The Grandstream GWN7664ELR is a sort of successor to the GWN7664LR WiFi 6 access point, sporting a different design and look. This time we found flexibility of 8 internal antennas with faster gain. Channel Bandwidth on 5G this time supports 160 MHz. Because to have 160 MHz of contiguous frequency on the 5 GHz band, you need access to the DFS channels, which aren't available in every countries, which can take over a minute to become available, and also can be problematic if you live in area where there are other services using the same frequencies. 80 MHz is far more reliable. I do need to mention the WiFi 6E which does make use of the 160MHz channel bandwidth in a far more efficient way, but we’re very far from any wide-spread adoption of WiFi 6E-compatible clients. The Grandstream GWN7664ELR is a powerful Wireless Acces Point that features enterprise-grade 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 and a very long range of 300 meters. It is outdoor use and is ideal for medium-to-large-sized businesses, multiple-floor buildings, residential settings, and commercial locations.
The main WiFi 6 feature that the GWN7664ELR supports is the OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access) which increases the efficiency of the network by limiting the latency. This is achieved by using RUs (resource units) to carry various sizes of data through a channel towards multiple client devices at the same time. It offers IP67-level weatherproof capability, dual-band 4×4:4 MU-MIMO and a sophisticated antenna design for up to 6 Gbps wireless throughput that supports 512 clients and an expanded 300-meter coverage range. So, it’s a bit different than the GWN7664LR, but how well does it actually perform? Let’s find out.
Packaging & Contents
No surprise that the packaging for the GWN7664ELR comes in a brown box, this is what Grandstream has done for all of their enterprise products. The box for the GWN7664ELR is big, a lot bigger than I expected. Both the front and back have the Grandstream branding on them. They also have two white stickers on the side. Those have the UPC and part number as well as your serial number. It also has a QR code that will take you to the product info as well.
Flipping the front out and lifting the box open, we are greeted with the contents. For significant shock absorption, we have the hard Styrofoam to help protect the unit during transit. The access point’s (AP) finish is protected from scratches as it is further enclosed in a protective plastic sleeve.
The kit includes a manual, screws, screws with lock washers, four expansion screws, two sturdy metal brackets for wall mounting, with cut-outs allowing it to be placed on a pole using circular clamps. The mount pieces are likely dubbed as its heatsink. Just remember, purchase a PoE adapter if you're purchasing an access point!
A Closer Look
Compared with those from other vendors, the new GWN7664ELR is definitely bulky although it's not heavy. Once we start looking at the sides we can see that the white plastic cover wraps around a little less than a half inch and there is a slight curve to the front shape so it is thicker in the center than the outside edges. The build quality feels quite sturdy. Unit Dimension has 260mm(L)x310mm(W)x59mm(H) and 1.445kg Weight. It has a rectangular shape form factor, with a glossy white plastic finish and Grandstream logo in a grey in the bottom. As a result, it’s a reasonable match for most exterior color schemes. The case will easily blend in with the wall and if it wasn’t for the single tri-color LED at the top, you would hardly notice its presence. The access point comes with eight internal antennas four more than GWN7664LR (2.4GHz, gain 5.5dBi/5GHz, gain 6.5dB). Since there are no ventilation holes, does the GWN7664ELR get hot? Not at all cause of a large heatsink that covers the half inside. With the heatsink, the temperature rating does from -30C~60C which is the same on the GWN7664LR, and has a humidity of up to 90%.
The back of the housing is grey, and has four mounting holes and slots. The screws are included in the package, and installation is fairly straightforward. Decide where you want to mount the access point, drill your holes, insert the screws, and hang it up. There’s really not that much else to it. It's weather resistance has been upgraded from IP66 on the GWN7664ELR up to IP67. The 6 means complete dust protection. The upgrade from 6 to 7 is on the water intrusion rating. IP67 is protection from immersion between 15 centimeters and 1 meter in depth.
The back side has a white sticker on it, this has all of your model information, serial, and Mac address as well. It also has a WiFi password for quickly adding the GWN7664ELR to your account for a quick setup. GWN7664ELR can be used as a standalone access point out of the box, or after a factory reset with Wi-Fi enabled by default. After powering the GWN7664LR and connecting it to the network, GWN7664ELR will broadcast a default SSID based on its MAC address GWN[MAC’s last 6 digits] and a random password. Locate the MAC address on the MAC tag of the unit. The device is built with dual-band 4×4:4 MU-MIMO with DL/UL OFDMA technology out of the box. MU-MIMO stands for, multi-user multiple input and multiple output technologies. To keep things simple, just understand that this means that the GWN7664ELR is designed to juggle multiple wireless devices.
This model is equipped with 2.5Gbps RJ45 PoE+ and 2.5Gbps SFP wireline ports, offering flexible connectivity options to meet various network needs. PoE/PoE+ allows you to run small devices, like a wireless access point, without a separate power connection. This means there’s only one wire to run. We can find here a Factory reset button also.
