what competitor?
if i search on google "ax ap" the first result is:
Therefore, compared to the "gain" of 2cm in diameter, the antennas of this competitor product are more "deaf" by 66.6...%
(the competitor device is AX1500, the cAP ax is AX1800)
gain is totally misleading in the context of a soho/enterprise AP.
gain is a factor of directionality and size.
when talking about a small AP like this, the bigging antenna size option isn't there.
so to have a higher gain cAP than UAP/U6 unit, you must have a more directional antenna. ie, more gain in one direction or plane and less gain in another. Placement and orientation becomes more critical.
There are ways to overcome this but not in a 2x2 design. In a 4x4 design you can make each antenna element more focused in a difference direction and use beamforming to get more signal out of the air, so 'artificial gain', but these are 2x2.
I've tested so so so many 'ax radios on the bench over the last year. 4x4 'ax designs are effectively +4dB real world and they are -4dB noise real world. That doesn't mean much when your signals are really good, but when your down in -70 to -90 suddenly that almost 8dB of SNR benefit is a dramatic difference. A U6-lite vs U6-enterprise with the some output levels and the same series radio but 2x2 vs 4x4 and I'm able to get 100Mbps on the U6-Enterprise where I can't get the U6-lite to stay connected. The U6-lite might as well be the cAP ax' direct competitor.
Long winded way of saying I and most people here shouldn't be nearly concerned about gain for a multi-AP system because it's not doing what they probably think it's doing. More cAPs with less gain and lower power output is the way.
I eagerly await some 4x4 designs. I have almost 100 U6-lites out there right now, but I've even replaced some with the U6-Pro and U6-Enterprise, the difference between 2x2 and 4x4 in a busy environment is unbelievable.
