Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless in Residence Halls
David, Two summers ago we installed about 500 Access Points in our Residence Halls. About 90% of them were installed directly in student rooms. The remaining 10% went above ceiling tiles in the hallway. We did this primarily b/c our Res Life staff was concerned about damage to the APs and not being able to attribute the damage to any one person. With the units in the rooms, the students in those rooms are responsible. To my pleasant surprise, we have not had one issue with a student tampering with an AP. I would guess this has to do with 1) they are warned by Res Life staff at move-in time and 2) everybody uses the Internet nowadays so they would be shooting themselves in the foot by taking it down. From a design standpoint, while it probably takes more APs to get the same amount of coverage by placing them in the rooms, it makes for a cleaner WiFi environment by decreasing the size of the cells. We made sure 5Ghz was as strong as reasonably possible in all areas in the hopes that it would keep devices out of the dirty 2.4Ghz space. I can't say that we've been entirely successful, but I think that could also be due to many 2-3 year old devices that don't have 5Ghz radios. Back to cell size for a moment. Because the density of users/devices is so high in these buildings, the cell sizes should be small anyway to make sure there's enough spectrum available to keep people happy. If you'd like any other information, feel free to contact me directly off-list. Regards, -dan Dan Brisson Network Engineer University of Vermont (Ph) 802.656.8111 dbris...@uvm.edu On 12/19/2012 8:36 AM, David Robertson wrote: We are looking at how we install wireless in our Residence Halls for coverage. Currently we only place access points in the hallways, but are looking at moving them into the rooms for better coverage. We were wondering if anyone else has put the access points in the rooms and if they have seen a reduction in wireless complaint or if there have been issues with students playing with or disconnecting the access points. David R. ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
RE: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless in Residence Halls
We did this summer. We contracted out to a company to improve the wireless in our Res Halls, and the solution they came up with was to install them in the rooms. We have about 2000 students living on campus and 800 access points, mostly in bedrooms, for those 2000 students. Of those, we have had only 1 incident of someone unplugging an access point. That one incident was quickly squashed by our Director of Res Life. Overall, there has been a huge improvement in the wireless coverage and far fewer complaints. We do still have some students bringing in their own access points (even though they are forbidden), but it seems much less than in years past. The hope is that over the course of the next few years the number of rogues in the dorm will lessen down to almost none. Chris Brizzell Network Administrator Skidmore College cbriz...@skidmore.edu 518-580-5994 -Original Message- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of David Robertson Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2012 8:37 AM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless in Residence Halls We are looking at how we install wireless in our Residence Halls for coverage. Currently we only place access points in the hallways, but are looking at moving them into the rooms for better coverage. We were wondering if anyone else has put the access points in the rooms and if they have seen a reduction in wireless complaint or if there have been issues with students playing with or disconnecting the access points. David R. -- David Robertson Service Delivery Manager Network Engineering Technology George Mason University Voice: 703-993-2443 Fax: 703-993-3505 ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
RE: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless in Residence Halls
Dear David We installed Aps in the corridor of the residence halls, and they can cover the rooms on both sides. Two years ago, we found that some Aps were disconnected every 2 or 3 days without any reason. Then we discovered that some students unplugged the cables and they wanted to reboot the Aps to get better connection :( In the last wireless upgrade, we put all Aps (with internal antennas) in the AP enclosures, and hide the jacks inside. We also installed many Aps in the study rooms and lounges. After that, no one complaint and no unreasonable disconnection anymore. Hope this could help your decision. Merry Christmas and Happy holidays to Everyone! Yours, Linchuan Yang (Antony) Wireless Networking Analyst Network Assessment and Integration, IITS-Concordia University Tel: (514)848-2424 ext. 7664 -Original Message- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of David Robertson Sent: December-19-12 8:37 AM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless in Residence Halls We are looking at how we install wireless in our Residence Halls for coverage. Currently we only place access points in the hallways, but are looking at moving them into the rooms for better coverage. We were wondering if anyone else has put the access points in the rooms and if they have seen a reduction in wireless complaint or if there have been issues with students playing with or disconnecting the access points. David R. -- David Robertson Service Delivery Manager Network Engineering Technology George Mason University Voice: 703-993-2443 Fax: 703-993-3505 ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless in Residence Halls
