The best WAP devices are built to improve your Wi-Fi speeds and experience – if you’re dreading yet another call to your ISP, a Wireless Access Point may be exactly what your office (or home office) needs.
You might not be able to see those internet black spots and dead zones that infiltrate your business or home office, but you can certainly feel the constant frustration as the connection drops, with productivity grinding to a halt. A Wireless Access Point (WAP) means you’ll get a great Wi-Fi connection everywhere you go. But which are the top units out there today?
Our team of experts have tested hundreds of networking devices, from the best small business routers to the best powerline adapters – so, when it comes to the best WAP devices, we know what you need to look out for and what to avoid. Going hands-on with each model, we compared speeds, size, as well as features such as remote access for IT professionals.
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Best WAP overall
Netgear has designed the WAX214 to be surprisingly simple to set up and install at your office or home. While it may not allow for as many concurrent users as more expensive options, it’s an affordable solution that supports Wi-Fi 6 and works just as well in a large home as in an office.
The WAX214 includes mounting brackets on its underside, as it should be placed either high up on a wall or, ideally, on the ceiling. It’s worth noting that this unit doesn’t come with a power adapter as it supports Power over Ethernet (PoE). Using a LAN cable, you’ll need a PoE switch or injector to power the device. It features a dual-band WAP with support for both 2.4GHz and 5GHz, and Netgear says it can handle up to 128 devices simultaneously.
Read our full Netgear WAX214 WiFi 6 PoE+ Access Point review
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Best Cisco WAP
The Cisco CBW150AX Wi-Fi 6 access point does a good job at providing fast wireless Internet access across several rooms. Its processor is powerful enough to handle multiple connections over many WLANs while using additional mesh adapters helps increase the access point’s range. Installation requires a few steps with clear instructions given on the mobile application.
Booting the access point can take a lot of time, but once the unit is up, it will stay operational without performance degradation for a long time. The CBW150AX offers features such as a firewall and an RF optimization mode for less than $130. It would have been great if it had been accessible from the cloud. Connected clients cannot be named or blocked off the network, which makes it less appealing if one wants to limit access to the Internet.
Read our full Cisco CBW150AX Access Point review
Best WAP for reliability
The WAX610D WAP from Zyxel can be wall or ceiling-mounted to bring WiFi 6 to your home office or business reliably. The device itself is made from quality components. Zyxel has included extras like an anti-noise spreader, surge and ESD protection, and a 4G/5G filter to minimize interference from cellular networks.
The WAX610D also packs a powerful quad-core CPU, two Ethernet ports (one at 2.5Gbps), and best-in-class internal antennas. While it may be slightly higher than the competition, the WAX610D can be managed remotely via an app and a free cloud service.
Read our full Zyxel WAX610D WiFi 6 PoE Access Point review
Best budget WAP
Although Wi-Fi 6 may be the latest and greatest, Wi-Fi 5 still has a lot to offer, and the 240AC from Cisco is a well-built and affordable WAP to meet the needs of most users. The 240AC sports a Qualcomm quad-core CPU with 1GB of RAM and 256MB of Flash memory, and Cisco says that up to 400 clients can use this WAP simultaneously.
Wall mounting holes can be found at the unit’s base, and it also ships with a flat Ethernet cable to power it when connected to a PoE Ethernet switch. This WAP’s range can also be extended further when paired with the company’s 142AC mesh extender.
Read our full Cisco 240AC Wi-Fi 5 Access Point review
Best WAP for remote access
With the EAP660HD, TP-Link refreshes its small and home office product line with Wi-Fi 6 technology. The access point featuring remote management and high-gain antennas comes in an imposing plastic case. It feels solid and accommodates eight antennas for the two radio bands the EAP660HD serves. A quad-core Qualcomm CPU and a generous amount of memory guarantee good responsiveness. It supports up to 16 SSIDs and multiple concurrent connections streaming video content with very few packet drops.
But where the EAP660HD shines is with the software and tech support that TP-Link provides. First, it is very easy to access the AP remotely, even across the Internet, thanks to the Omada Cloud application. The AP software is regularly updated when potential vulnerabilities are found, and an easy-to-use mobile application is available both for Android and iPhone. Its main drawback is not using the Wi-Fi 6 to its full potential, as the EAP660HD uses an 80MHz bandwidth for the 5GHz band.
