Outside of a bug, I think Apple's approach is the correct one. Allowing the user to adjust how the client driver works is just asking for trouble. If the client driver is doing its job correctly, then it should pick the best band based on its internal rules. Allowing the user to muck with this generally results in something the user "thinks" is better, but typically isn't unless they are sitting on top of the AP. In this particular location, if you have 20 clients on 5 because they are forced there, and there are few to no clients on 2.4, the better experience may actually be on 2.4. Jeff >>> On Friday, September 20, 2013 at 9:21 AM, in message <006a01ceb61d$7e4ee6d0$7aecb470$@rice.edu>, Danny Eaton <dannyea...@rice.edu> wrote:
Jeff – we’re seeing the clients join at 2.4 Ghz, and just stay there. The AP for this one particular is in the room – about 10 – 15 feet away, so I don’t see any reason why it won’t go to 5. Other clients (Windows, Android) are associating at 5 Ghz. on that AP, and the specific Mac goes to 5 in other locations. It’s just a recurring problem across our entire wireless network. We’ve discovered that 45% of our wireless clients are Apple, and want to give them the best experience possible, which would happen in the 5 Ghz band. We’ve disabled band select in only one of the 14 controllers, due to problems with a professor’s Linux MINT distribution. Windows makes it very easy for a dual-band wireless card to prefer 5 Ghz over 2.4 Ghz, and, to borrow a phrase, “it just works”. Why can’t Apple? I am testing WiSM-2’s with 7.5.110.0 code right now, (currently the 3502/1142/1252 APs are using WiSM-1 with 7.0.240.0 code), so I’m hoping this is something that is “resolved magically” in the new wireless code, but it really seems to be something Apple CAN fix, if they wanted to. From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Jeffrey Sessler Sent: Friday, September 20, 2013 10:59 AM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Dual Band Mac laptops... The Mac's will often start off on 2.4 GHz, and if they are stationary for a bit, will migrate to 5 GHz. This is what I've observed in our Cisco environment without the use of band select. Of course, the Mac makes the choice between 2.4 and 5 based on several factors including performance, so depending on how dense (or not dense) your deployment is, the Mac may prefer 2.4 if the clients are father than 20-30 feet from an AP. This is really easy to see in Prime - If you have residential Mac user (or a office user who is stationary for hours), go look at this client record. You'll likely see the Mac associate at 2.4, then re-associate at 5 a bit later. I've also noticed that once a Mac moves to 5 on a given AP, it will try to re-associate at 5 assuming it's back in same location. I'd avoid band select - after all these years, the wifi client drivers are still problematic, and trying to use magic on the AP side to steer the client always results in some sub-set of unhappy clients (especially in EDU). Jeff >>> On Friday, September 20, 2013 at 7:43 AM, in message <003901ceb60f$b443ccf0$1ccb66d0$@rice.edu>, Danny Eaton <dannyea...@rice.edu> wrote: So, what we are seeing in our wireless is that dual-band Mac’s seem to prefer the 2.4 Ghz side of things. I’ve searched, and had some of the Mac specialists on campus search for a way to encourage them to connect to 5 Ghz. I know there’s a way in the Windows OS to do such a thing in the driver settings. Does anyone know of a way to make this happen on a Mac? Respectfully, Danny Eaton Snr. Network Architect Networking, Telecommunications, & Operations Rice University, IT Mudd Bldg, RM #205 Jones College Associate Office - 713-348-5233 Cellular - 832-247-7496 dannyea...@rice.edu Soli Deo Gloria Matt 18:4-6 G.K. Chesterton, “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting. It’s been found hard and left untried.” ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. !DSPAM:911,523c70b659021360117255! ********** 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/.