Sent from Lotus TravelerDan Brisson --- Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless in Residence Halls --- From:Dan Brisson dbris...@uvm.eduToWIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDUDate:Wed, 2012-12-19 6:58 AMSubjectRe: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless in Residence HallsDavid, Two summers ago we installed about 500 Access Points in our Residence Halls. About 90% of them were installed directly in student rooms. The remaining 10% went above ceiling tiles in the hallway. We did this primarily b/c our Res Life staff was concerned about damage to the APs and not being able to attribute the damage to any one person. With the units in the rooms, the students in those rooms are responsible. To my pleasant surprise, we have not had one issue with a student tampering with an AP. I would guess this has to do with 1) they are warned by Res Life staff at move-in time and 2) everybody uses the Internet nowadays so they would be shooting themselves in the foot by taking it down. From a design standpoint, while it probably takes more APs to get the same amount of coverage by placing them in the rooms, it makes for a cleaner WiFi environment by decreasing the size of the cells. We made sure 5Ghz was as strong as reasonably possible in all areas in the hopes that it would keep devices out of the dirty 2.4Ghz space. I can't say that we've been entirely successful, but I think that could also be due to many 2-3 year old devices that don't have 5Ghz radios. Back to cell size for a moment. Because the density of users/devices is so high in these buildings, the cell sizes should be small anyway to make sure there's enough spectrum available to keep people happy. If you'd like any other information, feel free to contact me directly off-list. Regards, -dan Dan Brisson Network Engineer University of Vermont (Ph) 802.656.8111 dbris...@uvm.edu On 12/19/2012 8:36 AM, David Robertson wrote: We are looking at how we install wireless in our Residence Halls for coverage. Currently we only place access points in the hallways, but are looking at moving them into the rooms for better coverage. We were wondering if anyone else -Your data has been truncated. __ This communication is intended for the use of the recipient to which it is addressed, and may contain confidential, personal, and or privileged information. Please contact the sender immediately if you are not the intended recipient of this communication, and do not copy, distribute, or take action relying on it. Any communication received in error, or subsequent reply, should be deleted or destroyed. ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
RE: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless in Residence Halls
We installed our APs in the hallways, and found that the APs were seeing such a strong signal from each other that the Cisco controller would power down the signal strength for the APs. This was causing a impact on coverage in the rooms along the hallway. Bruce Entwistle Network Manager University of Redlands -Original Message- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of David Robertson Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2012 5:37 AM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless in Residence Halls We are looking at how we install wireless in our Residence Halls for coverage. Currently we only place access points in the hallways, but are looking at moving them into the rooms for better coverage. We were wondering if anyone else has put the access points in the rooms and if they have seen a reduction in wireless complaint or if there have been issues with students playing with or disconnecting the access points. David R. -- David Robertson Service Delivery Manager Network Engineering Technology George Mason University Voice: 703-993-2443 Fax: 703-993-3505 ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless in Residence Halls
We had the APs for our highrise dorms located in the hallways which was convenient for installation and maintenance, but it made for a poor RF design. Lots of co-channel interference and dynamic power management problems. Moving them into student rooms solved this, although coordinating the installation with the residents was a hassle. We have not seen an increase in loss, damage or troubles. Every once in a great while we get a user who is concerned with health aspects of having an AP in their room. -Karl Reuss University of Maryland College Park ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
RE: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless in Residence Halls
