We switched over to the Cisco 3500 series from the 1142 series pretty much as soon as they were available. The added cost vs. the ability to troubleshoot wireless issues, especially in areas into which we can't just physically go, such as residence halls, is well worth it. There could definitely be WCS improvements in presenting the information and logging it, but even so the new details on microwave ovens, cordless phones etc. is very cool when someone calls and complains about wireless being slow/down/spotty.
We have 321 3500s in service today and no problems (that we haven't seen with the other models.) Toivo Voll Network Administrator Information Technology Communications University of South Florida -----Original Message----- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Barron Hulver Sent: Friday, February 18, 2011 14:18 To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: [WIRELESS-LAN] Any experiences with Cisco 3500-series CleanAir access points? Does anyone have any experiences with the Cisco 3500-series CleanAir access points? We have a small project (about 40 access points) coming up and I'm thinking about deploying these as a pilot instead of the 1142s that we would normally deploy. I've discussed this will one of my people who handles our wireless deployments (Art Ripley) and he thinks we should. For background, we have most of the campus covered in wireless and a couple of years ago we started deploying for performance instead of coverage (more access points per square foot). We have nine Cisco WLCs (a mix of 4404-100s and 5508s) and a mix of 1131 and 1142 access points. We do not use WCS. Instead, we (Nathan Broome and I) have developed our own wireless management software. This has worked well for us but I'm wondering if I should move to an off-the-shelf package when deploying the 3500s. Any thoughts on this? I've arranged a meeting with our local Cisco sales office next week and this will be one of the topics I want to discuss. Thanks, Barron Barron Hulver Director of Networking, Operations, and Systems Center for Information Technology Oberlin College 148 West College Street Oberlin, OH 44074 440-775-8798 http://www2.oberlin.edu/staff/bhulver/ ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
