PACKETPERF

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Catalyst 9300-48P Cisco Catalyst 9300X Cisco Catalyst 9500 Cisco Catalyst 9500 Series Cisco Catalyst 9500-48Y4C Cisco Catalyst 9500X Cisco Catalyst CW9164 Cisco Catalyst CW9166 Cisco Catalyst CW9166I Cisco Catalyst CW9171 Cisco Catalyst CW9172I Cisco Catalyst CW9174 Cisco Catalyst CW9176 Cisco Catalyst CW9176I Cisco Catalyst CW9178I Cisco Catalyst CW9179F Cisco Cisco Catalyst 9166I Cisco Cisco Catalyst 9200 Cisco Cisco Catalyst 9200L Cisco Cisco Catalyst 9300X Cisco Cisco Catalyst 9500 Cisco Cisco Secure Firewall 1210 Cisco Cisco Secure Firewall 3105 Cisco Cisco Secure Firewall 3110 Cisco Cisco Wireless 9178I (CW9178I) Cisco CW9176 Cisco Nexus 9300-GX2 Cisco Nexus 9300-GX2 (N9K-C9332D-GX2B) Cisco Nexus 93180YC-FX3 Cisco Secure Firewall 1010 Cisco Secure Firewall 1120 Cisco Secure Firewall 1140 Cisco Secure Firewall 1150 Cisco Secure Firewall 1210 Cisco Secure Firewall 1220 (1220CX) Cisco Secure Firewall 220 Cisco Secure Firewall 3105 Cisco Secure Firewall 3110 Cisco Secure Firewall 3120 Cisco Secure Firewall 3130 Cisco Secure Firewall 3140 Cisco Secure Firewall 4215 Cisco Secure Firewall 4225 Cisco Secure Firewall 4245 Fortinet FortiAP 231G Fortinet FortiAP 231K Fortinet FortiAP 241K Fortinet FortiAP 431G Fortinet FortiAP 441K Fortinet FortiGate 1000F Fortinet FortiGate 120G Fortinet FortiGate 200G Fortinet FortiGate 3500G Fortinet FortiGate 400G Fortinet FortiGate 40F Fortinet FortiGate 60F Fortinet FortiGate 70G Fortinet FortiGate 90G Fortinet FortiGate Rugged 60G (FGR-60G) Fortinet FortiSwitch 1048G Fortinet FortiSwitch 124G Fortinet FortiSwitch 124G (FS-124G) Fortinet FortiSwitch 124G-FPOE Fortinet FortiSwitch 148F Fortinet FortiSwitch 148G Fortinet FortiSwitch 2048F Fortinet FortiSwitch 3032G Fortinet FortiSwitch 648F Fortinet FortiSwitch 648F-FPOE Fortinet FortiSwitch-124F Juniper Networks AP34 Juniper Networks AP36 Juniper Networks AP37 Juniper Networks AP45 Juniper Networks AP47 Juniper Networks AP66 Juniper Networks EX4000 Juniper Networks EX4100 Juniper 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Pro Max 48 PoE Ubiquiti UniFi Standard 24 PoE (USW-24-POE) Ubiquiti UniFi Switch Pro Max 16 PoE Ubiquiti UniFi Switch Ultra Ubiquiti UniFi U7 Pro Ubiquiti UniFi U7 Pro Max Ubiquiti UniFi U7 Pro Outdoor Ubiquiti UniFi U7 Pro Wall Ubiquiti UniFi U7 Pro XGS Ubiquiti UniFi6 Mesh (U6 Mesh) Ubiquiti USW Pro Max 24 PoE Ubiquiti USW Pro Max 48 PoE Ubiquiti USW-Enterprise-24-PoE Ubiquiti USW-Pro-24-PoE