Our experience matches that of a lot of other schools. Initially, for budget reasons, a few buildings got APs in the hallways, but that's a suboptimal RF design and will not work properly, and we quickly moved away from that and instead tackled the hassles of trying to get APs into rooms and suites. This also made for natural small cells, which are pretty important. Things like NetFlix and Hulu are popular uses of the network, and when streamed over wireless, you have to start limiting users per AP. The additional benefit of putting the APs in non-public areas to us as well was accountability, so that if damage were to occur, housing could bill the residents. Luckily, we also have not seen notable loss or damage. We use Cisco APs and small locks to affix them to their brackets, but no protective coverings beyond that. The Cisco brackets also make the cables inaccessible, so we haven't dealt with students unplugging anything*. We and our residence staff were concerned about vandalism initially, but everyone has been pleasantly surprised. In some of our new buildings each suite has a small mechanical closet for water heaters etc. and that turned out to be a good place for the AP, as it's reachable from the hallway and not reachable by the residents, but still basically in the suite. If there's new construction or renovation, doesn't hurt to have a chat with the architect or engineer to see if they have any ideas. The biggest complaint we have received regarding the access points in rooms was that the blinking light bothered residents, so in the residence halls we've turned off the LED indicators. Also, 5 GHz is a must. There's no way to get 2.4 GHz to work reliably, the lack of channels for tiling and microwaves, game controllers and other endless amounts of 2.4 GHz devices see to that, and we strongly encourage students to get dual-band cards or systems. In buildings where we have blanket wireless coverage, the use of wired connections by residents has almost completely vanished even when there's a hot and ready jack right in their room, so there's an obvious strong preference of wireless among the student population. This can maybe be translated into a cost savings to justify the Wifi install. -- Toivo Voll Network Engineer Information Technology Communications University of South Florida *In some of our older classrooms where we rigged wireless using existing jacks that were accessible, we repeatedly had to go and plug them back in because people would ignore any amount of don't unplug / don't touch signage or common sense. Based on that experience, if your jacks / AP jacks are accessible, I'd certainly recommend some kind of enclosure that keeps enterprising self-help fingers off them. -Original Message- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of David Robertson Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2012 8:37 AM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless in Residence Halls We are looking at how we install wireless in our Residence Halls for coverage. Currently we only place access points in the hallways, but are looking at moving them into the rooms for better coverage. We were wondering if anyone else has put the access points in the rooms and if they have seen a reduction in wireless complaint or if there have been issues with students playing with or disconnecting the access points. David R. -- David Robertson Service Delivery Manager Network Engineering Technology George Mason University Voice: 703-993-2443 Fax: 703-993-3505 ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
RE: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless in Residence Halls
David, During the spring and summer of 2012, the University of Tennessee Knoxville campus upgraded wireless in the dorms. We had b/g AP's in the dorm hallways and the wireless complaints were a constant reminder that we had to do something. We removed the AP's from the hallways and placed AP's in some of the dorm rooms, taking one of the wired ports for an AP. Overall, we went from around 600 AP's to 1600 AP's and to 802.11n throughout in the process. We've had very few calls where students have messed with the AP's. For rooms that we had to use one of the wired ports, we allow a small switch to be installed upon request. But we haven't seen many requests for that. lj Larry Jennings IT Manager - Network Services The University of Tennessee 2309 Kingston Pike Bldg. Knoxville, TN 37996 Phone: 865.974.1619 Email: ljenn...@utk.edu SIP: ljenn...@utk.edu -Original Message- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of David Robertson Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2012 8:37 AM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless in Residence Halls We are looking at how we install wireless in our Residence Halls for coverage. Currently we only place access points in the hallways, but are looking at moving them into the rooms for better coverage. We were wondering if anyone else has put the access points in the rooms and if they have seen a reduction in wireless complaint or if there have been issues with students playing with or disconnecting the access points. David R. -- David Robertson Service Delivery Manager Network Engineering Technology George Mason University Voice: 703-993-2443 Fax: 703-993-3505 ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
RE: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless in Residence Halls
