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User Manual

Explanation of Wi-Fi classes

In the description of your Keenetic router (in its technical specifications), you can see a Wi-Fi class indication. For example: AX1800, AC2600, AC1300, AC1200 or N300. What do these letters and numbers mean?

AX

This means that the router's Wi-Fi access point supports the IEEE 802.11ax standard (Wi-Fi 6). The router can operate in two frequency bands, 2.4 and 5 GHz. This standard is backwards compatible with previous wireless standards. You will be able to connect IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax devices to this access point.

AC

This indicates that the Wi-Fi access point of the router supports the IEEE 802.11ac standard (Wi-Fi 5). The router can operate in two frequency bands, 2.4 and 5 GHz. This standard is backwards compatible with previous wireless standards. You can connect IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac devices to this access point.

N

This means that the router's Wi-Fi access point supports the IEEE 802.11n standard (Wi-Fi 4).The router can operate in a single 2.4 GHz frequency band. This standard is backwards compatible with previous wireless networking standards. You will be able to connect IEEE 802.11b/g/n devices to this access point.

As for the numbers in the Wi-Fi class definition, they are rounded values resulting from the sum of the maximum possible channel speeds of the 2.4 and 5 GHz access points, which are hardware implemented on different chips and operate in parallel and independently of each other.

AX1800 is used in Hero (KN-1011) and Voyager Pro (KN-3510).

Provides a maximum connection speed of 1201 Mbps on the 5 GHz band plus 574 Mbps on the 2.4 GHz band. For maximum connection speeds, use 802.11ax client devices with 2x2 MIMO Wi-Fi adapters operating with 160 MHz channel width and 1024-QAM modulation support.

AC2600 Wave 2* is used in Peak (KN-2710), Titan (KN-1810) and Peak DSL (KN-2510).

Provides a maximum connection speed of 1733 Mbps on the 5 GHz band, plus 800 Mbps on the 2.4 GHz band. For maximum connection speeds, use 802.11ac devices with MIMO 4x4 Wi-Fi adapters operating with a channel width up to 160MHz.

AC1300 is used in Giant (KN-2610), Hero DSL (KN-2410), Hero 4G (KN-2310) and Skipper (KN-1910).

Provides a maximum connection speed of 867 Mbps on the 5 GHz band, plus 400 Mbps on the 2.4 GHz band. For maximum connection speeds, use 802.11ac devices with 2x2 MIMO Wi-Fi adapters operating on an 80MHz channel width.

AC1200 is used in Carrier (KN-1711), Explorer (KN-1611) and Speedster (KN-3010).

Provides a maximum connection speed of 867Mbps on the 5GHz band plus 300Mbps on the 2.4GHz band. For maximum connection speeds, use devices with MIMO 2x2 type Wi-Fi adapters operating with an 80 MHz channel width.

N300 is used in Runner 4G (KN-2210), Buddy 4 (KN-3210).

Delivers a maximum wireless connection speed of 300 Mbps with IEEE 802.11n devices using two spatial streams (MIMO 2x2) and 40 MHz channel width.

Important

Wireless connection speeds depend on the standard of the devices to be connected, the number of spatial streams (MIMO) they use and the channel width. The speeds stated above are channel speeds (connection speeds at the physical layer). The actual data transfer rate will be approximately 50-60% of the channel rate in practice.

The higher the Wi-Fi class, the more capability the wireless access point has, the higher speeds can be achieved. Maximum connection speeds can only be achieved with an appropriately rated client. Devices of previous generations or with lesser spatial streams will connect at lower speeds.

More information on 802.11n/ac/ax can be found in the articles:

* Wave 2 — The second version of the Wi-Fi 5 standard (802.11ac). Keenetic Titan (KN-1810), Peak (KN-2710) and Peak DSL (KN-2510) are fully implemented with the second version of the standard.

Tip

The second revision of the 802.11ac Wave 2 standard is based on the previous version of the standard, but with some significant changes, as follows:

  • Increased performance from 1.3 Gbps to 2.34 Gbps;

  • Added support for Multi-User MIMO (MU-MIMO) with four spatial streams;

  • Channel width increased to 160 MHz (eight standard 20 MHz channels are used at once; this mode takes twice the band, which for some devices that do not support an extensive set of channels will result in a non-overlapping network on the air; 160 MHz channels are in reality relevant for customers who have them supported and operate in the pure 5 GHz radio spectrum);

  • Increased number of channels in the 5 GHz band.

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