Technical Specifications

• Wi-Fi Standard: IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax (Wi-Fi 6 R2 and Wi-Fi 6E certified; no Wi-Fi 7)
• Spatial Streams (MIMO): 4x4 on each radio (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz); 4x4 UL/DL MU-MIMO
• Aggregate Throughput: Up to 7.78 Gbps PHY per radio (6 GHz 4x4 160 MHz peak); Cisco publishes no combined tri-radio total
• Radios (bands): Three 4x4 radios: 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz (LPI); dual-band XOR radio (6 GHz or secondary 5 GHz); integrated BLE 5.1 and IoT radios; dedicated scanning radio for security and RF management
• Uplink Port Speed: 1x multigigabit RJ-45 at 100M/1G/2.5G/5G; management console RJ-45; USB 2.0 (4.5 W)
• Max Clients: Not stated by Cisco; some reseller listings cite about 1200 for the CW9166D1 (unverified)
• PoE Requirement: 802.3bt (UPOE) 30.5 W max for full functionality with USB; 802.3at (PoE+) 25.5 W max without USB; 802.3af (14 W) for staging only with radios off; optional 54 V DC input (MA-PWR-50WAC)
• Antennas: CW9166I: internal omnidirectional (2.4 GHz 3 dBi, 5 GHz 5 dBi, 6 GHz 4 dBi); CW9166D1: internal directional (2.4 GHz 6 dBi, 5 GHz 6 dBi, 6 GHz 8 dBi)
• Dimensions and Weight: CW9166I: 9.5 x 9.5 x 2.2 in, 3.54 lb; CW9166D1: 9.5 x 9.5 x 2.28 in, 3.50 lb
• Models: CW9166I-x and CW9166D1-x (on-premises, IOS-XE); CW9166I-MR and CW9166D1-MR (Meraki cloud-managed)
• Minimum Software: IOS-XE 17.9.1 (CW9166I) and 17.12.1 (CW9166D1), per third-party sources

Curation Review

• ✔ Pros: Tri-band Wi-Fi 6E with 4x4 on 2.4, 5 and 6 GHz; 6 GHz access adds clean spectrum for high-density deployments; Dedicated scanning radio supports continuous RF monitoring, security and WIPS; Choice of internal omnidirectional (CW9166I) or directional (CW9166D1) antennas; Supports Cloud management via Meraki (-MR SKUs) or on-premises IOS-XE; WPA3-R3, WPA3 Suite B and Enhanced Open security; Single 2.5G multigigabit uplink works with standard 802.3at/bt PoE
• ✘ Cons: Wi-Fi 6E only, with no Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) support; Full feature set needs 802.3bt (UPOE), so 802.3at switches cannot power every feature; Only one uplink port, with no link aggregation or redundancy; Cisco publishes no max client count, so capacity planning relies on estimates; Regional suffixes and regulatory approvals vary, so some SKUs may not be approved for every country; Premium price, with list MSRP about $2,500 and reseller prices often well below it
• Est. Price: $1,299 - $2,694

Compare Against

Select Comparison Hardware... Aruba AP-515 Aruba AP-535 Aruba (HPE) 7030 Aruba (HPE) AP-735 Aruba (HPE) Aruba AP-655 Aruba (HPE) Aruba AP-755 Aruba (HPE) Instant On AP33 Aruba (HPE) Instant On AP45 Cisco Catalyst 9120AX Cisco Catalyst 9136 Cisco Catalyst 9136I Cisco Catalyst 9164 (CW9164I) Cisco Catalyst 9166 Cisco Catalyst 9166 Series (CW9166) Cisco Catalyst 9176I (CW9176I) Cisco Catalyst 9176I (CW9176I-CFG) Cisco Catalyst 9178i Cisco Catalyst CW9164 Cisco Catalyst CW9166 Cisco Catalyst CW9166I Cisco Catalyst CW9171 Cisco Catalyst CW9172I Cisco Catalyst CW9174 Cisco Catalyst CW9176 Cisco Catalyst CW9176I Cisco Catalyst CW9178I Cisco Catalyst CW9179F Cisco Cisco Catalyst 9166I Cisco Cisco Wireless 9178I (CW9178I) Cisco CW9176 Fortinet FortiAP 231G Fortinet FortiAP 231K Fortinet FortiAP 241K Fortinet FortiAP 431G Fortinet FortiAP 441K Juniper Networks AP34 Juniper Networks AP36 Juniper Networks AP37 Juniper Networks AP45 Juniper Networks AP47 Juniper Networks AP66 Juniper Networks Mist AP33 Juniper Networks Mist AP37 Juniper Networks Mist AP43 Ubiquiti U6 Pro Ubiquiti U6-Enterprise Ubiquiti U6-Pro Ubiquiti U7 Pro Ubiquiti U7 Pro Max Ubiquiti U7 Pro Outdoor Ubiquiti UniFi Enterprise 7 Ubiquiti UniFi U7 Pro Ubiquiti UniFi U7 Pro Max Ubiquiti UniFi U7 Pro Outdoor Ubiquiti UniFi U7 Pro Wall Ubiquiti UniFi U7 Pro XGS Ubiquiti UniFi6 Mesh (U6 Mesh)