FWIW, we have a couple thousand APs in dorms, and thankfully they just don't break. At most we see a small handful in a calendar year that require a visit (Cisco APs in this case). Where they are in student rooms, they are left alone 99.95% or better. The students seem to realize the value of the device and the gravity of mucking with it (thankfully). Lee H. Badman Network Architect/Wireless TME Information Technology and Services (ITS) Syracuse University 315 443-3003 -Original Message- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Brian Helman Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2012 10:53 AM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless in Residence Halls I've been very hesitant to put powered units in the resident units. My concern is less the tampering issue, and more the service issue. I don't want to have to schedule around students to fix them if they do break. We have placed units in a few apartments out of necessity. The students are responsible for the replacement if they are broken (and we use Xirrus, so they aren't cheap). We've also made it clear that, if they are tampered with we'll turn off the service. This is the first term we've had them in the (few) rooms. It's been fine. If I had to do it en mass, I'd be more inclined to leave the hardware in the hallway and extend an antenna into the room, if that is possible. -Brian From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] on behalf of Jennings, Larry W [ljenn...@utk.edu] Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2012 10:30 AM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless in Residence Halls David, During the spring and summer of 2012, the University of Tennessee Knoxville campus upgraded wireless in the dorms. We had b/g AP's in the dorm hallways and the wireless complaints were a constant reminder that we had to do something. We removed the AP's from the hallways and placed AP's in some of the dorm rooms, taking one of the wired ports for an AP. Overall, we went from around 600 AP's to 1600 AP's and to 802.11n throughout in the process. We've had very few calls where students have messed with the AP's. For rooms that we had to use one of the wired ports, we allow a small switch to be installed upon request. But we haven't seen many requests for that. lj Larry Jennings IT Manager - Network Services The University of Tennessee 2309 Kingston Pike Bldg. Knoxville, TN 37996 Phone: 865.974.1619 Email: ljenn...@utk.edu SIP: ljenn...@utk.edu -Original Message- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of David Robertson Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2012 8:37 AM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless in Residence Halls We are looking at how we install wireless in our Residence Halls for coverage. Currently we only place access points in the hallways, but are looking at moving them into the rooms for better coverage. We were wondering if anyone else has put the access points in the rooms and if they have seen a reduction in wireless complaint or if there have been issues with students playing with or disconnecting the access points. David R. -- David Robertson Service Delivery Manager Network Engineering Technology George Mason University Voice: 703-993-2443 Fax: 703-993-3505 ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless in Residence Halls
We've had them in the rooms, constant battle with the xbox syndrome, blinking lights, falling off the wall, etc... and since we had them in one in four rooms, coverage not so good to the others. We are now installing down the halls, about every 4 doors apart, or appr 60 feet. In the 2 halls I did last summer, not a single complaint. Since we are Aruba, I have contemplated the new 93H series APs but I still don't like the idea of one per room, in the room. On Wed, Dec 19, 2012 at 9:52 AM, Brian Helman bhel...@salemstate.eduwrote: I've been very hesitant to put powered units in the resident units. My concern is less the tampering issue, and more the service issue. I don't want to have to schedule around students to fix them if they do break. We have placed units in a few apartments out of necessity. The students are responsible for the replacement if they are broken (and we use Xirrus, so they aren't cheap). We've also made it clear that, if they are tampered with we'll turn off the service. This is the first term we've had them in the (few) rooms. It's been fine. If I had to do it en mass, I'd be more inclined to leave the hardware in the hallway and extend an antenna into the room, if that is possible. -Brian From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [ WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] on behalf of Jennings, Larry W [ ljenn...@utk.edu] Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2012 10:30 AM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless in Residence Halls David, During the spring and summer of 2012, the University of Tennessee Knoxville campus upgraded wireless in the dorms. We had b/g AP's in the dorm hallways and the wireless complaints were a constant reminder that we had to do something. We removed the AP's from the hallways and placed AP's in some of the dorm rooms, taking one of the wired ports for an AP. Overall, we went from around 600 AP's to 1600 AP's and to 802.11n throughout in the process. We've had very few calls where students have messed with the AP's. For rooms that we had to use one of the wired ports, we allow a small switch to be installed upon request. But we haven't seen many requests for that. lj Larry Jennings IT Manager - Network Services The University of Tennessee 2309 Kingston Pike Bldg. Knoxville, TN 37996 Phone: 865.974.1619 Email: ljenn...