2x2 AP vs 4x4 AP

[Firegod]

Hello

Following on from my thread here asking how people deal with DFS channels and interferance from neighbouring devices etc I was pondering whether to do a small refresh and move to a dedicated tri-band AP. This would let me utilise the 6Ghz range. I have x5 devices that could use this band currently and would benefit from having no interference. However, the AP I have my eye on is 2x2 on all 2.4Ghz/5Ghz/6Ghz bands (2SS). My current APs are 2x2 2.4Ghz and 4x4 5Ghz / 6Ghz (can band flex between one or the other).

Would I be shooting myself in the foot moving to a 2x2 AP? I'm worried if something daft like signal range would be impacted at all? Throughput I'm not so worried about if a little slower, I only have 5G broadband so on average ~200Mbps. And I don't even have any 4x4 client devices.

Thanks for any assistance.

 

[Caged]

It benefits throughput and device density rather than range

 

[Firegod]

It benefits throughput and device density rather than range

Thank you for this. I'm thinking then for my home needs it'll be a perfectly acceptable solution, and that it won't have a noticeable negative impact. Device wise I only have (roughly), x3 computers, x2 audio streaming devices, x4 IOT devices, x3 mobile phones, x2 TVs, x2 set top boxes. I'm hoping to recoup some funds and sell the existing APs, as they are only 6 months old.

 

[Dangerous]

I highly doubt you would get the use of a 4x4 AP at home, if the price is minor increase then yeah get it but I wouldn't pay a premium for it.

 

[WJA96]

It benefits throughput and device density rather than range

Basically this. Think of the channels like a motorway. 4 lanes wide carries more traffic than 2. Up to WiFi5 the channels worked exactly like a motorway with the whole channel having to work at the speed of the slowest device and that’s usually your IoT devices. WiFi6 is a huge improvement but for WiFi5 (IoT devices) more channels is better. With Wifi6E and WiFi7 you upgrade your motorway from a 2 lane urban expressway limited to 40mph to a dual carriageway at 70mph. And the faster traffic can nip past slower traffic.

One way of getting around the IoT Wifi4/5 traffic slow-downs is to fit a completely separate access point for your slower 2.4GHz traffic and broadcast a special IoT SSID from that access point only. IoT SSID goes on channel 1 on one access point and your faster traffic goes on channels 6 or 11 on the other access point(s). This works pretty well. You can pick up truly fabulous used 4x4 2.4GHz access points like the UniFi UAP-AC-HD and SHD for buttons now because everyone wants WiFi6.