We recently got to do some hands on testing with the new e700 AP (MSRP $800) and we have to say... this thing is a BEAST in more ways then one. The build quality on this is very impressive and is every bit deserving of the 'enterprise' designation. The heat sink on the back and the general weight of it along with the heavy duty mounting bracket says that this radio means business.
T300 on left and e700 on right
Notice how the e700's heat sink and bracket are almost the same size as the entire T300 AP!
This of course also features the now pretty mature eXXX line of software with support for a slew of different enterprise features like coordinated roaming, dynamic VLAN's, auto channel everything, per client BW limiting, the list goes on and on... all that coupled with free cnMaestro cloud or on premis support... BUT you can run it stand alone if you want! No cnMaestro required. Also, all the firmware updates are free and easy to get, and they keep adding more and more features and optimizing performance, so the eXXX series just keeps getting better and better.
We also wanted to see how well it would compete against another enterprise radio in it's price range, so we found a Ruckus T300 (MSRP $1295) to test against. We do admit, it's not exactly a fair fight and the Ruckus R710 would have spec-wise been an apples to apples comparision with the e700, BUT we didn't have one in stock and the MSRP on the R710 is an eye watering $2995.
Test Setup
Distances to the AP are between 8 feet, 1 wall for the laptop test client, and 15 feet, 2+ walls for the desktop test client. The laptop has a Dell 1550 802.11ac card and the desktop has an ASUS PCE-AC6 adapter with an external separated antenna.
e700 TestsLaptop to e700 OTA data rate
Laptop to e700 Mikrotik download test
Laptop to e700 Mikrotik upload test
Desktop to e700 OTA data rate
Desktop to e700 Mikrotik download test
Desktop to e700 Mikrotik upload test
T300 Tests
Laptop to T300 OTA data rate
Laptop to T300 Mikrotik download rate
Laptop to T300 Mikrotik upload rate
Laptop to T300 OTA data rate
Laptop to T300 Mikrotik download rate
Laptop to T300 Mikrotik upload rate
While there were some quirks with our Mikrotik BW test tool, perticularly on the uplink for some of these tests, we feel the clear winner overall is Cambium e700 when it comes to price, features, coverage and throughput. This would make an excellent AP where robust coverage and capacity is needed outdoors, like a concert or music venue, large RV park, shopping center, etc. Overall we were very impressed and have some plans in the works to really put this beast of an AP to work!
- Cambium_cnPilot_E700_SS.pdf (234 KB)