

I actually haven’t any clue – most likely as a result of they thought the system would get too difficult or perhaps they’re nonetheless engaged on the function, I don’t know. Lastly, I do want to say that the entry level has assist for as much as the 80MHz channel bandwidth, it doesn’t go wider than that. In a crowded atmosphere, it doesn’t want 160MHz.

The Single Consumer Checks (5GHz)

Now let’s take a look on the single-client assessments and I used one WiFi 6 laptop geared up with an Intel AX200 adapter, one WiFi 5 machine geared up with an Intel 8265 and lastly, an older Pixel 2 XL.

And we will see that the Fit6 Lite did effectively, particularly regarding the WiFi 6 consumer and that’s each upstream and downstream.

When in comparison with different entry factors, it’s not on the high, nevertheless it does solidly keep between the ECW536 and the ECW230S. As for vary, it’s not phenomenal, however when the sign attenuation was near -80dB, we may nonetheless use the Web, though in a restricted trend.

It’s price mentioning that the Pixel 2 XL disconnected at that time, so keep in mind that some older WiFi 5 purchasers could require to be nearer to the entry level.

Lastly, let’s take a look on the long-term efficiency of the FIT6 Lite.

The Single Consumer Checks (2.4GHz)

Afterwards, I checked out the two.4GHz radio band efficiency and, after ensuring that the community was set to the 40MHz channel bandwidth, the outcomes are greater than first rate.

Even when the sign attenuation was about -70dB, which I registered at roughly 70 ft, we nonetheless get usable throughput, in some circumstances near 100Mbps.

In comparison with different entry factors, the FIT6 Lite falls in between The ECW336 and the Ubiquiti U6-Professional.

The Multi-Consumer Checks

The only-client assessments will virtually all the time present large numbers, however we’re extra excited about how the FIT6 Lite offers with latency when greater than consumer gadgets are related, every demanding a chunk of the bandwidth. I used the identical set of gadgets as earlier than and that is the sign attenuation of every of them.

Moreover, the measuring instruments are the open-source suite from net-hydra developed by Mr Jim Salter. And within the first assessments, we verify how the entry level handles 1080p streaming.

We see that one consumer performing up once more, so we’re going to ignore its efficiency – I promise, I’ll change it quickly. However total, the WiFi 6 and 6E purchasers did rather well, staying beneath 50ms for at the least 95% of the time. The WiFi 5 purchasers had a tougher time, however I suppose staying beneath 80ms for 95% of the time continues to be first rate efficiency.

Shifting ahead, I checked the 4K streaming on 5 purchasers and the WiFi 5 purchasers went above 100ms instantly, so we will discard them. The WiFi 6 and 6E purchasers stayed close to 70ms for 75% of the time after which slowly going shut and above 100ms nearing the 99% mark. Because of this you’ll not have a good time when you intend to run the identical kind of visitors, so it’s finest to restrict the variety of gadgets.

Afterwards, I added intense shopping visitors which simulates a extra frenzied Web search, and I ran it alongside 1080p streaming on all 5 purchasers. There may be positively an affect, however not as a lot as I anticipated and just about all gadgets stayed beneath 100ms for 95% of the time.

The extreme shopping graph reveals that two purchasers did go close to 1s, whereas all different remained beneath 300ms for your entire length of the assessments. Then once more, I believe most individuals will reload the web page after at the least 1.5 seconds, so I suppose all is sweet. Subsequent, I ran the extreme shopping visitors alongside 4K streaming on all 5 purchasers.

We once more see an affect on the latency, with the 2 WiFi 5 purchasers remaining unreliable, however I suppose the opposite three remained close to or beneath 100ms for 95% of the time. The person will see some buffering within the movies. The extreme shopping graph reveals that 4 purchasers did rather well, whereas that one machine which all the time acts up went above 1s.

Now it’s time to alter issues a bit and run a mixture of obtain, 4K streaming and intense shopping on 5 consumer gadgets. The primary assessments includes two downloading purchasers and we see that each went above 300ms instantly and at 600ms on the 99% mark.

The extreme shopping purchasers stayed effectively beneath 400ms and the 4K streaming consumer went above 200ms instantly, so I may hardly name this assessments profitable. The entire throughput that I measured was 448.5Mbps. Shifting ahead, I restricted the downloading visitors to 1 consumer and it did a bit higher, though 200+ms is nothing to brag about.

The 2 intense shopping purchasers remained throughout the acceptable boundaries, whereas the 2 4K streaming consumer gadgets struggled fairly a bit, going above 100ms and means past. The entire throughput was 372.7Mbps.

I figured I may restrict the variety of purchasers to 3 and the latency was higher, however I’m pretty positive that it’s nonetheless beneath acceptable ranges. The 4K streaming was additionally removed from perfect, whereas the extreme shopping did effectively. The entire throughput was 186.1Mbps.

I modified issues once more and downloaded a 1MB file this time, whereas one consumer dealt with intense shopping and one other VoIP. We lastly see a good latency on the downloading consumer degree, whereas the VoIP latency was additionally higher than anticipated. Lastly, I ran the downloading visitors on the 5 consumer gadgets and these are the outcomes. The entire throughput was 332.9Mbps.

The Standalone Interface

Not like the ECW sequence, the FIT line does have a complete native administration platform which doesn’t require entry to the Cloud. You should utilize a Cloud controller in order for you, however you don’t must. The native platform has some standing information offered beneath the OverView, whereas underneath Community, we get to decide on how the entry level will get its IP tackle and also you additionally get some freedom into creating and managing the Wi-fi networks.

Remember that by default, no safety is utilized to the one SSID. So it’s sensible to click on on Edit close to the SSID identify and set a powerful passkey beneath the Wi-fi Safety tab. We are able to see right here that we get a stable quantity of choices to regulate, together with the assist for Quick Roaming which is superb. The Administration tab let’s you modify the SNMP settings and the way in which to entry the entry level – make certain to disable the TELNET entry. We additionally get some very good Instruments, however that’s about all, so let’s try the Cloud administration platform.

The Cloud Administration Platform

The EnGenius FIT6 Lite can use the FitXpress platform and after creating an account, a brand new Community and including the machine, I gained entry to the interface. And it’s a quite simple and straight ahead structure, the Dashboard exhibiting some Standing information, whereas underneath Units, we will entry the FIT6 Lite devoted settings. We are able to see the EnGenius Cloud pedigree right here as effectively when accessing the Instruments part.

Beneath WiFi, there are two default networks and once more, it’s sensible to personalize the settings and add a correct stable passkey. There may be additionally Portal templates, Utility Management, scheduling and all that’s wanted to run a small enterprise community. By small it may possibly additionally imply easy and never difficult, so it’s a scalable resolution. I suppose the one inconvenience can be the dearth of meshing, however you do get the Quick Roaming assist, so it might be considerably of a substitute.

You will notice on the backside what known as the FitController and it does work in a similar way to UniFi and Omada native situations, however there may be one main distinction and it’s that you could’t run it by yourself {hardware}, it requires the devoted machine from EnGenius.

The Conclusion

The FIT line was a dangerous wager from EnGenius and it appears that evidently it might have paid off as a result of dwelling customers and SMBs didn’t really want all these further options which clearly got here at a really elevated value. A tool such because the FIT6 Lite will probably be extra appropriate for them because it’s designed to be person pleasant, however whereas nonetheless supporting the means to remotely monitor and configure a number of gadgets on completely different websites. The {hardware} is alright, the software program is sweet and the efficiency is appropriate, simply remember that it does have some quirks.