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NetGear WAX206 AX3200 Wi-Fi Access Point $109 Delivered (Was $129) ($0 VIC, NSW, SA C&C/ in-Store) + Surcharge @ Centre Com

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NetGear WAX206 AX3200 Wi-Fi Access Point $109 Delivered (Was $129) ($0 VIC, NSW, SA C&C/ in-Store) + Surcharge @ Centre Com
Go to Deal
rygle on 05/11/2023 - 21:44 centrecom.com.au (778 clicks)
Last edited 07/11/2023 - 06:02 by 3 other users

Good brand, quality wireless access point at a great price.

Surcharges: 1.2% Card & PayPal, 2% AmEx. Free shipping excludes WA, NT & remote areas.

Positives;

  • WiFi 6 (802.11AX 4x4 up to 80MHz) on 5GHz
  • Will run OpenWRT very well (plenty of storage and memory) allowing a variety of functions including remote access (I personally use Tailscale, which is built on top of WireGuard - better than OpenVPN for various reasons including speed)
  • Good range and throughput 3200Mbit/sec on both NetGear and OpenWRT firmware
  • 2.5Gbit/sec WAN connection

Negatives;

  • WiFi 5 only (802.11AC 4x4 up to 40MHz) on 2.4GHz
  • No USB
Computing NetGear Wireless Access Point

Related Stores

Centre Com
Centre Com

closed Comments

  • MasterScythe on 05/11/2023 - 21:50
    +1

    I was tempted by this for openwrt but the no usb and ax on 5ghz only put me off.

    • rygle on 05/11/2023 - 21:52
      +1

      I know, it's a shame on both counts. Many similar routers have the same two features missing.

      The Netgear WAX202 has WiFi 6 on 2.4GHz but slower throughput at AX1800, which is still reasonable for many people's needs.

      • rygle on 06/11/2023 - 00:43
        +5

        Just noticed the Netgear Wax202 is on special too for $78.

        https://www.centrecom.com.au/netgear-wax202-wifi-6-ax1800-du…

        This also has no USB, but has 2.4GHz WiFi 6 (ax1800).

        It is supported by OpenWRT as well but has a slower processor and less memory and storage.

        Still, $78!

        • bazingaa on 06/11/2023 - 16:58

          That is a great price for WX202, I got it for $95 a while back and running AX on both 2.4 & 5, PPPoE connection over FTTC.

        • Certified Angus on 06/11/2023 - 22:31

          They advertise these as Access Points, but it looks like they are fully featured Routers, is that right?

          • rygle on 07/11/2023 - 05:58
            +1

            @Certified Angus: Yes. They have more than enough processing power to do routing and more.

          • thacodemonkey on 08/11/2023 - 09:54
            +1

            @Certified Angus: I have one of these which I use as a standalone access point. The software it comes with has very limited functionality outside of being an AP so if you wanted to use it as a router/firewall you would have to flash it with openWRT.

      • OMGJL on 06/11/2023 - 02:30

        I spend around $150 AUD (702 Chinese RMB) on a TPLink XDR 6088 (before shipping) and couldn't be happier about it.

        Official OpenWRT support, Dual 2.5Gb network + 4 Gigabit + AX6000, fully speed USB 3.0 port that actually pumps 250MB/s +

        only downside is Official OpenWRT uBoot come without any UI and is quite easy to brick the device, but I have WSON8 Prob and NAND programmer …. not a huge deal.

        • rygle on 06/11/2023 - 07:30

          Alibaba?

          You're harder core than me. I have so far stuck to locally available consumer grade low budget and no external wiring, just software. Have toyed with the idea of a BananaPi BPi R3.

          I'm waiting on some more filogic devices. I know the Mercusys MR90x is here now.

          • OMGJL on 06/11/2023 - 08:56

            @rygle: I bought it on actual Chinese platform taobao and got someone carried it over while they coming to Australia.

            Hardcore nah, just a silly person who's dumb enough to brick the thing and refuse to give up lol, end up soldier TTL pins and NAND program it.

            About Mercusys MR90x, Single 2.5Gb kills the deal, I don't get it why single 2.5Gb is a thing, not like people can really enjoy the extra speed without having the second port.

  • pizzaguy on 05/11/2023 - 22:06
    +2

    2.5Mbit/sec WAN connection

    This surely a typo (?)

    • rygle on 05/11/2023 - 22:29
      +4

      Have a look at the specs on the store page. No misquote.

