Hi Pete - I'm newly independent from Cisco :-) and just thought I'd chime in.
I agree there is little compelling today about N. However, it is within today's technology horizon and the cost of design/site surveys/installation/etc are a more substantial than the equipment itself. If somebody is doing a new install or compelled to do a retrofit, doing the radio planning around the 5ghz bands and radios makes a lot of sense and you may as well hang N APs while you're at it (incremental total cost is small). I see it more around channel availability than speed. 11A will always be a redheaded stepchild. I'd liken not hanging 11N APs to putting in 11B in 2003. If you already have a working network, I agree, wait. Doing something new? Do it for a 6-7 year deployment. $.02 Mike On Mon, Apr 27, 2009 at 7:53 AM, Peter P Morrissey <ppmor...@syr.edu> wrote: > Thanks Matt, > > I ordered a Dell that has one of those. Looking forward to testing it. > All of this confirms though that there is no compelling reason for us to > move to 802.11n. I was worried that I wasn't using the best equipment for > the testing that I've done thus far with a couple of vendors. The testing > shows a little over 100mbps down and maybe 90 up, and that is peak in the > best case scenario lab conditions with an expensive, good quality adapter > and all 11n parameters tuned. With cheaper, consumer grade adapters it was > much lower than that. And, I would imagine it is even lower yet in real > world scenarios. We're also finding that the range is usually no better, and > in some cases worse than a/b/g. We tend to deploy with a lot of density > anyway, so that isn't a big problem for us, but it contradicts what we had > heard about the technology. It just doesn't look like users are going to > notice any difference between current generation 11n and a solid a/b/g > environment. And, when considering the cost difference and increased support > complications that are inevitable when deploying a new technology, it is > hard to make a case for moving to 11n with any urgency. If anyone has done > any testing shows better results, please share it. > > Pete Morrissey > > > -----Original Message----- > From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto: > wireless-...@listserv.educause.edu] On Behalf Of Barber, Matt > Sent: Monday, April 27, 2009 9:49 AM > To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU > Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless-only in residence halls > > Hi Pete, > > They do not do 3x3. I don't know of any adapters that do besides the > Intel 5300. > > I haven't done any extensive throughput testing with those adapters. In > terms of actual, real-world use though, they are performing fine. We > have a few dozen people using them without issues. > > Matt Barber > Network Analyst > Morrisville State College > 315-684-6053 > > > -----Original Message----- > From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv > [mailto:wireless-...@listserv.educause.edu] On Behalf Of Peter P > Morrissey > Sent: Monday, April 27, 2009 9:29 AM > To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU > Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless-only in residence halls > > Do they do 3x3 MIMO? > What is the best up/down throughput that has been achieved on them with > channel bonding? > Pete Morrissey > > > -----Original Message----- > From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv > [mailto:wireless-...@listserv.educause.edu] On Behalf Of Barber, Matt > Sent: Monday, April 27, 2009 8:42 AM > To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU > Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless-only in residence halls > > Hi Bruce, > > We went with two different Linksys dual-band adapters, one PCMCIA and > one USB. The USB is really only for the few desktops that some students > bring in. We sell it (the WUSB600n) at our bookstore. The PCMCIA one > is the Linksys WPC600n, and we use it for some older laptops that don't > have any wireless or only have 11b. > > Matt Barber > Network Analyst > Morrisville State College > 315-684-6053 > > > -----Original Message----- > From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv > [mailto:wireless-...@listserv.educause.edu] On Behalf Of Osborne, Bruce > W. (NS) > Sent: Sunday, April 26, 2009 6:43 AM > To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU > Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless-only in residence halls > > Matt, > > We are looking into selling dual band 11n adapters. Whish ones did you > choose? > > What about desktop computers? Do you provide any solution for wireless? > There do not seem to be any dual band 11n desktop cards. You can buy > adapters and use some of the laptop cards, though. > > > Thanks, > Bruce Osborne > Liberty University > > -----Original Message----- > From: Barber, Matt [mailto:barbe...@morrisville.edu] > Sent: Saturday, April 25, 2009 1:21 PM > Subject: Re: Wireless-only in residence halls > > This is similar to our approach. We push the 5 GHz as much as possible. > Between the microwaves, Xbox 360 controllers, Bluetooth, and everything > else, the 2.4 GHz in the dorms is a tad unpredictable. > > We sell dual-band 11n adapters in our bookstore, educate helpdesk > visitors, and I am always testing how things look in the field. The > great majority of the time, things work perfectly fine. When it > doesn't, I will typically work directly with students to figure out why. > Flipping some adapters to prefer 5 GHz (or only use 5 GHz even), or even > suggesting that the microwave not be sitting 6 inches from a laptop > typically takes care of things :) > > Matt Barber > Network Analyst > Morrisville State College > 315-684-6053 > > > -----Original Message----- > From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv > [mailto:wireless-...@listserv.educause.edu] On Behalf Of Hector J Rios > Sent: Friday, April 24, 2009 7:19 PM > To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU > Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless-only in residence halls > > I forgot to mention that as well. In almost all of the rooms that we > went into when we were doing our surveys we saw a microwave oven and an > occasional 2.4GHz cordless phone. We spoke to Res Life and explained to > them the impact that such devices could have on the wireless network. > Having a dual solution is great because the 5GHz band is less crowded. > But unfortunately many wireless adapters tend to prefer the 2.4GHz band. > Disabling the 2.4GHz would be wonderful, but the reality is that there > are still a lot of legacy devices out there, so you have to support > them. We even considered offering 2.4GHz at 2Mbps only, hoping that this > would discourage users from using 2.4GHz altogether and opt for 5GHz. > The issue here is how to get users to adjust settings on their end so > that they only use 5GHz. Currently we have opted to attempt to "educate" > our users on how wireless works, how certain devices can have > detrimental effects on the network, and how small modifications to their > adapter settings can make a huge difference. Utopian, I know. I'll let > you guys how that idea goes. > > Hector > > ********** > 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/. > > ********** > 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/.
