Meet the D-Link DAP-X2850 AX3600 WiFi 6 professional AP

Main features

This new access point is aimed at a business audience that wants to have the fastest and most complete access point on the market, regardless of the money that has to be paid. This class of access points are ideal for companies where we have to transfer a large amount of data through the wireless network, because this AP will be able to provide more than 1Gbps of real speed without problems. It is also oriented for companies where we have a large number of connected wireless clients, and we want to provide them with the best possible service.

Wireless features

This new professional WiFi access point has Simultaneous dual band with AX3600 class WiFi 6. In the 2.4GHz band we can achieve a speed of up to 1148Mbps, thanks to its four internal antennas in MU-MIMO 4T4R configuration, at 40MHz of channel width and at 1024QAM that the new WiFi 6 standard has. In the 5GHz band We can achieve a speed of up to 2402Mbps, thanks to its four internal antennas in MU-MIMO 4T4R configuration, at 80MHz channel width and 1024QAM available in the new WiFi 6 standard. This new access point has all the technologies for provide the best coverage and performance in any circumstance, these technologies are:

• Beamforming: the Wi-Fi access point will be able to focus the wireless signal on the wireless clients, in order to provide them with the best possible coverage, and therefore, the best wireless performance.
• MU-MIMO: this technology will allow us to transfer data simultaneously to four wireless clients at the same time, as long as they also support MU-MIMO. This saves “time” in data transfer, so if we have dozens of clients connected, the overall speed will be higher than if we did not use it. MU-MIMO is available in both frequency bands, 2.4GHz and 5GHz.
• OFDMA: this is the star technology of the WiFi 6 standard, we can connect a large number of wireless clients and transfer small data in subcarriers to greatly speed up the network, thanks to OFDMA we can have up to four times more capacity compared to WiFi 5. OFDMA is available in the two frequency bands, 2.4GHz and 5GHz.
• TWT: This technology allows the AP to put wireless clients on hold, saving a large amount of energy, this is ideal for IoT devices with batteries, and also for smartphones, tablets or any other device that uses batteries.

Other very interesting wireless features of this model is that it has band-steeringIn this way, we can create a single SSID with a password, and the WiFi access point itself will be in charge of locating us in the 2.4GHz or 5GHz band, depending on the coverage received, the number of clients connected to the different frequency bands etc. It is also compatible with the new WPA3 security protocol, therefore, we can provide the best security to wireless clients, either in its WPA3-Personal version or with WPA3-Enterprise, in addition, we also have «OWE»To encrypt unauthenticated (open) WiFi networks, so that traffic is encrypted and secure communications.

Wired Features

This D-Link DAP-X2850 WiFi access point has one 2.5G Multigigabit port with PoE + (802.3at), therefore, we will have to power it with a PoE + switch that has Multigigabit ports. The reason for incorporating a 2.5G Multigigabit port is to avoid having any type of bottleneck in the wired network. Currently D-Link has another professional AP with WiFi 6 that is AX1800 class and a Gigabit Ethernet port, however, this model is AX3600 class and we could have a bottleneck due to the speed of the wired network. For this reason, it is essential that you use a Multigigabit switch with PoE +, otherwise, the wireless network of the AP will be faster than the wired one. The manufacturer D-Link already has two models of switches that perfectly meet these needs, the models are the DGS-1250-28XMP and the DGS-1250-52XMP, both have 4 Multigigabit ports with PoE + to power these access points.

We also have a Gigabit Ethernet port, which will allow us to connect equipment via cable easily and quickly, although we can also perform link aggregation (Link Aggregation) and reach up to 2Gbps (1Gbps + 1Gbps) of wired speed. Finally, it also has an RJ-45 console port for local administration.

Management software and options

This professional WiFi 6 access point can be configured in standalone mode, configuring the firmware embedded in the AP. However, in business environments what is usually used is a WiFi controller, in this case we will have to use Nuclias Connect. We have this WiFi driver available via software for Windows operating systems, we also have a Docker for Linux operating systems or those that support Docker, in addition, we could also buy the DNH-100 or DNH-200 hardware drivers so that we do not have a permanently powered computer.

All the options that we have always had in Nuclias Connect are also available in this model, as it integrates seamlessly into cloud management. Of course, it supports the ability to configure different SSIDs with different configurations, configure VLANs and apply them to different SSIDs, configure a captive portal, activate QoS, band-steering optionally, continuously monitor the AP to check that everything is working. correctly and many more options.

Unboxing and first impressions

In RedesZone we have recorded a video of the unboxing and first impressions of it AX3600 class professional WiFi 6 access point. What most attracted our attention about this new WiFi access point is the quality of the materials, it is really robust, in addition, we have also been impressed by the size of this AP compared to other models such as the DAP-2680 (3 -stream) and the DAP-2610 (2-stream), this new DAP-X2850 is clearly larger and heavier than the other models of the manufacturer, by incorporating more internal antennas and more Ethernet ports inside to service all the wireless clients.

We must remember that this AP is aimed at a professional audience, it is ideal for small and medium-sized companies, retailers, restaurants, hotels, campus and other places where there are a large number of customers. Thanks to the incorporation of WiFi 6 and the 2.5G Multigigabit port, we will be able to provide great wireless performance, even if we have dozens of WiFi clients connected simultaneously.