new AP 916x and external antennas

[Per_Cas]

hello forum team, we are planning to migrate 913x APs to 916x APs  to follow new WPA3 standard and wifi 6, however I do not see option for external athena in new 916x APs. Do You know if this is supported? 

[marce1000]

 - Don't think so , look at : https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/wireless/catalyst-9166-series-access-points/catalyst-9166-series-access-points-ds.html?oid=dstwls029540 , only mentions Integrated antenna ,

 M.

[Karsten Iwen]

The 913x is perfectly fine for WPA3 and Wifi-6. It's only WiFi-6E that is missing. External antennas were not allowed for quite some time by the regulatory. Cisco has the Catalyst IW9167 with external antennas, but 6E is still not supported in the software until FCC (or whatever regulatory is relevant) gives its go. 

[Rich R]

So like the others have said don't waste your money buying new APs for something you can already do on your existing APs.
If and when you need to move to 6E then look at the newer APs but as @Karsten Iwen says there are regulatory obstacles to be overcome before those can be used externally.  Specifically AFC must be implemented:
https://www.extremenetworks.com/extreme-networks-blog/wi-fi-6e-and-automated-frequency-coordination-afc-what-you-need-to/
https://www.rcrwireless.com/20221103/network-infrastructure/wi-fi/fcc-conditionally-approves-afc-systems-for-6-ghz-wi-fi-operation
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/collateral/enterprise-networks/802-11ax-solution/nb-06-wi-fi-6e-wp-cte-en.html#StandardPowerIndoorOutdoor

[Karsten Iwen]

Great ressources for everyone thinking about implementing 6E!