Setup & Software
Once you’ve set up the bracket and used the cable to connect the access point to your router, you’ll need to configure the device to use your preferred settings. This is done by using the access point’s SSID to access a specific webpage with a unique code, which is supplied. Once there, you’ll log in using the default access details on the back of the Grandstream access point – after which you can change the default name, network’s password, and set download and upload limits for any connection. So we can do all the customization and access controls without any issues. But when considering remote access, the access and the controls are limited. So you won’t get complete control or access to all the functionalities with regular remote access. But when it comes to GWN7664ELR, the story is different. GWN7664ELR offers the traditional local access and management console for managing the device. You can completely control the device from any computer within the local network.
What makes GWN7664ELR handier is its cloud management solution. With GWN Cloud, you can access the access point from any part of the world with its advanced remote access feature. Once you connect the GWN7664ELR device with the GWN Cloud account, you can access the device control panel directly by visiting the gwn.cloud website from any part of the world. Unlike traditional remote access, GWN Cloud offers the same access control from the local network. So here, remote access means complete control without any limitation. Another benefit of the GWN Cloud is connecting an unlimited number of devices. For example, suppose your office or business place has multiple access points in single or multiple locations. In that case, you can connect all the access points to the single cloud portal and manage all the devices from a single control panel. GWN Cloud and GWN Management offer a great control panel with an intuitive dashboard. You can find all the network-related details in a single window, including the bandwidth usage, Top connected clients, websites, top SSID, etc. The GWN Cloud and its dashboard offer much more, which cannot explain the same in a short description. With GWN7664ELR, you can create up to 32 different SSID. If you compare the same with a regular wifi router limited to 2 SSIDs or a maximum of 4 SSID, including the guest network, GWN7664ELR offers 32. Depending on your business nature and needs, you can create multiple SSIDs that can be used for different purposes. Each SSIDs can be controlled and customized with its capability and privileges. GWN7664ELR offers a Captive portal to manage guest connections. You can create a dedicated SSID and can be connected to the Captivity Portal in which the guest can connect to the network using some voucher code, mobile-based OTP, etc. This connection model can be found in public wifi networks in Malls, Hospitals, etc. Guest can directly connect to an open network, and the authentication can be done using a mobile number, social media account, etc. In addition, you can create unlimited vouchers from the Captive Portal, and the same coupon can be shared with the guests. Guests can use this voucher to connect to the network without any passwords.
GWN Cloud functionality can be accessed from the mobile app also. Grandstream offers a dedicated mobile app to manage the app’s Cloud devices. But the GWN app is limited in its capability, and you can’t do much with the mobile app. It is easy to monitor network usage, SSID, etc. But the controls and the options available within the app are limited. So, we recommend using the GWN.cloud website for cloud management.
Test Methology & Performance
Before we cover my iPerf results, it’s important to understand what they do and do not say. iPerf is a tool for testing throughput on wired and wireless networks, but it is easy to misinterpret these numbers, or put too much importance on them. Using a public speed test server like fast.com or speedtest.net will almost always result in lower speeds. iPerf is a good way to get repeatable results and test the upper end of performance, but they don’t always reflect normal everyday use. iPerf tests are like taking a car to a drag strip and putting the accelerator on the floor. Most people don't commute on drag strips, and 99% of the time you're not going to be pushing an access point to it's throughput limit with a single client. Things that aren't captured in these results — roaming performance, multi-client throughput, latency, consistency, retransmission rates — arguably matter more than how fast they can be in a straight line. Wi-Fi equipment is marketed with maximum theoretical data rates, such as 1200 or 2400 Mbps. These numbers represent a speed limit, in a sense. You’ll never get 1200 Mbps of throughput from a 1200 Mbps data rate, because Wi-Fi is a shared medium with many sources of overhead. As an example, every 1/10th of a second an AP sends out a beacon frame, which advertises the network to nearby clients. Beacon frames and other management traffic are typically sent out at the slowest data rate so all clients can accurately receive them. These messages consume a small fraction of airtime. In most networks other clients and nearby Wi-Fi devices are consuming airtime as well, and little chunks of time are wasting switching back and forth. All of these factors limit how much data can be sent or received by clients, and they will cause your results to be different from mine. Things are more complicated now because of multi-user MIMO, OFDMA, and other factors, but Wi-Fi is traditionally half-duplex. This doesn’t mean throughput gets cut in half, it means that only one device can be transmitting on a channel at a given time. Wi-Fi is more like a walkie talkie than a phone call. If you have two devices in use, they have to take turns transmitting and receiving data. This results in small gaps in time where devices are waiting to make sure the coast is clear for them to transmit. Add in beacon frames, transmission errors, other sources of interference or delay, and getting 50-70% of your data rate is actually doing pretty well. In ideal conditions you’ll get closer, but data rates are like the speed of light — you’ll only achieve a fraction of it. iPerf throughput results shouldn't be the only factor you consider when picking an AP. I tested 5 GHz performance. I used a local iPerf server, and wired gigabit Ethernet backhaul on Grandstream GWN7664ELR. This is testing best-case downlink capacity to a single client. I did my best to keep an even playing field and use a clean channel, but my house is not an RF testing lab. I ran these tests with 20, 40, and 80 MHz channel widths.
