NETGEAR WAC505 Access Point Firmware 9.0.0.21

New Features and Enhancements:

- Supports eight SSID in dual band: Users can configure up to eight SSIDs on 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands in dual mode. Previously this was restricted to a maximum of four SSIDs in dual mode, and up to eight SSIDs in either 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz mode.
- Security related enhancements
- Supports WPA3 Authentication: Provides users with more secure authentication methods, and avoids security vulnerabilities found in WPA2 authentication.

Adds new authentication modes:

- Enhanced Open: Client connected to SSID is secure, even without authentication.
- WPA3 Personal: This is also known as Simultaneous Authentication of Equals (SAE). It replaces WPA2-PSK with password-based authentication.
- WPA3 Personal Mixed (WPA2 + WPA3): This configuration allows legacy clients with WPA2 and newer clients with WPA3 to connect to the same SSID.

Bug Fixes:

- Fixes issue where multiple “Device command failure” notifications are received intermittently in the Insight app and web portal.
- Fixes system stability issues.

Known Issues:

- After an auto upgrade from the previous versions, the access point gets redirected to the Day Zero page instead of the login page. Workaround: Refresh the web browser window.
- Client connectivity and throughput-related interoperability issues can occur with certain Windows, Android, and iOS client OS versions, or when WPA3/WPA2 Mixed mode security is enabled on the SSID. Workaround. Upgrade to the latest available Windows, Android, or iOS OS version and to the latest driver for the WiFi client.
- Interoperability issues can occur with certain client when band steering is enabled. Workaround: Disable this feature if client interoperability issues are observed after enabling this feature.
- Clients authentication type can be shown as WPA2 even though it is connected to WPA3 security while connecting to a SSID with WPA3/WPA2 Personal authentication.
- Existing WDS connection might get broken when updating to the latest firmware due to latest regulatory changes in the UK and Korea. Workaround: Reconfigure the WDS connection.
- Opportunistic Key Caching (OKC) based on Fast Roaming does not work between the WAC5xx and WAX6xx family of access points. This issue will be fixed in the next release.
- When a SSID is configured with OWE (Enhanced Open) security, PMF does not get enabled automatically. Clients cannot connect to this SSID. Workaround: Manually configured the PMF option as “Mandatory.”
- iPhones and iPads expect the user name and password to be entered when the SSID is configured with OWE (Enhanced Open) security. Workaround: Disable the OWE Security mode. It is not supported by iPhones and iPads.
- Access points UI might become inaccessible due to an abrupt power failure at the boot up time. Workaround: This issue is resolved in the latest firmware. Factory reset the access point by pressing the Reset button for minimum 10 seconds and update to the latest firmware.
- Some clients might not show the pop-up login window when connected to the Instant Captive Portal SSID. Workaround: Use a browser to go to the captive portal authentication page.
- Some special characters are not supported in Instant Captive Portal SSIDs. Workaround: We recommended you avoid using special characters in the SSID name.
- While using the Facebook Wi-Fi feature, some iOS devices and Android devices might not display the Facebook Authentication page automatically. Workaround: The user can launch a web browser to display the Facebook Authentication page.
- After updating to a newer firmware version, the local browser interface might not display the latest changes. Workaround: Clear the web browser cache.

About Access Point Firmware:

If you update the Access Point (AP) firmware, your device can benefit from changes that fix multiple issues encountered by wireless clients, correct different user interface problems, add various functionalities, and include support for newly developed protocols.

Before performing this task, we recommend that you read and understand all the installation steps, because there are many AP models and manufacturers available. Each producer strives to make the procedure as simple as possible, but there are cases when it's anything but that.

It is also advisable that you apply a new access point firmware in a steady power environment (UPS unit will satisfy this need), using an Ethernet cable rather than a wireless connection. The latter can be easily interrupted.

With this in mind, if you wish to apply this version, click the download button and install the package on your access point. Remember to check back with our website as often as possible so that you don't miss a single new release.