EnGenius Cloud Lite ECW516L Test and Review – MBReviews Leave a comment

The EnGenius ECW516L arrives a yr after the flagship ECW536 hit the market and it does have a unique function than to solely showcase technological improvement. It’s making an attempt to make WiFi 7 reasonably priced for anybody keen to undertake this nonetheless pretty younger commonplace. A purpose that’s additionally the main target of Zyxel with its NWA110BE. But the EnGenius Cloud Lite ECW516L does issues a bit in a different way.

We do get a 2.5GbE port, help for 320MHz channel width on the 6GHz radio and, after all, we do get a tri-band configuration. But what’s completely different from the NWA110BE is that you should utilize each the 5GHz and the 6GHz radios on the similar time, no want to decide on between them. Oh, and there may be help for MLO which was and nonetheless is to a sure prolong a wanted characteristic that’s specific to the WiFi 7 entry factors. Now let’s discuss concerning the value.

The EnGenius Cloud Lite ECW516L has an MSRP of $199 which is pretty low contemplating the specs, however it does have the TP-Link EAP773 respiration down its neck, so I’m curious to see the efficiency of this new WiFi entry level. Let’s put it to the take a look at.

The Design and Build Quality

Design-wise, whereas retaining the core parts of the ECW536, the ECW516L is nearer to the ECW230 and ECW230S. The case is smaller, with a plastic high and a metallic backside. It’s additionally a lot slimmer than the ECW536, so it is going to be a bit extra unobtrusive on the ceiling.

And sure, this can be a ceiling-mount-only WiFi 7 entry level, it gained’t sit correctly on the desk. You do get the bracket within the package deal, however not a lot else. A separate PoE adapter or PoE change is critical, though the latter will not be obligatory contemplating that the system does have a 12V DC port accessible. It’s positioned subsequent to the one 2.5GbE Ethernet port that does help PoE, clearly. And there may be additionally a Reset button as nicely.

All these will be discovered inside the bottom-placed devoted space. Flip the system again to the highest and we are able to see a return to the a number of LED ports which is a welcomed change from the single-LED system of the ECW536.

The Thermal Management

The metallic backside half paired with the plastic high have been a reasonably dependable system utilized by EnGenius over the previous years and I used to be curious whether or not it labored nicely for the Cloud Lite ECW516L as nicely. I didn’t have the AGM telephone accessible this time, so I switched to a small Xinfrared module for an Android telephone. And you’ll be able to see what I used to be capable of seize right here.

The outcomes are good, for the reason that entry level has an excellent warmth distribution and there doesn’t appear to be any indicators that it might overheat or throttle as a consequence of excessive temperature.

EnGenius Cloud Lite ECW516L Teardown

EnGenius has just about at all times made the teardown course of as simple as doable and that’s true for the ECW512L the place I solely wanted to take away 4 screws to ensure that the plastic half to come out. And then we’re greeted by the rear facet of the PCB and EnGenius determined to place right here the antenna connectors.

Before anything, I made a decision to detach them and then I checked beneath the three aluminum covers. No main part right here, so let’s examine the opposite facet. I might instantly see the 2 flash storage chipsets, one was a 256MB NAND flash MXIC X241952 MX35LF2GE4AD-Z43 chip and the opposite a 128MB serial NOR flash Winbond 25Q128JVSQ 2251 chip. Now we have to take away the remainder of the aluminum covers to show the principle parts. And you’ll be able to see within the following desk what I used to be capable of establish.

Hardware Comparison

Single Client Tests (6GHz & 5GHz)

I admit I used to be getting accustomed to see values nearer to 2Gbps, so seeing that the EnGenius ECW516L solely bought above 1Gbps very close to the consumer system was a little bit of a letdown. I’ve additionally included the values collected when the 6GHz radio was utilizing both the 160MHz and the 320MHz, and we are able to see that going near that 21m or 70 toes mark dropped the connection fully.

And that true each upstream and downstream. Using the 5GHz radio and counting on a WiFi 6 and one WiFi 5 consumer system did present that the sign can attain farther.

This is confirmed by the sign attenuation graphics as nicely.

And sure, I’m speaking about it being each upstream and downstream.

The solely point out that I have to make is that the 5GHz radio doesn’t help the 160MHz channel bandwidth, however it’s restricted to solely the 80MHz width. I imply, in a crowded setting, you’re not going to have the ability to use the 160MHz channel width, however when you’ve got fewer neighbors and much less interference, then this can be a characteristic that you simply’re going to note that it’s lacking.
OK, now let’s see how the entry level fares when put subsequent to different units.

When utilizing the 5GHz radio, we are able to see that the ECW512L sits above the U7 Pro and instantly under the TP-Link EAP773. Fair efficiency.

Next, utilizing the 6GHz radio, 320MHz, the ECW516L does take a decrease place, solely above the ECW536. I’ve additionally included a longer-term efficiency graphic only for funsies.

Single Client Tests (2.4GHz)

We’re not going to maneuver previous the two.4GHz radio efficiency, however I’ll solely be utilizing a few purchasers and simply the upstream graphic.

If you need the downstream values as nicely, remark under, in any other case I’ll assume it’s sufficient. I’ve additionally included the sign attenuation graphic because it’s extra vital that the distance-based values.