Read our full TP-Link EAP660HD Wi-Fi 6 Access Point review
Best WAP for streaming
For a Zyxel access point, the WAX630S isn’t the most expensive it makes, but it’s also not the cheapest either.
The attractive features of this design include support for six simultaneous streams, with four over 5GHz and another two using 2.4GHz, a 2.5GbE PoE LAN connection, and a sophisticated internal antenna array.
When combined with special hardware filters, the antenna design reduces the interference from 5G/4G masts and other wireless transmitters. This unit has also been configured to work equally well if it is wall or ceiling-mounted, enabling more flexibility for deployment.
Part of the range of hardware that works with Zyxel’s cloud-based Nebula management tools, the WAX630S is a sophisticated access point built for city office installation and other challenging wireless environments.
Unfortunately, it’s priced accordingly and competes with similar or better specification hardware at a lower price point. If it were to become cheaper, many IT professionals might find the WAX630S an attractive proposition.
Read our full Zyxel WAX630S review
Best WAP for outdoors
The EWS850AP is a mesh-enabled WAP from EnGenius that is ideal for businesses that operate outdoors, but it can also be used in your home if you want full wireless coverage in your backyard. As the device is powered over Ethernet, a 1Gbit PoE injector is included, so you don’t have to buy your own.
As the EWS850AP is intended for outdoor use, EnGenius includes all the hardware needed to mount it directly on a wall or a metal pole. One downside, though is that it only has a 2×2 WiFi configuration which means that it only supports two channels on each frequency with its four antennas. Still, though, for a 2×2 WiFi 6 access point, the EWS850AP has excellent performance, and it can also connect via 2.5GbE, but you will need to purchase a separate PoE injector.
Read our full EnGenius EWS850AP Outdoor Access Point review
Best WAP for speed
The Zyxel’s NWA220AX-6E provides an immediate speed uplift thanks to the 6GHz band brought by the new WiFi 6E standard. It easily outperforms wired 1Gb Ethernet with dedicated radio amplifiers and a great antenna. The limited drop in throughput, even at ten meters or more, makes the access point a piece of equipment central to any small office or during work-from-home periods.
The Nebula cloud system provides an exceptional view of the network and provides devices’ health data points and if any bottleneck is present. At just under $150, the new Zyxel’s access point is an affordable upgrade to a home or office infrastructure, which can also serve as an Ethernet extender thanks to a second Gigabit LAN port.
Read our full Zyxel NWA220AX-6E review
Best WAP for WiFi 7
Thanks to the new Wi-Fi 7 standard, the EnGenius ECW536 takes wireless networks to the next level by adding more range and bandwidth. The range should be as good as previous 5GHz access points. The increase in bandwidth results from using a better encoding algorithm, quadrupling the throughput compared to Wi-Fi 6. These gains come with higher power dissipation and a more expensive unit. A 10G LAN infrastructure supporting PoE is required to use the AP to its fullest potential.
EnGenius offers a 5-year warranty on the ECW536 and customer support via online chat, phone, or email. The AP has cloud access, allowing network inspection and problem resolution remotely.
Read our full EnGenius ECW536 review.
Best WAP for powerlines
The final device on our list is an outlier since it’s technically a powerline adapter. Still, the Powerline 500 Wi-Fi Access Point from Netgear can help extend your network by using the power lines in your home or business to carry the network further before turning it into a wireless signal. While the adapters included in this package are quite small, they can only deliver 100 Mbps per second over Ethernet and 300 Mbps via the access point.
Read our full Netgear Powerline 500 Wi-Fi Access Point review
Best WAP: Frequently asked questions
What is a WAP?
A Wireless Access Point (WAP) can be an excellent solution if the Wi-Fi signal from your router isn’t covering the entirety of your home or office.
As is often the case, a router’s Wi-Fi signal may not cover your whole property, and you’ll have dead spots as you move farther away from your router. Fortunately, a WAP can address these by boosting a router’s signal further.
At the same time, this connectivity boost can allow you to connect more devices to your Wi-Fi network, which can be especially useful if you have a lot of smart home or connected devices in your house or office.
We’ve also tested the best wireless routers and the best small business routers
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