MikroTik NetMetal ax AX3000 Wi-Fi 6 Outdoor AP IPQ

The MikroTik NetMetal ax is the Wi-Fi 6 generation of MikroTik's NetMetal platform — a product line built specifically for industrial, utility, and harsh-environment outdoor deployments where a plastic enclosure, standard IP54 weatherproofing, and integrated fixed antennas are insufficient for the installation environment. The NetMetal platform's defining characteristics are its metal die-cast enclosure and external N-type female antenna connectors — both of which the NetMetal ax carries forward into the Wi-Fi 6 generation.

The metal die-cast enclosure is the first hardware differentiator versus every other MikroTik Wi-Fi 6 AP in this product batch. The wAP ax, the NetBox 5 ax, and the cAP ax are all plastic-enclosure devices — appropriate for standard outdoor, semi-outdoor, and indoor deployments, but not for industrial environments where enclosure robustness is a procurement specification. The NetMetal ax's die-cast metal body provides mechanical protection against impact, vibration, and physical stress that no plastic enclosure at this price point can match. For a port facility, a mining site, a rail yard, a utility substation, or any industrial environment where network equipment is subject to physical impact risk, the metal die-cast enclosure is a direct specification requirement — not a preference.

The IP66 rating is the second differentiator. IP66 provides full dust protection (dust-tight, no ingress) and protection against powerful water jets from any direction — a significant step above the IP54 of the wAP ax (dust-protected, splash-resistant) and the IP55 of the NetBox 5 ax (dust-protected, water jet resistant). IP66's powerful water jet protection covers pressure washing, industrial cleaning, and direct rain exposure in high-wind conditions. For a deployment where the AP is mounted in a location subject to pressure washing — a food processing facility, a port loading dock, a vehicle wash facility — IP66 is the minimum required rating, and the NetMetal ax meets it.

The N-type female external antenna connectors are the third differentiator — and the most operationally significant for installers who need to optimise RF coverage in complex environments. The NetMetal ax ships with integrated 4 dBi dipole antennas for both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz — sufficient for general-purpose outdoor coverage. But the N-type female connectors allow those integrated antennas to be replaced or supplemented with any N-type male antenna: high-gain sector antennas for directional coverage, omni antennas with higher gain for extended range, dual-polarisation antennas for MIMO performance in multipath environments, or specialised industrial antennas designed for high-vibration or high-EMI environments. N-type connectors are the standard RF connector for outdoor industrial wireless deployments — weatherproof, mechanically robust, and compatible with the widest range of antenna options available from MikroTik and third-party manufacturers. No other Wi-Fi 6 AP in this product batch offers external N-type antenna connectivity.

The USB 2.0 Type-A port is a feature absent from the wAP ax and NetBox 5 ax — the NetMetal ax adds USB 2.0 to the outdoor AP platform. In RouterOS, the USB port enables USB LTE modem backup connectivity (cellular WAN failover when the primary Ethernet uplink fails), USB storage for RouterOS configuration and data logging, or USB serial adapters for RS232 device connectivity. For an industrial deployment where the AP serves as a network edge device as well as a wireless access point — collecting data from serial-interface industrial devices and forwarding over Wi-Fi or LTE — the USB port is the hardware interface that enables this.

The dual Gigabit Ethernet ports match the wAP ax's two-port architecture — Ether1 provides 802.3af/at PoE-in (18–57V) and the upstream network connection; Ether2 provides a downstream wired pass-through connection for a co-located wired device without a separate switch. The DC jack (12–57V) provides direct DC power input as an alternative to PoE. For an industrial installation where DC power is available at the mounting point from a panel-mounted power supply, the DC jack accepts the full 12–57V industrial DC range directly.

The AX3000 Wi-Fi 6 radio platform is the same as the wAP ax — IPQ-5010 for 2.4 GHz (574 Mbps max, 2-chain) and QCN-6102 for 5 GHz (2,400 Mbps max, 2-chain), running on the same dual-core ARM32 IPQ-5010 at 800 MHz with 256 MB RAM and 128 MB NAND. The Wi-Fi 6 feature set is identical: WPA3-PSK, WPA3-EAP, OWE, management frame protection, OFDMA, BSS colouring, and CAPsMAN integration for centralised multi-AP management. The integrated 4 dBi antennas provide a baseline omnidirectional radiation pattern for each band — lower gain than the wAP ax's 6.9 dBi / 7 dBi integrated antennas, reflecting the NetMetal ax's design assumption that many deployments will use external antennas rather than the integrated ones.

RouterOS v7 on License 4 provides the complete routing, firewall, VPN, and network management feature set. CAPsMAN integration allows the NetMetal ax to operate as a managed CAP (Controlled Access Point) in a multi-AP RouterOS deployment, receiving SSID, security, and channel configuration from a central RouterOS controller. Fast roaming (802.11r-compatible) allows clients to move between NetMetal ax coverage zones without re-authentication delays.

Maximum power consumption is 13W — higher than the wAP ax's 9W, reflecting the USB port, the metal enclosure's thermal characteristics, and the higher PoE-in current draw at maximum load. The 802.3af standard (15.4W rated, 12.95W at device) covers the 13W maximum draw with marginal headroom — confirm 802.3at PoE+ availability at the PoE source for installations where the full 13W draw is expected consistently.

**Canadian market note:** Certifications are CE, EAC, and RoHS — no FCC or IC published. The NetMetal ax is an active dual-band wireless device. Both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz radios require IC (ISED) certification for legal sale and operation in Canada. Confirm IC certification status with your MikroTik distributor before listing. This is a higher-priority certification advisory than for wired devices in this batch.

Key specifications:

- **Architecture:** ARM 32-bit

- **CPU:** IPQ-5010, dual-core ARM32, 800 MHz

- **RAM:** 256 MB

- **Storage:** 128 MB NAND

- **OS:** RouterOS v7, License 4

- **Wi-Fi 2.4 GHz:** 802.11b/g/n/ax, Wi-Fi 6, 2-chain, 574 Mbps max, 4 dBi, IPQ-5010

- **Wi-Fi 5 GHz:** 802.11a/n/ac/ax, Wi-Fi 6, 2-chain, 2,400 Mbps max, 4 dBi, QCN-6102

- **Wi-Fi speed class:** AX3000

- **Wi-Fi security:** WPA3-PSK, WPA3-EAP, OWE, MFP

- **External antenna connectors:** N-type female (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz)

- **Integrated antennas:** 4 dBi dipole (both bands)

- **Ethernet:** 2× 10/100/1000 Mbps (Ether1: 802.3af/at PoE-in)

- **PoE-in:** 802.3af/at, 18–57V (Ether1)

- **DC jack input:** 12–57V

- **USB:** 1× USB 2.0 Type-A

- **Max power consumption:** 13W

- **Enclosure:** Metal die-cast

- **Cooling:** Passive

- **IP rating:** IP66

- **Operating temperature:** -40°C to +70°C

- **MTBF:** ~100,000 hours at 25°C

- **Certifications:** CE, EAC, RoHS — no FCC, no IC published

- **Product code:** NetMetal-ax

- **Suggested price:** USD 149.00