Sophos Wi-Fi 6 Access Points - New AP6 Series Coming Soon!

The Sophos Wi-Fi 6 Access Points will start shipping to the first customers in August. We have already had a test unit since January and will show what the new AP6 Series can do.

Difference between Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E

Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E are not the same thing, and the distinction matters when choosing an Access Point.

Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E are two modern standards for wireless networks, known under the technical designation IEEE 802.11ax. Although they are similar in many ways, there are some important differences between Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E.

Wi-Fi 6 was introduced to accommodate the growing number of devices in home and enterprise networks. It offers a number of improvements over older Wi-Fi standards, including higher data rates, more capacity, better performance in high-traffic environments, and lower latencies. Wi-Fi 6 operates in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequency bands.

Wi-Fi 6E, on the other hand, is an extension of the Wi-Fi 6 standard that uses an additional 6 GHz frequency band for Wi-Fi networks. This 6 GHz band was not previously used for Wi-Fi networks, which means Wi-Fi 6E devices have access to more channels that are less likely to be congested. This results in higher speeds and less interference, especially in densely populated areas.

The introduction of Wi-Fi 6E also means that more bandwidth is available for each channel. While Wi-Fi 6 has channels with a width of up to 80 MHz (and optionally 160 MHz), Wi-Fi 6E offers channels with a width of up to 160 MHz as standard. This allows for even faster data transmission and can be particularly beneficial for bandwidth-intensive applications such as 4K and 8K streaming, Virtual Reality (VR), and online gaming.

In summary, both Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E offer significant improvements in terms of speed, capacity, and performance. The main difference is that Wi-Fi 6E uses additional frequencies in the 6 GHz band for less interference and better performance, while Wi-Fi 6 is limited to the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. To take advantage of Wi-Fi 6E, however, you need devices that support Wi-Fi 6E, and at the moment there are still very few of them.

Sophos AP6 Models

Sophos is launching a total of five Wi-Fi 6 Access Points.

There are only two indoor Sophos Access Points with Wi-Fi 6.

• Sophos AP6 420 Access Point
• Sophos AP6 840 Access Point

With the Wi-Fi 6E standard, i.e., 6 GHz, there are also only two models.

• Sophos AP6 420E Access Point
• Sophos AP6 840E Access Point

As with every Sophos Access Point series, there is also an outdoor model. Sophos has skipped a Wi-Fi 6E variant here, which was certainly not a bad decision.

• Sophos AP6 420X Outdoor Access Point

Personally, I think a smaller model as a successor to the APX 120 is missing, but you can see that later in the Sophos migration graphic.

Sophos AP6 Access Points - Comparison Table

Management

The Sophos AP6 Access Points can be managed via Sophos Central, through a web interface directly on the Access Point, or via an app that will be added later.

⚠️ Management of Sophos AP6 Access Points via Sophos Firewall is no longer possible.

Sophos Central Access Point Management

For Sophos, the Central platform is replacing legacy products in many areas. Firewall services are now next, starting with wireless management.

In the long term, Email Protection and Webserver Protection are unlikely to have a future either, as Central Email and ZTNA are the better solutions. But that is just a side note.

Unlike the AP Series (End of Life end of 2023) and APX Series, Sophos AP6 Wireless Management via Central is no longer free. As with the Switches, there is a Support and Service subscription.

Management via web interface

Individual standalone Access Points can also be configured via the local UI.

Availability

As mentioned above, the Access Points will be available in August. We are already accepting pre-orders and can prepare special offers for larger quantities.

Functions such as Mesh and Synchronized Security will be delivered later through firmware updates and are not yet available at launch.

Switching from APX to AP6

Sophos has provided this graphic showing the migration path from the APX Series to the AP6 Series.

Only a few customers are likely to move from the APX Series to the AP6 Series right away. The APX models are not yet End of Life and are sufficient for most requirements. The situation is different for the AP Series. Those models reach End of Life at the end of the year, and many customers have been waiting for modern devices, which have now finally been announced.

The recommendation at the time was as follows:

• Sophos AP15 and AP15C > Sophos APX 120
• Sophos AP55 and AP55C > Sophos APX 320
• Sophos AP100 and AP100C > Sophos APX 530 or Sophos APX 740

APX to AP6 would now be as follows:

Our AP6 420 Test Device

We received a test unit from Sophos at the beginning of the year (many thanks for that) and immediately put it into productive use in the office, where it has now been running for six months. However, the range of the Access Point is worse than that of the AP and APX Series, and we repeatedly experience interruptions with our devices. The EAP team said this should still be resolved in software. Unfortunately, we only received one device and could not test features such as 802.11r BSS Fast Transition.

Update: Roaming is not really good yet; the software needs to improve here as well.

FAQ