Networking

Review: SonicWall’s SonicWave 641 Gives K–12 Schools Superior Wireless

This Wi-Fi 6 access point easily provides classrooms with faster service.

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John Breeden II is an award-winning reviewer and public speaker with 20 years of experience covering technology.

Considering how long wireless technology has been available, most K–12 schools have probably already invested in some form of wireless networking for their students and staff. But older wireless technology was never designed to support the number of users found in a typical school building.

While it’s possible to connect everyone using older technology, it requires more access points, layered channels and constant tuning — and even then, the network will likely have dead zones and experience slowdowns at peak hours.

Wi-Fi 6 changes that by integrating new technologies designed to enhance wireless signals, even in heavily congested areas. The new SonicWall SonicWave 641 access point is a perfect example.

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SonicWave 641 APs Support Power over Ethernet for Simple Setup

Hidden inside the unassuming device, which looks like a small smoke detector, are dual radios and multiple antennas that can serve fast wireless signals to older devices using the 2.4-gigahertz band and connect to newer devices with a 5GHz signal.

Device setup is a breeze. The AP is designed to be easily mounted on a wall or ceiling or simply placed on a shelf. It supports Power over Ethernet, so it doesn’t require a power cord, just a PoE-compatible network cable to complete the setup.

Once the AP is physically placed, installation can be completed through the cloud. Schools can have nontechnical maintenance staff position the APs while the IT team configures everything remotely.

SonicWave 641 Vanquishes Its Wi-Fi 5 Competitors

I tested the performance of the SonicWave 641 in our Wi-Fi 6 testing lab, which consists of a broad mix of both older and newer wireless-capable devices. First, I looked at the performance of 20 devices connected to an older, Wi-Fi 5 AP.

Not surprisingly, I experienced the typical slowdowns and disconnects when trying to transfer multiple large files or engage in bandwidth-intensive activities such as video streaming.

When I switched to the SonicWave 641 AP, all 20 devices quickly connected. Older devices used the 2.4GHz band while newer ones connected using a 5GHz signal. Once every device was logged in, the automatic management functions of the SonicWave 641 took over, constantly optimizing the bandwidth for each device it was serving.

WATCH: Several schools see internet speeds, reliability skyrocket after Wi-Fi 6 upgrades.

When the network became overloaded, easy-to-configure rules allowed priority applications, users and groups to experience little to no disruption. All told, the SonicWave Wi-Fi 6 AP was at least three times more efficient than APs using only Wi-Fi 5 technology.

As a nice additional perk for schools, the SonicWall SonicWave 641 AP is also highly secure, supporting all of the most advanced encryption protocols. Connecting the device’s PoE cable to a SonicWave smart switch or network security appliance provides even more security across the entire network of SonicWave APs.

SPECIFICATIONS

DEVICE TYPE: 802.11ax wireless AP
RADIOS: Dual-band 5GHz and 2.4GHz radios
SECURITY: Supports both WPA2 and WPA3 encryption
DIMENSIONS: 1.5x7.9x7.9 inches
WEIGHT: 30 ounces

Wi-Fi 6 Sets the Standard for Wireless Technology in K–12

The SonicWall SonicWave 641 AP supports the latest Wi-Fi 6 standard. While not a new technology, Wi-Fi 6 is only now making its way into access points designed to operate seamlessly in congested environments.

Instead of a new wireless frequency or band, Wi-Fi 6 (also known as 802.11ax to distinguish it from 802.11ac, the Wi-Fi 5 standard) is actually a collection of support technologies that work together to better optimize existing Wi-Fi signals. This is especially helpful in an environment, such as a school, where a lot of devices are trying to connect to a wireless network.

A big advantage of Wi-Fi 6 is that it uses Multi-User Multiple Input, Multiple Output transmissions, which makes more effective use of radio antennas and data streams. It also replaces the 256 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation found in 802.11ac APs with the much larger 1024 QAM standard, bringing even more benefits. The new 1024 QAM standard can broadcast through eight spatial data streams, effectively quadrupling available bandwidth and allowing APs to efficiently serve many more users than before.

But Wi-Fi 6 offers more than just increased bandwidth. APs that are built to the standard are also a lot smarter in how they manage signals, devices, applications and users. They do this by employing orthogonal frequency-division multiple access technology to pull every bit of the available spectrum and give it to users. This works by dividing up the radio spectrum into much smaller units than the older standard was able to do, so that it can provide users with exactly the bandwidth they need, with nothing being wasted.

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Any extra bandwidth that one user does not need is automatically and seamlessly assigned to another user. In fact, APs with Wi-Fi 6, like the SonicWave 641, are constantly evaluating their active wireless connections and optimizing them so that everyone gets what they need as long as a sliver of bandwidth is still available.

And while it’s true that individual devices that also support Wi-Fi 6 will likely see small bumps in speed when using a Wi-Fi 6 AP, the real advantage of the standard is its ability to effectively manage multiple connections at the best possible speed.

In terms of performance, Wi-Fi 6 APs offer users more stable wireless connections and reduced latency with almost no dropped signals. Should too many users overload the AP — in a busy classroom, perhaps — APs like the SonicWave 641 are smart enough to follow whatever content rules administrators set up.

For example, they can be configured to reduce the bandwidth for certain applications or to prioritize certain users or groups — giving teachers priority access over students, for example. That way, any slowdown will be minimized or perhaps not even noticed by whomever or whatever is designated as a priority user.

While Wi-Fi 6 is not a new standard, it’s finally starting to see mainstream use. Given all the optimizations bundled within it, it may seem like a new kind of wireless signal to most users, even if it’s just optimizing existing technology.