      The main CPU chip is a MediaTek MT7622, which handles the 2.4GHz WiFi as well, then there is a MediaTek MT7915AN/MT7975AN for the 5GHz, but it has a separate chip (Realtek RTL8221B) that handles the 2.5Gb/s ethernet uplink (only for the WAN port) and a MediaTek MT7531AE for the switch that drives the 4 x 1Mbps LAN ports. The OpenWRT gurus had trouble with the uplink auto-negotiation switching between 100Mbps, 1Gbps and 2.5Gbps (as several Realtek chips have not so great open source Linux driver support) and they had to set it statically when compiling the firmware image and you had to pick one based on your modem setup, but then they succeeded in getting it going.

      See this OpenWRT tech data page;
      https://openwrt.org/toh/hwdata/netgear/netgear_wax206

      And that links to https://git.openwrt.org/?p=openwrt/openwrt.git;a=commit;h=f6… that has more information about the code commit that finally supported these chips.

      • [Deactivated] on 06/11/2023 - 00:33
        +3

        you could simply say Yes :)))))

        • rygle on 06/11/2023 - 00:38
          +4

          Yes, sorry, a bit technical, but I find on the whole ozbargain people crucify you if you don't absolutely back a technical statement, no matter how innocent.

          I was trying to be very careful to play nice and not denigrate anyone!

          • [Deactivated] on 06/11/2023 - 00:39
            +2

            @rygle: This mob does not deserve you.

            • rygle on 06/11/2023 - 00:45

              @[Deactivated]: Thanks. I like to be helpful.

              • [Deactivated] on 06/11/2023 - 00:49
                +1

                @rygle: I like deep people. Thing is, it is rarely appreciated. So save it for good cause, unsolicited advice here :)
                (playing Nine Inch Nails / Hesitation Marks / In Two)

                • rygle on 06/11/2023 - 00:51

                  @[Deactivated]: I'm more of a Tool guy. Love Danny Carey playing pneuma live!

                  • [Deactivated] on 06/11/2023 - 00:56

                    @rygle: you try listening to mine, I'll try yours :)

          • pizzaguy on 06/11/2023 - 09:07
            +1

            @rygle: Thanks, that was an honest question.

            These specs weren't on the linked page and I didn't bother digging deeper.

            • rygle on 07/11/2023 - 06:05
              +2

              @pizzaguy: Sorry, after all that it was a typo. I want seeing the woods for the trees.

      • jwh on 06/11/2023 - 11:13
        +4

        I feel like this whole thread had missed the point of it being a typo (Mbps vs. Gbps).

        Everything else makes good sense.

        • rygle on 07/11/2023 - 06:02

          Yes, my bad.

  • tonyjzx on 05/11/2023 - 23:12

    https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeNetworking/comments/q7h27u/revi…

    look at the cons

    this is a budget router

    saying that i dont care about usb since we all have a nas and 2,4 is for the birds anyway

    • rygle on 05/11/2023 - 23:29
      +2

      Whether it's a budget router is a matter of opinion and also depends on your needs. It is a little older in terms of WiFi 6 devices, (came out in 2022) but still as much as many people might need or want.

      Netgear market this and the whole WAX range as business router/access points that support high numbers of devices, Vlans and multiple SSIDs.

      It has the same chipset as numerous other routers such as the Belkin RT3200 and Linksys E8450, which are both highly regarded, albeit early WiFi 6 devices, the main difference being that Netgear skimped on the USB port.

      It has a massive amount of memory and storage.

      It has dual firmware to help prevent bricking.

      It doesn't require any app or corporate login/account to configure or run it like many router brands are now pushing people into.

      If you don't think Netgear are a reputable brand, I'm not sure what is…

    • rygle on 05/11/2023 - 23:40

      Some of the weaknesses in that article are written about the stock firmware before he mentioned that the stuff he missed was added in a later update.

      I agree on the no USB thing, which means you can't use this as a samba server/NAS unfortunately, but yes you can plug a Nas or PC running open media vault or similar into it to serve data.

      The lack of 160MHz bandwidth on the 5GHz is pretty moot really as I don't think many routers at all truly support 160MHz and even fewer client devices do.

  • stephendt on 06/11/2023 - 00:02

    Very similar to the Redmi AX6s, which is basically the same but without the 2.5GBe port. Solid deal considering it has Openwrt support.

  • BigMoth on 06/11/2023 - 00:17

    I bought an Asus rt ax56u earlier this year and am disappointed at it being EOLd so soon after.
    Is this router comparable?
    Will it get security updates for a while yet?
    I see it supports VLAN … can I isolate an IP camera system easily with this?
    Thanks

    • rygle on 06/11/2023 - 00:32

      This would be faster overall than the RT-AX56U, but maybe not in all cases.

