Cisco Catalyst CW9166I-B Wi-Fi 6E Access Point, Internal Antennas

CW9166I-B is the -B regulatory-domain version of the Cisco Catalyst CW9166I, an indoor Wi-Fi 6E access point with integrated omnidirectional antennas. In Cisco's part numbering the letter after the dash stands for the regulatory domain, and Cisco says customers must verify approval for the country of use. This version is managed on-premises, through a Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller or a Catalyst 9000 switch with the Embedded Wireless Controller in SD-Access mode; Cisco says the AP can move between management modes over time.

The Meraki cloud-managed version, CW9166I-MR, is the same CW9166I hardware; Cisco gives management mode as the difference, with the -MR model run from the Meraki Dashboard.

There are three 4x4 radios for 2.4, 5 and 6 GHz, plus a dual-band XOR radio that moves capacity between 6 GHz and a second 5 GHz radio. Maximum PHY data rate is 7.78 Gbps. Antenna peak gain is 3 dBi at 2.4 GHz, 5 dBi at 5 GHz and 4 dBi at 6 GHz. The uplink is one 100M/1000M/2.5G/5G Multigigabit RJ-45 port, with an RJ-45 console port and a USB 2.0 port rated 4.5 W.

Under 802.3bt (UPOE) it draws up to 30.5 W with all bands at 4x4 and USB active; under 802.3at it draws up to 25.5 W at 4x4 without USB. On 802.3af, 14.0 W, the radios are off and the AP is for configuration staging only. Cisco lists the AIR-PWRINJ7=, AIR-PWRINJ6= and MA-INJ-6 injectors. It measures 9.5 x 9.5 x 2.2 in, weighs 3.54 lb (1.60 kg) and has 2048 MB of DRAM and 1024 MB of flash. Operating range is 0 to 50°C. Minimum software is Cisco IOS XE 17.9.1. More access points are in the Cisco wireless access points category.