MR44 vs MR46 Access Point Coverage

[Aditya Kurulkar]

Hello Experts,

We are working on designing a greenfield Network design and deployment for out Super Specialty Hospital in India (bangalore). We are looking at MR44 vs MR46, although the specs say they are very similar. I wanted to hear from the experts here if there is any difference in terms of the coverage area that these APs have?

Like in a 20ft x 20ft area with few walls in the middle, would MR46 work or MR44. or would the coverage be the same.

consider the density is the same (Med density) I am more concerned on the coverage as it will affect the number of APs and ports on the access stack.

Hope this gives some good background.

Thanks ahead.

Regards,

Aditya!

[Viking1971]

Thanks for your reply.

It is my understanding that 44s are not 5GHz only, but that they handle 2.4 in 2x2 as opposed to 4x4.

It is also my understanding that the 46s are better for denser areas, so the site that didn't need many AP's would have been a better placement for the 44s. No?

I'm not questioning, I'm trying to borrow your experience to make my decision. 🙂

And about the old site equipped completely with more 44s, I believe that you mean that the new ones you bought were for this old site and by switching to 44s you avoided mix-and-matching and covered the entire space with one model AP, yes?

Thanks again!

[Karsten Iwen]

The 5 GHz only was that we didn't care about 2.4, The Business-SSIDs are 5GHz only. 2.4 is enabled on the Guest SSID. In this setup we have 4*4 on the SSIDs we care of for a reduced price per AP. The rest was exactly as you say. We try not to mix APs which is quite easy if there are enough sites to shift the APs around.

The next shifting will be more complex as the CWs have other mounting plates compared to the MRs.

[Viking1971]

Thanks so much again.