@utk.edu SIP: ljenn...@utk.edu -Original Message- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of David Robertson Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2012 8:37 AM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless in Residence Halls We are looking at how we install wireless in our Residence Halls for coverage. Currently we only place access points in the hallways, but are looking at moving them into the rooms for better coverage. We were wondering if anyone else has put the access points in the rooms and if they have seen a reduction in wireless complaint or if there have been issues with students playing with or disconnecting the access points. David R. -- David Robertson Service Delivery Manager Network Engineering Technology George Mason University Voice: 703-993-2443 Fax: 703-993-3505 ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. -- Michael Sjulstad -RML 258 Network/Electronics Engineer Information/Instructional Technologies St. Olaf College Northfield, MN 55057 Ph: 507-786-3835 Email: sjuls...@stolaf.edu ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless in Residence Halls
David, Let me add that we cover between 5 to 6 students per AP (we stagger APs between floors), and when an AP goes down, we rarely receive a complaint since there is enough overlap between APs. So we can take some time to fix the problem (referring to the room access issue). As Larry mentioned, we used to have many complaints with our hallway 2.4 GHz design, we have almost none with our bedroom 5 GHz design. The cost is different of course! BTW, good luck to have a decent coverage at 5 GHz if you plan to cover from the hallway. The attenuation is atrocious! It is hard to reach the room, and APs see each other in the hallway forcing the RADIO algorithm to reduce power. (at least with the kind of buildings that we have at UTK) Best, Season's Greetings, Philippe www.eduroamus.org On Dec 19, 2012, at 10:30 AM, Jennings, Larry W ljenn...@utk.edu wrote: David, During the spring and summer of 2012, the University of Tennessee Knoxville campus upgraded wireless in the dorms. We had b/g AP's in the dorm hallways and the wireless complaints were a constant reminder that we had to do something. We removed the AP's from the hallways and placed AP's in some of the dorm rooms, taking one of the wired ports for an AP. Overall, we went from around 600 AP's to 1600 AP's and to 802.11n throughout in the process. We've had very few calls where students have messed with the AP's. For rooms that we had to use one of the wired ports, we allow a small switch to be installed upon request. But we haven't seen many requests for that. lj Larry Jennings IT Manager - Network Services The University of Tennessee 2309 Kingston Pike Bldg. Knoxville, TN 37996 Phone: 865.974.1619 Email: ljenn...@utk.edu SIP: ljenn...@utk.edu -Original Message- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of David Robertson Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2012 8:37 AM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless in Residence Halls We are looking at how we install wireless in our Residence Halls for coverage. Currently we only place access points in the hallways, but are looking at moving them into the rooms for better coverage. We were wondering if anyone else has put the access points in the rooms and if they have seen a reduction in wireless complaint or if there have been issues with students playing with or disconnecting the access points. David R. -- David Robertson Service Delivery Manager Network Engineering Technology George Mason University Voice: 703-993-2443 Fax: 703-993-3505 ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
RE: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless in Residence Halls
To that point- I have had to hit manual override on the fabled RRM algorithm in spots where the APs influence each other to the detriment of the clients. Typically amounts to setting a new min power level that the APs are not allowed to go below, and occasionally going old-school setting fixed power. I find the auto power/channel thing to be good, but not above reproach. -Original Message- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of phanset Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2012 11:10 AM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless in Residence Halls David, Let me add that we cover between 5 to 6 students per AP (we stagger APs between floors), and when an AP goes down, we rarely receive a complaint since there is enough overlap between APs. So we can take some time to fix the problem (referring to the room access issue). As Larry mentioned, we used to have many complaints with our hallway 2.4 GHz design, we have almost none with our bedroom 5 GHz design. The cost is different of course! BTW, good luck to have a decent coverage at 5 GHz if you plan to cover from the hallway. The attenuation is atrocious! It is hard to reach the room, and APs see each other in the hallway forcing the RADIO algorithm to reduce power. (at least with the kind of buildings that we have at UTK) Best, Season's Greetings, Philippe www.eduroamus.org On Dec 19, 2012, at 10:30 AM, Jennings, Larry W ljenn...