Zyxel WBE665S review: The biggest and fastest enterprise Wi-Fi 7 AP we've ever tested

Zyxel offers an impressive range of business Wi-Fi 7 access points (APs), and the tri-band WBE665S signals a concerted move into enterprise territory. Designed to deliver stable and reliable wireless connections in demanding environments such as warehouses, large-scale retail, cold storage, manufacturing, and stadiums, the WBE665S looks capable of handling everything the great outdoors can throw at it. Largely because this massive, ruggedly built AP has a high IP67 rating.

It's also built for performance as it presents 12 spatial streams spread equally across the three radios and has a huge BE22000 rating. This allows it to claim maximum speeds of up to 1,376Mbits/sec for 2.4GHz, 8,646Mbits/sec for 5GHz and a whopping 11,530Mbits/sec for 6GHz.

The AP can be managed in standalone or cloud mode using Zyxel's Nebula Cloud Control (NCC) portal. The WBE model designation means it can also be locally managed from Zyxel's USG Flex WLAN controllers, and the price includes a 1-year NCC Pro Pack license, which enables Zyxel's SecureWiFi, CDR (collaborative detection and response), and the AI-powered WiFi Aid and Wireless Health troubleshooting tools.

Zyxel WBE665S review: Build quality and design

Measuring 410 x 410 x 110mm and weighing nearly 5kg, the WBE665S is easily the largest Wi-Fi 7 AP we've yet seen. The sturdy metal chassis and thick polycarbonate shell are built for outdoor action as the AP has 6kV lightning protection and can operate between -40 and +70 degrees C, while its IP67 rating means it's fully dust-tight and can handle temporary immersion in water.

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The WBE665S puts its extreme size to good use as it incorporates a 120-degree ultra-wide smart antennae array which dynamically optimises its patterns and signal directions to the RF environment in real time. All of its performance potential is unleashed by a fast copper 10GbE multi-Gig uplink port, which requires an 802.3bt PoE++ source for all features to function.

For those that want a connection distance of more than 100 metres, there's a 10GbE SFP+ fibre port and a 24-48V DC input. All ports are arranged neatly under the chassis at the rear, and the box includes waterproof cable glands and an industrial-strength aluminium pole mount kit.

Zyxel WBE665S review: 6GHz restrictions

Due to potential interference with weather radars, the radio astronomy service (RAS) and satellite links, Ofcom currently restricts standard Wi-Fi 7 6GHz usage in the UK to indoors only. It does permit VLP (very low power) usage, but this is strictly limited to the lower 5925-6425MHz band and 25mW levels.

Furthermore, outdoor VLP usage will only be permitted when the device is under the control of a third-party AFC (automated frequency control) system. AFC may also, at first, be used to control access to the upper 6GHz band, but this is currently under consultation with a decision not expected until later this year.

Zyxel has come up with a nifty workaround, as you can set the WBE665S to indoor mode, which enables the 6GHz radio. Or use the outdoor mode, which disables it. It's available as a single toggle switch in both the standalone web console and NCC portal. However, you'll need to ensure you don't accidentally set the AP to indoor mode when deploying it outside.

Zyxel WBE665S review: Cloud management

Standalone mode is easy to use as the AP's web console offers a quick start wizard, but we'll focus on cloud management as this is likely to be the preference for most businesses. Adding the WBE665S to our NCC account was easy, as we used the Nebula iOS app on an iPad to scan the QR code on the box and choose the site it should take its settings from.

The NCC portal is well designed and offers menu options at the top to choose an organisation and the sites it manages. Down below is an informative dashboard offering an at-a-glance site status overview along with customisable widgets for all Zyxel cloud-managed devices, APs by usage, connected clients and their detected OS, total wireless traffic, and PoE consumption for Zyxel switches.

As with standalone mode, up to eight SSIDs per site are supported, and you can create custom captive portals for guest wireless networks. Each can have its own logo and message, a choice of authentication methods including 2FA with Google Authenticator, and L2 isolation to stop guests from seeing each other.

A key feature of all the latest Zyxel APs is their auto-MLO feature. Set the radios to 11be operations, apply Enhanced Open, WPA3 Personal, or WPA3 Enterprise encryption, and any MLO-capable client device will automatically create an aggregated link.

The indoor and outdoor settings are accessed in the NCC portal by selecting the AP and choosing the installation environment mode from its status screen. In standalone mode, the local web console has a dedicated section for this in its configuration menu.

Zyxel WBE665S review: 5/6GHz performance

For performance testing, we hooked the WBE665S up to the lab's Zyxel XMG1930-30HP multi-Gig PoE++ switch, which confirmed a 10GbE connection and a PoE++ power draw. Our test hosts were a Lenovo Windows 11 Pro desktop client equipped with a TP-Link Archer TBE550E Wi-Fi 7 PCIe adapter and a Dell PowerEdge Windows Server 2022 host connected to the switch over 10GbE.

Starting with 6GHz testing, we set the AP to indoor mode after which our Windows 11 client created a 2.4/6GHz MLO connection with an aggregated link speed of 6,108Mbits/sec. We used the OpenSpeedTest HTML5-based tool to measure raw performance and watched it report back with stunning close-range upload and download rates between the client and server of 538MB/sec and 445MB/sec.

After swapping the AP to outdoor mode from the NCC portal, our Windows 11 client automatically reconnected with a 2.4/5GHz MLO link and a link speed of 3,570Mbits/sec. Close-range performance looked good with OpenSpeedTest recording close-range upload and download rates of 353MB/sec and 317MB/sec.

Moving the AP 10 metres away and into an adjoining room with a wall in the way saw it deliver very respectable 2.4/6GHz upload and download speeds of 378MB/sec and 300MB/sec. Swapping back to outdoor mode returned 2.4/5GHz distance speeds of 275MB/sec and 211MB/sec.

Zyxel WBE665S review: Is it worth it

With prices in the £1,000-£1,200 range, the WBE665S compares well on value with the competition in this market sector. This huge Wi-Fi 7 AP delivers a lot for your money as its ruggedized build quality is exemplary and the mighty BE22000 rating delivered a superb 5/6GHz performance in our lab tests.

It's easy to deploy and management options are very versatile as it supports standalone, appliance or NCC cloud modes. The smart Indoor/Outdoor operational modes ensure compliance with local regulations and it's ready for 6GHz outdoor operations whenever Ofcom permits it.

Zyxel WBE665S specifications