NWA50AX, basic questions?

[Deleted User]

I’m just about to buy 3 AP for my three floor house, I was looking at Unifi 6 Lite but now NWA50AX might be a better choice, I’m not so happy about the controller part required for Unifi,

Questions related to NWA50AX

• Can I use different SSID for 2,4 GHz and 5 GHz? I like to force as many as possible of the devices to use 5 GHz and not 2,4 by assigning different SSID names,
• Can I select manually which channels to use? We have a wifi plan in our townhouses to avoid interference so it’s important to be able to stick to that and not only to be use automatic mode, 
• Suitable PoE switch to avoid 3 injectors?

Many thanks! 

Zyxel_Richard

Welcome to join Zyxel Family!

We recommend you to manage those devices through our Nebula Control Center (https://nebula.zyxel.com/), which is a free tool and helps you to easily manage and monitor all three APs without separately set them up one-by-one, more important is, it can also fulfill all your requirements!

1. On the [Access Point > Configuration > SSID Setting page], you can first click "Add SSID network" to create SSID you want (in the naming you can also include which radio you'd like to use), and then enable them up, click save.


After that, Kindly disable the "simple mode", in the top of this page. After several seconds, you can see the SSID is currently broadcast SSID in both radios. click the "Edit" on the upper-right place to further change the settings we want.




In the setting page, kindly find "radio setting" column, and select the option, then click "Back" and "Confirm" in the page to complete the setting! 





2. Yes, you can configure specific channel for each AP on Nebula.

In the directory [Access Point > Configure > Radio Setting], you can scroll down to the bottom of the page, where you can see the using channel of each AP for 2 radios.




You can select the AP you'd like to configure, and click "edit" button, and configure the fixed channel you'd like to use. Click "Update" after you complete the setting!



P.S. Above two requirements can be also achieved without Nebula's help. But since nebula is a well-integrated managed tools for multi-devices management, we strongly recommend you to use Nebula solution (which is also free!)

Kindly check more introduction about Nebula at web page below:
[https://www.zyxel.com/solutions/Nebula-Commercial-Cloud-Networking-Solution-20161018-771782.shtml]

If you still want to manage those devices without nebula's help, kindly let me know, I can further provide you the configuration steps in that condition.

3. For the recommended switches, we recommend you GS-1200 5/8-HP:
> First, it has four PoE ports which can afford power requirements from three NWA50AXs
> Seconds, it further provides additional ports for other Ethernet devices like smart TV/NAS/PC...
> Third, it provides local web management Interfaces for detail function customization.

Welcome to further check our official site for detail product information and other options.
https://www.zyxel.com/products_services/networking-switch.shtml?t=c

Best Regards,
Richard

Zyxel_Richard

Hi Ingo,

For basic device management on NCC, it's free of charge all the time! We do have several advanced functions and device management approaches that requires user to purchase additional licenses. Kindly refer to the paragraph in the link below for more detail information: https://www.zyxel.com/products_services/Nebula-License-Overview.shtml

When operating with NCC, we'd recommended customer to keep their devices constantly connecting to Nebula, this way all statistic, eventlogs, client information can be collected, organized, and displayed on the Nebula for any administrators to monitor and check their site real-time status.

All communications between Nebula and devices in the local site are encrypted to ensure the data security is strong. So kindly trust the solution and enjoy the benefit of cloud management solution.

Best Regards,
Richard

Zyxel_Richard

Welcome to join Zyxel Family!

We recommend you to manage those devices through our Nebula Control Center (https://nebula.zyxel.com/), which is a free tool and helps you to easily manage and monitor all three APs without separately set them up one-by-one, more important is, it can also fulfill all your requirements!

1. On the [Access Point > Configuration > SSID Setting page], you can first click "Add SSID network" to create SSID you want (in the naming you can also include which radio you'd like to use), and then enable them up, click save.


After that, Kindly disable the "simple mode", in the top of this page. After several seconds, you can see the SSID is currently broadcast SSID in both radios. click the "Edit" on the upper-right place to further change the settings we want.




In the setting page, kindly find "radio setting" column, and select the option, then click "Back" and "Confirm" in the page to complete the setting! 





2. Yes, you can configure specific channel for each AP on Nebula.

In the directory [Access Point > Configure > Radio Setting], you can scroll down to the bottom of the page, where you can see the using channel of each AP for 2 radios.




You can select the AP you'd like to configure, and click "edit" button, and configure the fixed channel you'd like to use. Click "Update" after you complete the setting!



P.S. Above two requirements can be also achieved without Nebula's help. But since nebula is a well-integrated managed tools for multi-devices management, we strongly recommend you to use Nebula solution (which is also free!)

Kindly check more introduction about Nebula at web page below:
[https://www.zyxel.com/solutions/Nebula-Commercial-Cloud-Networking-Solution-20161018-771782.shtml]

If you still want to manage those devices without nebula's help, kindly let me know, I can further provide you the configuration steps in that condition.

3. For the recommended switches, we recommend you GS-1200 5/8-HP:
> First, it has four PoE ports which can afford power requirements from three NWA50AXs
> Seconds, it further provides additional ports for other Ethernet devices like smart TV/NAS/PC...
> Third, it provides local web management Interfaces for detail function customization.

Welcome to further check our official site for detail product information and other options.
https://www.zyxel.com/products_services/networking-switch.shtml?t=c

Best Regards,
Richard

[Deleted User]

@Zyxel_Richard, Your prompt and thorough answer is very much appreciated and very helpful for me.

Some questions related  to NCC,p
Is NCC free of charge only during a limited time?

Can I disconnect from NCC after the initial Configurations and only connect when needed or do my APs need to be constantly connected to NCC. I understand that there is probably measurements and statistics that won’t be available if disconnected.

I’m concerned about the security with a cloud solution configuring, monitoring having constant access to my NW. 

Thanks,
Ingo

Zyxel_Richard

Hi Ingo,

For basic device management on NCC, it's free of charge all the time! We do have several advanced functions and device management approaches that requires user to purchase additional licenses. Kindly refer to the paragraph in the link below for more detail information: https://www.zyxel.com/products_services/Nebula-License-Overview.shtml

When operating with NCC, we'd recommended customer to keep their devices constantly connecting to Nebula, this way all statistic, eventlogs, client information can be collected, organized, and displayed on the Nebula for any administrators to monitor and check their site real-time status.

All communications between Nebula and devices in the local site are encrypted to ensure the data security is strong. So kindly trust the solution and enjoy the benefit of cloud management solution.

Best Regards,
Richard

[Deleted User]

Learning more every day. 
What about support for 802.11k, 802.11v, 802.11r when moving around in the house. 

Zyxel_Richard

NWA50AX support 802.11r/k/v. These functions helps client to shorten the period of hand-over within different APs when moving around in the house.

The entire hand-over process includes several stages, so if the clients moving too fast, the entire process can't be completely undergone, then the client will temporarily disconnect from Wi-Fi (but just a few seconds).
Through 802.11r/k/v, the hand-over process would have higher chance to be completed, as the result, client won't suffer for phone call disconnect even when they moving around in the house. 

However, to let these features take effect, making sure your smartphone/end device also support those features. (Kindly check the specification with the manufacture)

As for the rule-of-thumb in configuration, users can feel free to enable 802.11k/v at any time, but only enable 802.11r after ensure all there devices support this feature.
(Due to the detail technical implementation, some compatibility issue will occur on those non-support clients when we enable 802.11r on AP, which takes longer time to connect to AP)

Best Regards,
Richard