Our University police department is trying to use two devices that are giving us a lot of grief. I am hoping that some of you will have experience with either or both of these and can help me either (1) make them work in a way that does not kill our campus network, or (2) convince them that there is a better way to do what they want to do.
The first thing they want to do is have the offices carry around a Verizon cell
phone set up as a WiFi hotspot so they will have access to the outside world
for their laptops when out of range of any University WiFi signal. I think the
main use of this if for emergency responders in case of a tornado, etc. But,
they want to be able to test them at any time in any place.
The second thing they want to do is install a CalAmp Fusion Multi-Network LTE
Router in each patrol car. This unit seems to have multiple wireless protocols
available to it including LTE bands running at 700 MHz, 1700 MHz, & 2100 MHz
plus CDMA bands running at 800 MHz plus WiFi running at 2.4 GHz only. The point
of this box seems to be to allow Internet communications with the officers'
laptops via WiFi when they have them outside of the car.
It appears that neither the Verizon hotspot nor the CalAmp LTE router can use
the 5 GHz band.
We are a Cisco shop with our wireless infrastructure under the control of WiSM2
controllers. We run rogue AP containment. Right now we are containing the
hotspots & the CalAmp boxes as best we can. We can certainly white-list these
devices by MAC address or by SSID (I prefer MAC address). But, what I worry
about is the controllers chasing these rogues around campus (remember, they
both move a lot) and never really setting up the APs in the locations where the
devices are currently sitting to allow them to run. If I remember correctly,
the controller adjusts the frequencies of adjacent APs under its control to
avoid the white-listed devices only when they are seen but not all the time. I
worry that by the time they are seen and the APs are adjusted to avoid them,
the devices will have moved on to another area and we have just killed 1/3 of
our 2.4 GHz bandwidth in an area when the devices have now left the area and
these devices are now causing problems in another place. It does appear that I
can control the frequency used by the CalAmp device. Not sure yet about
whatever device they are using for the Verizon hotspot.
Has anyone had problems with setups such as these and what did you do to
resolve them?
Thanks.
-jcw
[cid:[email protected]]
John Watters The University of Alabama
Office of Information Technology
205-348-3992
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