EnGenius does not publish a number that says “this AP handles forty guests.” Nobody does. What follows is a straight answer about which access point fits, and where EnGenius’s own gateway does and does not come into it — not a catalogue of specifications you don’t need to size a network.
On EnGenius, it is the access points themselves that ask us about each guest — not EnGenius Cloud, and not a separate controller. What does matter is which piece of equipment holds the encrypted link to us: that has to be the router on site, not one of the access points, because every access point needs to reach it. EnGenius Cloud management itself is free, with no per-device licence, whichever router you use underneath.
EnGenius also sells its own router, the XG60-FIT, if you want a matching-brand gateway — it is not required, and any router capable of holding that link will do. See the EnGenius Cloud setup page for exactly what that means at commissioning.
Current EnGenius Cloud-managed access points, restricted to the ones a café or restaurant would realistically buy.
Two-radio Wi-Fi 6, standard PoE. The straightforward pick for one room. A newer ECW220S adds extra security features at a higher price if you want them; the underlying radio is the same.
Four-radio Wi-Fi 6 with a 2.5G port, explicitly marketed by EnGenius for high-density, multi-device environments. The step up for a busier room. Needs PoE+.
Worth knowing: EnGenius rates the ECW220 at up to 400 concurrent users and the entry-level ECW210L at up to 100 — both are manufacturer maximums under lab conditions, not comfortable-service numbers. Real-world usable capacity in a busy café runs well below either figure once you account for interference and the actual mix of devices in the room.
| Model | What it’s for | PoE |
|---|---|---|
| XG60-FIT | Single small site — compact wall-mount gateway, dual WAN | PoE+ LAN port, no per-device licence |
| ESG510 / ESG610 / ESG620 | Multiple sites managed centrally, or an MSP’s own fleet — not a single-café purchase | Varies by model |
None of this is a requirement — any router that can hold an encrypted link to us works underneath EnGenius access points. The XG60-FIT is worth it if you want one EnGenius account covering the whole site, not because our integration needs it specifically.
For a single room, either access point copes fine with the internet line most small venues actually have. What actually decides the outcome is whether the room is fully covered, and whether your switch or injector can deliver the PoE the model needs — the ECW230 needs PoE+, which not every existing switch supplies.
The other half of sizing is the internet line itself, which is the same arithmetic regardless of which access point you choose. We work through it properly, with a worked example, in how much Wi-Fi does a venue actually need — the same maths applies to a restaurant, just at a smaller scale than the hotel example there.
At checkout we stop the guest signing in again, and the session they already hold runs to its own time limit rather than ending immediately.
Set sessions in hours rather than days for a café and this rarely matters — the visit ends before the session does. See the EnGenius Cloud setup page for the full detail, including the sign-in type to pick — only one of the three EnGenius offers is the one that talks to us.
Ranges, not exact figures — nobody, EnGenius included, can tell you a precise number without knowing what your guests actually do. These follow the same method as our hotel guide: a per-guest speed cap, enforced by the equipment, and a contention ratio that assumes not everyone is pulling hard at once. A café or restaurant runs busier concurrently than a hotel room overnight, so the ratio here is tighter than the hotel example.
| Simultaneous guests | Minimum | Preferred |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 10 | 30 Mbps | 50 Mbps |
| Up to 20 | 50 Mbps | 100 Mbps |
| Up to 30 | 75 Mbps | 100–150 Mbps |
| Up to 40 | 100 Mbps | 150 Mbps |
| Up to 50 | 150 Mbps | 200 Mbps |
| Up to 60 | 200 Mbps | 250–300 Mbps |
| Up to 80 | 300 Mbps | 400 Mbps |
| Up to 100 | 400 Mbps | 500 Mbps |
This is independent of which access point you pick. The line is what you’re provisioning here, not the box broadcasting it. Past 100 simultaneous guests, or once you’re past a single room, this is exactly the point to get a site survey done rather than extrapolate the table further.
Standard PoE from almost any switch or injector, an internet line under 300 Mbps.
PoE+ needed — check your switch or injector supports it before ordering.
Optional — any router that can hold the encrypted link to us works. This just keeps everything in one EnGenius account.
Once you are past one room, AP count and placement come from the survey, not from this table.
No to both. Any router capable of holding an encrypted link to us works underneath EnGenius access points, and EnGenius Cloud’s free Basic tier is enough to run them — PRO adds extra features, not a requirement for our integration.
EnGenius’s published “concurrent users” figures are manufacturer maximums under lab conditions, not comfortable-service numbers. Coverage, PoE budget and the internet line matter far more in practice.
No — a session already running is left to reach its own time limit at checkout. Keep sessions to a few hours for a café and this rarely matters in practice.
Close, not identical — the ECW220S is a newer revision with extra security features at a higher price, on the same underlying radio. Either is a reasonable single-room pick; check current stock and price before deciding between them.
Because every access point needs the encrypted link to us to exist somewhere reachable, and that link belongs on the router the whole site sits behind — not on any one access point. A site where the router can reach us and the access points cannot fails at sign-in, and looks exactly like a wrong password.
Not for a single room — the guidance above is enough. Anything bigger, and walls, materials and where people actually sit decide the access point count and placement far more than which model you buy. Get that surveyed properly before ordering hardware.
Tell us the room, the line speed and how many access points you are planning, and we will tell you which of these fits — and quote for the hardware if you want us to supply it.
