PACKETPERF

Primary Device

Cisco Catalyst CW9176I
Cisco Catalyst CW9176I
★ 3.4 Value Score

Technical Specifications

  • Wi-Fi Standard: 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be (Wi-Fi 7), cloud-managed 4x4:4 802.11be AP
  • Spatial Streams (MIMO): 4x4 MIMO (4 spatial streams) on 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 6 GHz client radios
  • Aggregate Throughput: 18 Gbps tri-radio aggregate (vendor maximum; 6 GHz up to 11,520 Mbps, 5 GHz up to 5,700 Mbps, 2.4 GHz up to 688 Mbps; the datasheet notes this may exceed what 802.11be operation allows)
  • Radios (bands): 2.4 GHz 802.11b/g/n/ax/be client radio; 5 GHz 802.11a/n/ac/ax/be client radio (flex slot can alternatively run 2.4 GHz); 6 GHz 802.11ax/be client radio; 2.4 GHz IoT radio; tri-band Air Marshal WIDS/WIPS, spectrum and location scanning radio; BLE 5.3 (upgradable to 6.0); all radios operate concurrently
  • Uplink Port Speed: 1x RJ45 multigigabit port, 100M/1G/2.5G/5G/10G BASE-T (datasheet lists the lowest speed inconsistently); plus console port and USB 2.0 (9W)
  • Max Clients: Not stated in the datasheet or any source found
  • PoE Requirement: 802.3bt (Class 5, 39W max) for full operation at 10G with USB enabled; 802.3at (25.5W) limits to 2.5G with 2x2 on 2.4 GHz; 802.3af (13.95W) runs in low-power mode at 1G. Recommended injector CW-INJ-8; supported MA-INJ-6 and AIR-PWRINJ-7

Curation Review

  • ✔ Pros: Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) tri-band 4x4 radios with all five radios operating concurrently; Dedicated tri-band Air Marshal scanning radio for WIPS/WIDS and spectrum analysis without losing client service; Multigigabit uplink up to 10G BASE-T for high-throughput backhaul; Integrated BLE 5.3 and 2.4 GHz IoT radio for IoT/location use cases; Flexible management: cloud (Meraki) or on-premises via Catalyst 9800 WLC and Catalyst Center
  • ✘ Cons: Full performance requires 802.3bt (UPOE) power, so many older PoE+ switches will limit it to 2.5G and 2x2 on 2.4 GHz; Vendor throughput figures conflict across sources and the 18 Gbps aggregate is a theoretical radio-chipset maximum, not real-world capacity; Max client count is not published in the sources reviewed; Premium pricing relative to Wi-Fi 6E APs, with resellers quoting widely varying prices; Requires a Cisco subscription or Meraki license, and the power cord is sold separately; Datasheet is Meraki-branded, so Catalyst-branded SKU details (-CFG vs -RTG) should be confirmed against Cisco's official Catalyst datasheet
  • Est. Price: $1,183 - $2,507

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