      The ASUS RT-AX56U has WiFi 6 on the 2.4GHz band, which might mean better speed at distance in particular but as it's also only ax1800 I think that would mitigate any gain. Up close the wax would be easy faster on 5GHz.

      The Asus has USB ports (X2 I think).

      The wax206 can do Vlans on stock and OpenWRT firmware, however you might just be able to set one of your WiFi bands to an IOT devices only band and untick something like "allow clients to communicate". It's worth a shot.

      • whats up skip on 06/11/2023 - 08:25

        The major problem with using OpenWRT and similar with a WiFi AP device is that you lose many of the advanced WiFi features as these can't be supported properly under open source software.

        One of the other major advantages with WiFi 6 on the 2.4MHz band is for IoT WiFi 6 clients use much less "air" time, thus the total capacity of the band is improved. Not that there are many WiFi 6 IoT device out yet.

        • rygle on 10/11/2023 - 15:48

          I'm not sure I agree with you on the WiFi features. OpenWRT actually offers a lot of features that aren't always exposed on other routers. Very many (i.e. almost all) consumer grade routers actually depend on older versions of OpenWRT but just put a slightly easier GUI on a few main features and sometimes add proprietary features that don't follow universal standards and will only work with the same brand (e.g. many mesh implementations).

          If OpenWRT (the full/real version, not the cut down out of date obscured Qualcomm version that comes on many routers) supports a router, it will generally enhance it to a fair degree. Some things will be a bit more technical (like mesh) but many routers that OpenWRT allows to do this couldn't even do it at all with their stock firmware.) There is sometimes a slight speed penalty with the open source drivers, but there's also a world of possibility.

    • rygle on 06/11/2023 - 00:46
      +1

      In terms of security updates, if you install OpenWRT it will be for many years to come.

      • rygle on 06/11/2023 - 00:50

        But sadly the Asus RT-AX56U is a Broadcom chipset that don't like to play nice with open source including Linux and OpenWRT. The Asus rt-ax53u is supported by OpenWRT but it's similar specs to the wax206 or wax202.

  • JayZBlade on 06/11/2023 - 01:30

    Absolute rookie when it comes to routers, how big of an upgrade would this be over the standard Optus router, and what specific benefits would it have?

    • OMGJL on 06/11/2023 - 02:36
      +3

      bare minimum default setup, you might get slightly better wifi (depends on if your Optus router have WiFi AX) + more security + a bit better routing capability (less lag when lots of people all using the network at once —- comparison result differ depends on the processor of your Optus router)

      with more setup, you could:

      DNS Cache (don't need to do DNS lookup everytime you access a new webpage, speed up webpage loading)
      DNS adblock (adblock on all your devices without needing to install plugin on those devices)
      VLAN
      WireGuard
      OpenVPN
      tons of other plugin, pick your poison

  • Chopel on 06/11/2023 - 10:01

    Can I use this with my NBN? Still looking for good router.
    My NBN has https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSrk9Sn…

    • McFly on 06/11/2023 - 10:19

      HFC - yes.

      • Chopel on 06/11/2023 - 10:21

        Cool, thanks.

      • stephendt on 06/11/2023 - 11:29

        Fttn too if you have a separate bridged router

  • bazingaa on 10/11/2023 - 23:34

    can we use WAX202 as wifi repeater with stock firmware ? or WDS with OpenWRT is a must ?

    • rygle on 11/11/2023 - 15:29

      I think you could probably but not 100% sure.

      See my comments in this post where I refer to the WAX202 manual and several videos.
      https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/802390

      • bazingaa on 12/11/2023 - 15:08

        it is not in settings, I already had WAX202 and upgraded to WAX206 with this deal. Looks like I have to flash OpenWRT to both

        • rygle on 12/11/2023 - 16:23
          +1

          They're pretty easy to upgrade to OpenWRT.

          I think these instructions will get you going for WiFi bridging on OpenWRT using the Luci gui interface
          https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wifi/atheroswds#…

          I think you might only need to make the bridging/secondary router as OpenWRT, but it's not that hard.

  • Chippy47 on 15/11/2023 - 23:40

    @rygle would a couple of these/or the 202’s be an upgrade over 3 x deco m9’s? I have Ethernet backhaul but I don’t enjoy the lack of customisation that the deco’s have. Don’t really want to go full Unifi and would like to put my IoT devices on a separate VLAN although I’ve never gone done that road before. TIA

    • rygle on 16/11/2023 - 07:13

      Sorry my reply didn't seem to come in reply, see below.