This is how one can truly reproduce my efficiency. And lastly, I put the EnGenius ECW516L towards different entry factors as soon as extra and it sits under the EAP773 which is truthful, however probably not spectacular.

The Multi-Client Tests

Let’s now transfer on to the multi-client take a look at outcomes and, as earlier than I used net-hydra developed by Mr Jim Salter. I used the identical consumer units as with different entry factors to assist the comparability between fashions simpler. It would have been higher to have similar consumer units, however prices could be too excessive to make it price it.

I began with the concurrent 1080p streaming site visitors and two purchasers did nicely, the WiFi 7 one and one of many two WiFi 6 laptops. The relaxation rose too excessive and didn’t present a usable latency.

Then once more, it did higher than the NWA110BE. Next, I ran 4K streaming site visitors on the 5 consumer units and the latency was greater than 100ms on a regular basis whatever the system, so not a good suggestion to run the sort of site visitors on 5 consumer units.

As a comparability, the NWA110BE did a bit higher right here.

Moving ahead, I saved the 1080p streaming site visitors and ran intense looking alongside it. And once more, we get to see two consumer units doing higher than the remaining.

I additionally checked the extraordinary looking graph and all purchasers stood under 500ms for 95% of the time, however three did rise near 1s for about 5% of the time. Still very a lot usable.

I additionally needed to run intense looking subsequent to 4K streaming and the previous didn’t have that a lot of an affect on the latter. Then once more, the latency will nonetheless make issues unusable.

The intense looking graph exhibits a bent in the direction of 1.3 seconds on two purchasers which was regarding, however the remaining did alright.

After that, I made a decision to depart out the ZimaBoard and run numerous forms of site visitors on the remainder of the purchasers, and that does embrace downloading as nicely. The thought is to obtain a 10MB file repeatedly on a few purchasers. And the result’s, nicely, as anticipated.

The two downloading purchasers shortly rose above 400ms and so did the 4K streaming consumer. The two intense looking purchasers did OK. After checking the NWA110BE efficiency, it does seem to be it did a bit higher, though the latency continues to be too excessive for consolation.

Next, I restricted the downloading site visitors to 1 consumer and the latency did get higher, staying under 250ms for about 95% of the time and one 4K streaming consumer additionally stayed close to 100ms which is healthier than earlier than. But nonetheless just about unusable.

So we have to restrict the consumer units to 3 and see if that makes a distinction. Strangely, it didn’t.

And I’ve seen one thing related after I examined the Zyxel NWA110BE.

So, I made a decision to alter the downloading file to 1MB. This did the trick and we are able to see a latency close to 50ms throughout the board.

And I’ve additionally included VoIP site visitors this time which was dealt with pretty nicely. Lastly, I needed to obtain the 10MB file on all 5 consumer units and you’ll be able to see the outcome for your self.

The MLO Performance

It’s very good to see that MLO is part of the entry-level entry factors contemplating how lengthy it took to be made usable from each the consumer and the system stage. Some WiFi 7 router producers are nonetheless taking part in round, which is why a devoted entry level is nearly at all times the higher choice. And it’s not that costly both, you simply want a change and a gateway, each will be cheaper. Anyway, let’s take a look at the MLO efficiency of the EnGenius ECW516L.

I suppose it’s not a serious acquire close to the entry level, however, contemplating that we initially bought 0Mbps on the farthest level, we do now get to go farther away with the consumer. And that’s true each upstream and downstream.

I’ve additionally ran some FLENT checks, nothing particular, the default ones and I’ve included right here the outcomes.

Sure, the NWA110BE had fewer configurations accessible, however I nonetheless suppose the ECW512L carried out erratically in a few of these graphics.

The Standalone Mode

There isn’t a lot o discover in relation to the stand-alone mode of the EnGenius ECW516L. Sure, it’s there, however it is extremely restricted by way of each monitoring attain and particularly the accessible configuration.

I don’t know for a way lengthy EnGenius intends to help this mannequin, but when it’s out of the Cloud platform, you then gained’t have the ability to configure it that a lot in depth.

The Cloud Platform

And that takes us to the EnGenius Cloud platform. The strategy of including the entry level to the community is just about the usual throughout SMB and above networking units. And then we get entry to the Dashboard the place we are able to see numerous standing details about the ECW516L and another EnGenius units that part of the community.

Going to Access Points and choosing the AP, we are able to see devoted standing information and we are able to do some configuration modifications that may override the adopted settings. It’s additionally doable to take a look at the Diag Tools which, by default embrace Network Activities and the All Channel Utilization. The Live Clients grow to be accessible when utilizing the Pro subscription.

It’s additionally price mentioning the SSID List the place we are able to change how the Wireless performs, together with enabling MLO. There’s additionally a Captive Portal, Access Control, SPlash Page, Hotspot 2.0 and Firewall. We may make modifications to the Radios, the place the settings are common for all entry factors adopted inside the community.

The Conclusion

It’s good to see that EnGenius presents an reasonably priced WiFi 7 entry level that provides the 6GHz radio alongside 5GHz and 2.4GHz (in contrast to the NWA110BE), in addition to MLO. The price ticket does imply that the {hardware} is much less potent, so just a few software program options shall be lacking from the Cloud platform. Plus the wi-fi efficiency was truthful for a smaller community, however once more, it’s probably not a champion at both pace or protection. It’s a good system providing fairly just a few superior options at an reasonably priced value.