New EnGenius ECW220v2 WiFi 6 Access Point Review

Benchmarks and Observations

EnGenius recommended the following settings for optimal speeds when benchmarking the ECW220v2.

Radio Settings for 5GHz Tests:

• Testing Radio = 5 GHz Radio

• Channel Width = 80 MHz (maximum)

• Target Tx Power = 23dBm

• Turn off “Background Scanning”.

• Turn off “Client Balancing”.

General observations were made while looking at the EnGenius ECW220v2. The topology of the network consists of a Verizon Gigabit Connection to the internet, EnGenius ECS2512FP POE switch, and EnGenius ECW220v2 Access Point.

For the throughput testing, I am using two Ubit AX WiFi 6 Card Dual Band 3000 Mbps AX200 PCI-E. These cards feature Intel Wi-FI 6 AX200 160MHz chipset. The Bluetooth functions of these cards have been disabled.

Access Point internet (wired connection) has close to Gigabit Speed. I was able to test it right from the Access Point itself through the cloud interface. Downstream speeds were recorded up to 750Mbps and upstream speeds were recorded up to 870Mbps.

A client connected to the access point at a distance of 5ft was performing at around 410Mbps on download and 460Mbps on upload. Moving away from the access point resulted in a speed drop. About 15 ft away from the access point and going through the wall the speed was about 230Mbps downstream and roughly 260Mbps upstream. Moving away from the access point even further (40ft second floor) the signal strength was dropped significantly and downstream and upstream were reaching up to 100Mbps.

Radio Settings for 2.4GHz Tests:

• Testing Radio = 2.4 GHz Radio

• Channel Width = 40 MHz

• Target Tx Power = 28dBm

Testing of 2.4GHz channel was done similar to 5GHz tests.  At about 5ft away from the access point, the download speed was topping around 310 Mbps and about 290Mbps on the upload.  Going further away from the access point results in a significant speed drop.  At about 15ft away from the access point, the connection speed dropped by half.  The maximum download speed was recorded was around 98Mbps and the maximum upload speed was recorded at 86Mbps.

Client-to-client communications were not benchmarked however transfer speed between test machines was close to the actual connectivity to the internet depending on the distance to the Access Point.