  • rygle on 16/11/2023 - 07:12
    +1

    Would be an upgrade, particularly if you're after extra functionality. They will do VLANs easily if you install OpenWRT. You can do other stuff like install tailscale (souped up WireGuard) for remote access, ad blocking. Watch some videos from One Marc Fifty on YouTube about OpenWRT and VLANs - he is good value and you won't struggle much.

    OpenWRT is a learning curve but it's not as hard as you might think. Half the battle is finding a decent router that supports it. Basically anything with a Broadcom processor won't work because Broadcom make it very hard for anything to do with the Linux kernel and don't release source code. MediaTek are a different story. These two routers have a MediaTek 7921 or 7922 processor, which is reasonably good, plus a reasonable amount of internal storage space and RAM. The 206 has an edge over the 202, but their main shortcoming is that neither have USB so they can't file serve via USB.

    I only have a single 206 at my place and I've just put it central to everything and up high (on top of the fridge) and it works pretty well,. I have hard lines to my media server and main computer but wireless to my ShieldTV and everything else. I have installed a wired backhaul setup using slightly older routers running OpenWRT at a community group that I'm involved in and it works well for that.

    In terms of OpenWRT, the next step up from these is something like the Mercusys MR90X (made by TP-link), which has the MediaTek 79xx processor, often called Filogic. There are a bunch more filogic routers coming out including the GLiNet Flint 2 that has just dropped and you might still be able to get early bird for US$109 (GL-MT6000 AX6000, not the original Flint, the AX1800).

    • rygle on 16/11/2023 - 07:30
      +1

      You can still get the Flint 2 for USD109 plus free shipping, so about $AU175-180.

      https://www.gl-inet.com/products/gl-mt6000/

      • Iceman-jkh on 01/12/2023 - 00:47

        Awesome information from you. Thanks.

        I've got a Ruckus R710 (https://support.ruckuswireless.com/products/79-ruckus-r710) running Unleashed (their 'self-manage' software) in a 2 storey brick/concrete apartment. The Ruckus claims to be a hotel/airport type wifi device, being able to connect 100-1000 devices without issue. It's been decent so far, but occasionally I get lag/low speeds (<10mbps) in some areas of the apartment/times and weird dropouts.

        I have 100/40 FTTC coming into a pfsense box that does all the firewall/routing.

        On the WIFI side, the R710 manages:
        - 4x 2.4Ghz SSIDs (Home, and various Guest/IOT)
        - 1x 5 Ghz SSID (Home).
        (The guest/IOT SSIDs are configured via pfsense VLANS, but supported by the R710).

        My devices are:
        - 5x 2.4G modern phones/tablets,
        - 1x 5Ghz GoogleTV,
        - 2x 5Ghz PCs,
        - ~25x 2.4Ghz IOT devices (with low bandwidth requirements - sensors, lights, etc.).

        I was just wondering if you would recommend that I upgrade from the R710 and if so, to the Mercusys MR90X, GL-MT6000 AX6000, Netgear WAX206 or anything else.
        Thanks.

    • Chippy47 on 16/11/2023 - 09:46
      +2

      @rygle Thank you for taking the time to provide such a detailed response. Much appreciated.

  • Chopel on 27/11/2023 - 21:48

    Received the access point, however I can't find the option to setup Dynamic DNS. Anyone know how to enable this function?
    Manual showing there is an option to setup Dynamic DNS.

    • rygle on 28/11/2023 - 06:41

      Not sure with the stock firmware. Been several years since I've looked, and when I just googled it, it's there in the manual, but several people say it's missing.

      Solutions:

      • rygle on 28/11/2023 - 06:54

        Please note that this stuff can be a security nightmare, and the OpenWRT gurus really hammer people for opening ports to the outside world, because you are bypassing your firewall and most home hosted web servers etc including OpenWRT are not geared up or hardened to protect you properly from hacking, DDOS attacks, etc.

        I think there is some stuff in that CloudFlare related video or a follow on video from the same guy about locking it down by requiring a password or other security measures before it will forward to the domain.

        Alternatively depending on what you are trying to do you could look at a VPN type solution to access your internal network from outside. I recommend Tailscale, but I just saw a video from "Network Chuck" on YouTube the other day about a very similar thing called TwinGate, which seems almost identical in many ways. You'll just have to ignore Chuck's fake ADHD excited presentation manner, which I find grates on me. Kind you, most of these guys on these videos are nerds trying to be cool, which is kind of difficult.

      • Chopel on 28/11/2023 - 07:53

        I'm not tech savvy to install OpenWRT. Will it void the warranty? Or it's easy to put back to original firmware?

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