Once we had configured the Grandstream GWN7664ELR, we tested the access point’s performance – and were really impressed with what it offered. In our configuration (using 80 MHz channel bandwidths and 2×2 MIMO client devices), we were able to consistently achieve throughputs of about 925 Mbps (as measured by iPerf3), as shown in Figure, below. Notably, these speeds remained consistent even when we moved quite far away from the access point – allowing us to download and upload files at good speeds even while 250 metres away (200 on previous GWN7664LR). But your mileage may vary. According to Grandstream, the GWN7664ELR can cover much larger areas than this – its range is up to 300 metres – so it is a great option for even the large enterprises, warehouses, and multi-floor buildings. It can support over 750 concurrent Wi-Fi client devices. The GWN7664ELR even boasts built-in security features like anti-hacking secure booting and critical data protection that is powered by digital signatures.
Final Thoughts
The Grandstream GWN7664ELR is kind of like the bigger brother of the GWN7664LR because it has a bigger case and more antennas, and it doesn’t differ that much in terms of features either. Yes, I know Grandstream beefed up the 5GHz radio band a little bit on the GWN7664ELR and there’s also the added support for the 160MHz channel bandwidth. But does it actually matter that much? It depends. In an area with lots of interference, you’re better off using the 40MHz channel width, but in a fairly isolated place that’s not actively invaded by other access point, using the 160MHz will make a difference. The GWN7664ELR did give us a great performance, but that only scratched the surface of what the 4x4 access point is capable of with most of that performance being limited by almost all wireless devices only supporting 2x2. The real performance will be seen when the GWN7664ELR is handling lots of devices. While performance was great, the GWN7664ELR is still WiFi 6 not 6E which would add in the 6Ghz radios. This isn’t a fault of the GWN7664ELR at all, but overall the outside access points are lagging behind the inside options. In addition to the wireless performance, it also has a secondary LAN connection where you can pass PoE and data through to a second device, perfect for an IP cam to keep an eye on the same area. The GWN7664ELR has stepped up the overall construction significantly with a big part of its construction being an large heatsink that covers the half inside. There were a few upsides with the new mounting design being one change that I was a big fan of. The reality is we get hot days as well and some intense sun. With that increasing the cooling capacity is great to see, especially with the processing power and many radios. The GWN7664ELR has more antennas with large metal mounts. The build construction of the new access point is significantly better than Grandstream’s previous outdoor access point. It's weather resistance has been upgraded from IP66 on the GWN7664LR up to IP67. The 6 means complete dust protection. The upgrade from 6 to 7 is on the water intrusion rating. IP67 is protection from immersion between 15 centimeters and 1 meter in depth. As a standalone AP, it proved to be a reliable and straightforward Wi-Fi broadcaster—it passed my twenty-day stress test with zero issues. Outdoors, its range was much better then previous GWN7664LR. I was able to get a good connection from about 250 meters away. Like with past Grandstream Cloud devices, setting the GWN7664ELR up was quick and easy. It takes just a few minutes to install, and it also comes with a powerful app. This makes it suitable for novices and power users alike. Grandstream also offers a powerful cloud-based platform, GWN.Cloud allows you to manage and monitor your access points from anywhere. The system gave us lots of valuable data, including the number of offline and online access points, the number of devices connected to these access points, and the bandwidth usage of these devices. You can also go into greater detail on each access point, SSID, and client device, and there are many more features that provide other useful information depending on your requirements. We were impressed with the platform’s comprehensive functionality, the large amount of data it provides, and how simple it was to use. I like the built-in controller. There is no need to run a controller on a separate PC, or to hand over control of your devices to the cloud. I also like the support for 802.11ax, which seems useful for a setup with multiple access points.
At £202, Grandstream GWN7664ELR’s is easily one of the best Wi-Fi 6 access points (APs) you can get. If you're looking for a Wi-Fi solution for a large outdoor area, like a small park, a motel, or a huge backyard, one Grandstream GWN7664ELR AP will make an excellent investment. In summary, the Grandstream GWN7664ELR is a powerful and reliable outdoor Wi-Fi 6 Access Point designed to meet the demanding needs of modern businesses. With its high performance, extended coverage and strong security features, it is the perfect solution for strengthening outdoor wireless networks. If you have a deployment outside that is going to see a lot of users and also requires some of those users to have wired or better performance, the GWN7664ELR is going to get the job done. The improved construction should hold up better and help things run cooler as well.
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