@utk.edu wrote: David, During the spring and summer of 2012, the University of Tennessee Knoxville campus upgraded wireless in the dorms. We had b/g AP's in the dorm hallways and the wireless complaints were a constant reminder that we had to do something. We removed the AP's from the hallways and placed AP's in some of the dorm rooms, taking one of the wired ports for an AP. Overall, we went from around 600 AP's to 1600 AP's and to 802.11n throughout in the process. We've had very few calls where students have messed with the AP's. For rooms that we had to use one of the wired ports, we allow a small switch to be installed upon request. But we haven't seen many requests for that. lj Larry Jennings IT Manager - Network Services The University of Tennessee 2309 Kingston Pike Bldg. Knoxville, TN 37996 Phone: 865.974.1619 Email: ljenn...@utk.edu SIP: ljenn...@utk.edu -Original Message- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of David Robertson Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2012 8:37 AM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless in Residence Halls We are looking at how we install wireless in our Residence Halls for coverage. Currently we only place access points in the hallways, but are looking at moving them into the rooms for better coverage. We were wondering if anyone else has put the access points in the rooms and if they have seen a reduction in wireless complaint or if there have been issues with students playing with or disconnecting the access points. David R. -- David Robertson Service Delivery Manager Network Engineering Technology George Mason University Voice: 703-993-2443 Fax: 703-993-3505 ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless in Residence Halls
We're looking into a wall-box form factor for our access points. Something along the lines of one of these: http://www.ruckuswireless.com/products/zoneflex-indoor/7025 http://www.extremenetworks.com/products/altitude-4511.aspx http://www.panoptictechnology.com/smart-room-network-jacks/ They're designed to fit into a traditional electrical wall box (like the one that's probably already there for an existing network drop) and they provide a passthrough port, so a student can still plug in a wired device like an xbox without messing the functional parts of the AP. The student may not even know there's an access point there. This won't work for everyone, since the big Aruba/Cisco players don't have this form factor. We're small enough we don't even have a controller and use fat APs. But I thought this was still worth mentioning for those with mixed environments or anyone using Ruckus or Extreme.. As a side note: is anyone else eager for a common AP/Controller interaction standard, to be able to bring one vendor's access points to another's controller? Joel Coehoorn Director of Information Technology York College, Nebraska 402.363.5603 jcoeho...@york.edu *The mission of York College is to transform lives through Christ-centered education and to equip students for lifelong service to God, family, and society* On Wed, Dec 19, 2012 at 10:16 AM, Lee H Badman lhbad...@syr.edu wrote: To that point- I have had to hit manual override on the fabled RRM algorithm in spots where the APs influence each other to the detriment of the clients. Typically amounts to setting a new min power level that the APs are not allowed to go below, and occasionally going old-school setting fixed power. I find the auto power/channel thing to be good, but not above reproach. -Original Message- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of phanset Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2012 11:10 AM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless in Residence Halls David, Let me add that we cover between 5 to 6 students per AP (we stagger APs between floors), and when an AP goes down, we rarely receive a complaint since there is enough overlap between APs. So we can take some time to fix the problem (referring to the room access issue). As Larry mentioned, we used to have many complaints with our hallway 2.4 GHz design, we have almost none with our bedroom 5 GHz design. The cost is different of course! BTW, good luck to have a decent coverage at 5 GHz if you plan to cover from the hallway. The attenuation is atrocious! It is hard to reach the room, and APs see each other in the hallway forcing the RADIO algorithm to reduce power. (at least with the kind of buildings that we have at UTK) Best, Season's Greetings, Philippe www.eduroamus.org On Dec 19, 2012, at 10:30 AM, Jennings, Larry W ljenn...@utk.edu wrote: David, During the spring and summer of 2012, the University of Tennessee Knoxville campus upgraded wireless in the dorms. We had b/g AP's in the dorm hallways and the wireless complaints were a constant reminder that we had to do something. We removed the AP's from the hallways and placed AP's in some of the dorm rooms, taking one of the wired ports for an AP. Overall, we went from around 600 AP's to 1600 AP's and to 802.11n throughout in the process. We've had very few calls where students have messed with the AP's. For rooms that we had to use one of the wired ports, we allow a small switch to be installed upon request. But we haven't seen many requests for that. lj Larry Jennings IT Manager - Network Services The University of Tennessee 2309 Kingston Pike Bldg. Knoxville, TN 37996 Phone: 865.974.1619 Email: ljenn...