SonicWave and SonicPoint compared

What actually separates these

The third radio is the feature worth paying for. The 231c, 231o and the whole 432 family carry a dedicated scanning radio alongside the 2.4 and 5 gigahertz client radios. That third radio does rogue AP detection and wireless intrusion scanning continuously, without taking airtime away from your clients. The 224w has two radios, so any scanning it performs comes out of client capacity. On a busy site that difference is noticeable.

The 432 series is the one to choose for density. Four spatial streams against two, and 1733 Mbps against 867. In a conference room, a classroom or anywhere with a lot of simultaneous clients, 4x4 MU-MIMO serves more devices at once rather than simply serving one device faster.

MU-MIMO is the dividing line between SonicWave and SonicPoint. The SonicPoint ACi is 3x3 but single-user MIMO, so it talks to one client at a time. Any SonicWave, even the 2x2 models, can transmit to several clients simultaneously. For a handful of users the ACi is fine and inexpensive. For a room full of them, a 2x2 SonicWave will usually outperform a 3x3 SonicPoint.

Be careful with the SonicPoint N2. It is 802.11n only, with no 802.11ac support at all. It remains a legitimate way to add cheap coverage to an existing Gen 6 deployment, but it will not serve modern client devices at the speeds they expect.

Check your PoE budget before ordering. Most of these require 802.3at PoE+, not the older 802.3af. The 231o outdoor unit is the exception and runs on 802.3af. An access point fed from an underpowered injector or switch port typically boots normally and then drops radios under load, which is a difficult fault to trace after the fact. If your switch does not supply PoE+, see our SonicWall PoE Injectors.

All models support zero-touch provisioning through the firewall or SonicWall cloud management, so an access point can ship directly to a remote site and come online without a technician on the ground.

Transfer ready or non-transferable?

Access points carry a registration status the same way firewalls do. TRANSFER READY means the unit can be registered into your own MySonicWall account, where you can add support and warranty. NON-TRANSFERABLE means it cannot be moved into your account. It still works and is still managed locally by your firewall, but no services or warranty can be added to it, and we price it as hardware accordingly.

At NetworkTigers, we supply refurbished, used, and new SonicWall wireless access points, each fully tested and production-ready, with fast shipping and a 365-day warranty.