FortiAP-443k - 6GHz radio useless unless you can get a GPS signal?
I have both 441’s and 443 in the same building. The 441’s will fire up 6GHz just fine, but the 443’s will not assign a channel.
Power is OK - Two PoE+ connections - Current Power Mode: full (2) Oper Power Mode: full (2)
AFC State is down
Country is set to US
Support is asserting that the 443 must have GPS location data in order for the 6GHz radio to operate, although it’s not needed on the 441. The claim is that since the 443 has detachable antennas, the FCC states it “must operate in SP mode” (Standard Power) instead of LPI (Low Power Indoor) - therefore needing GPS data “proving” its presence in a region allowing such higher power operation.
Behavior on the 443’s is consistent regardless of firmware version - we’ve tested on v7.6.4 build1078, 7-1092, and 8-0022 - all the same.
cw_diag -c afc status does, however, indicates an LPI power mode:
AFC is configured on 6GHz radio 2
AFC State : down
Cfg Country : US (841)
Regdomain : 0x90000
Power Mode : None
Cur Pwr Mode: LPI
DCS for AFC : enabled
VAP wlan20 : down (State 0)
Knocking down power by disabling one of my PoE connections doesn’t enable it either, although it puts the power into “high” instead of “full” state (spec sheet says high mode provides “R3 (6GHz) Operation in Low Tx Power 17 dBm”) for both 441/443.
A year after I buy 30 of these and decide to fire up 6GHz, I’m told their incapable of supporting it unless I provide (presumably) an external GPS antenna on the roof for each device due to the metal roof construction.
There was no mention of this dependency during my interaction with sales and I can’t find any mention of it anywhere in other Fortinet documentation/marketing material.
Am I in trouble?