@utk.edu SIP: ljenn...@utk.edu -Original Message- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of David Robertson Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2012 8:37 AM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless in Residence Halls We are looking at how we install wireless in our Residence Halls for coverage. Currently we only place access points in the hallways, but are looking at moving them into the rooms for better coverage. We were wondering if anyone else has put the access points in the rooms and if they have seen a reduction in wireless complaint or if there have been issues with students playing with or disconnecting the access points. David R. -- David Robertson Service Delivery Manager Network Engineering Technology George Mason University Voice: 703-993-2443 Fax: 703-993-3505 ** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ** Participation
Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless in Residence Halls
Aruba does have a solution like this in the AP-93H. We have had success with these in our residence halls. http://www.arubanetworks.com/products/access-points/ap-93h/ Kade P. Cole - kc...@siue.edu - (618) 650-3377 Southern Illinois University Edwardsville - ITS Network and Infrastructure - Network Engineer III On 19 Jan 2012, at 10:44 AM, Coehoorn, Joel jcoeho...@york.edu wrote: We're looking into a wall-box form factor for our access points. Something along the lines of one of these: http://www.ruckuswireless.com/products/zoneflex-indoor/7025 http://www.extremenetworks.com/products/altitude-4511.aspx http://www.panoptictechnology.com/smart-room-network-jacks/ They're designed to fit into a traditional electrical wall box (like the one that's probably already there for an existing network drop) and they provide a passthrough port, so a student can still plug in a wired device like an xbox without messing the functional parts of the AP. The student may not even know there's an access point there. This won't work for everyone, since the big Aruba/Cisco players don't have this form factor. We're small enough we don't even have a controller and use fat APs. But I thought this was still worth mentioning for those with mixed environments or anyone using Ruckus or Extreme.. As a side note: is anyone else eager for a common AP/Controller interaction standard, to be able to bring one vendor's access points to another's controller? Joel Coehoorn Director of Information Technology York College, Nebraska 402.363.5603 jcoeho...@york.edu The mission of York College is to transform lives through Christ-centered education and to equip students for lifelong service to God, family, and society On Wed, Dec 19, 2012 at 10:16 AM, Lee H Badman lhbad...@syr.edu wrote: To that point- I have had to hit manual override on the fabled RRM algorithm in spots where the APs influence each other to the detriment of the clients. Typically amounts to setting a new min power level that the APs are not allowed to go below, and occasionally going old-school setting fixed power. I find the auto power/channel thing to be good, but not above reproach. -Original Message- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of phanset Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2012 11:10 AM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless in Residence Halls David, Let me add that we cover between 5 to 6 students per AP (we stagger APs between floors), and when an AP goes down, we rarely receive a complaint since there is enough overlap between APs. So we can take some time to fix the problem (referring to the room access issue). As Larry mentioned, we used to have many complaints with our hallway 2.4 GHz design, we have almost none with our bedroom 5 GHz design. The cost is different of course! BTW, good luck to have a decent coverage at 5 GHz if you plan to cover from the hallway. The attenuation is atrocious! It is hard to reach the room, and APs see each other in the hallway forcing the RADIO algorithm to reduce power. (at least with the kind of buildings that we have at UTK) Best, Season's Greetings, Philippe www.eduroamus.org On Dec 19, 2012, at 10:30 AM, Jennings, Larry W ljenn...@utk.edu wrote: David, During the spring and summer of 2012, the University of Tennessee Knoxville campus upgraded wireless in the dorms. We had b/g AP's in the dorm hallways and the wireless complaints were a constant reminder that we had to do something. We removed the AP's from the hallways and placed AP's in some of the dorm rooms, taking one of the wired ports for an AP. Overall, we went from around 600 AP's to 1600 AP's and to 802.11n throughout in the process. We've had very few calls where students have messed with the AP's. For rooms that we had to use one of the wired ports, we allow a small switch to be installed upon request. But we haven't seen many requests for that. lj Larry Jennings IT Manager - Network Services The University of Tennessee 2309 Kingston Pike Bldg. Knoxville, TN 37996 Phone: 865.974.1619 Email: ljenn...@utk.edu SIP: ljenn...@utk.edu -Original Message- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of David Robertson Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2012 8:37 AM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless in Residence Halls We are looking at how we install wireless in our Residence Halls for coverage. Currently we only place access points in the hallways, but are looking at moving them into the rooms for better coverage. We were wondering if anyone else has put the access points in the rooms and if they have seen
Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless in Residence Halls
Joel, Heads up. Many vendors provide box mounted APs with only one radio at 2.4 GHz (e.g. your Ruckus reference) or selectable spectrum (the extreme network reference or even the Aruba AP 93H). Providing only 2.4 GHz is a solution that might not last for long and only providing 5 GHz could create problems with your community. We looked at those and decided that this type of investment wouldn't last very long. If a vendor had a 2 radios AP in a wall box format, it would be a completely different story (but can 802.3af support 2 radios and a switch?) Philippe On Dec 19, 2012, at 11:44 AM, Coehoorn, Joel jcoeho...@york.edumailto:jcoeho...@york.edu wrote: We're looking into a wall-box form factor for our access points. Something along the lines of one of these: http://www.ruckuswireless.com/products/zoneflex-indoor/7025 http://www.extremenetworks.com/products/altitude-4511.aspx http://www.panoptictechnology.com/smart-room-network-jacks/ They're designed to fit into a traditional electrical wall box (like the one that's probably already there for an existing network drop) and they provide a passthrough port, so a student can still plug in a wired device like an xbox without messing the functional parts of the AP. The student may not even know there's an access point there. This won't work for everyone, since the big Aruba/Cisco players don't have this form factor. We're small enough we don't even have a controller and use fat APs. But I thought this was still worth mentioning for those with mixed environments or anyone using Ruckus or Extreme.. As a side note: is anyone else eager for a common AP/Controller interaction standard, to be able to bring one vendor's access points to another's controller? [http://www.york.edu/ycsealsig.png] Joel Coehoorn Director of Information Technology York College, Nebraska 402.363.5603 jcoeho...@york.edumailto:jcoeho...@york.edu [http://www.york.edu/mvplogo.png] The mission of York College is to transform lives through Christ-centered education and to equip students for lifelong service to God, family, and society On Wed, Dec 19, 2012 at 10:16 AM, Lee H Badman lhbad...@syr.edumailto:lhbad...@syr.edu wrote: To that point- I have had to hit manual override on the fabled RRM algorithm in spots where the APs influence each other to the detriment of the clients. Typically amounts to setting a new min power level that the APs are not allowed to go below, and occasionally going old-school setting fixed power. I find the auto power/channel thing to be good, but not above reproach. -Original Message- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDUmailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of phanset Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2012 11:10 AM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDUmailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless in Residence Halls David, Let me add that we cover between 5 to 6 students per AP (we stagger APs between floors), and when an AP goes down, we rarely receive a complaint since there is enough overlap between APs. So we can take some time to fix the problem (referring to the room access issue). As Larry mentioned, we used to have many complaints with our hallway 2.4 GHz design, we have almost none with our bedroom 5 GHz design. The cost is different of course! BTW, good luck to have a decent coverage at 5 GHz if you plan to cover from the hallway. The attenuation is atrocious! It is hard to reach the room, and APs see each other in the hallway forcing the RADIO algorithm to reduce power. (at least with the kind of buildings that we have at UTK) Best, Season's Greetings, Philippe www.eduroamus.orghttp://www.eduroamus.org/ On Dec 19, 2012, at 10:30 AM, Jennings, Larry W ljenn...@utk.edumailto:ljenn...@utk.edu wrote: David, During the spring and summer of 2012, the University of Tennessee Knoxville campus upgraded wireless in the dorms. We had b/g AP's in the dorm hallways and the wireless complaints were a constant reminder that we had to do something. We removed the AP's from the hallways and placed AP's in some of the dorm rooms, taking one of the wired ports for an AP. Overall, we went from around 600 AP's to 1600 AP's and to 802.11n throughout in the process. We've had very few calls where students have messed with the AP's. For rooms that we had to use one of the wired ports, we allow a small switch to be installed upon request. But we haven't seen many requests for that. lj Larry Jennings IT Manager - Network Services The University of Tennessee 2309 Kingston Pike Bldg. Knoxville, TN 37996 Phone: 865.974.1619tel:865.974.1619 Email: ljenn...@utk.edumailto:ljenn...@utk.edu SIP: ljenn...@utk.edumailto:ljenn...@utk.edu -Original Message- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN
