We recommend anything that regularly uses an electrical outlet (TV, Xbox, Apple TV) to use the wired port. In some cases (mainly residential colleges, aka dorms), we're deploying the Cisco 702W APs, which have 4 1 Gb ports on them. In others, we recommend a dual band 2.4 Ghz/5 Ghz radio for laptops (phones, too really). We've disabled the lowest data rates for 2.4 Ghz (1 mbps and 2 Mpbs is disabled, 5.5 is Supported but not Mandatory). We do not have band select or client load balancing enabled as it caused some issues with Linux clients (a specific Mint build, if I remember correctly), but as that was an earlier version of the Cisco wireless controller software, it might be time to revisit those options.
-----Original Message----- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Chris Adams (IT) Sent: Thursday, November 05, 2015 7:18 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Minimum Standards We are having a similar conversation on our campuses. As technology / wireless folks, we want to provide as much access as we reasonably can. But with 802.11b and/or low data rates, there is a risk/reward that has to be observed. Risk: If 802.11b / low data rates are enabled, and you have clients that are trying to use them, all users in that wireless coverage area are reduced to the lowest common denominator. Throw in channel overlap on 2.4ghz, and youve potentially got a nasty situation where entire building areas and clients on 2.4ghz are dragged down to abysmal data rates, affecting many users. Having these low data rates on 2.4ghz can also cause users to hang on to lower signal WAPs rather than hopping to a closer AP while roaming about buildings. Reward: Outlier devices, such as the referenced xboxs, smart TVs, wii, etc can connect. Is the reward worth the risk? I tend to think not, but this is a conscious decision that IT leadership must make and communicate. Supporting the 2% of legacy devices and affecting the 98% unnecessarily is a difficult decision. How do we fix this? I'd be interested in hearing how other campuses have handled this. - 5ghz adoption & band steering (our biggest challenge here is getting WAPs out of the Hallways in some of our older dorms so the 5ghz signal can propogate) - Wired ports available for these devices in rooms - Minimum client standards policy - 802.11g/n/ac only As an aside, we only have 802.11b enabled in our residence halls - we disabled these in our academic buildings and disabled low data rates. The user experience was improved dramatically. Thanks, Chris Adams Director, Network & Telecom Services Division of Information Technology University of North Georgia E-Mail: [email protected] | Office: (706) 867-2891 -----Original Message----- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Osborne, Bruce W (Network Services) Sent: Thursday, November 5, 2015 7:48 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Minimum Standards I wish we could turn down 802.11b. We strongly recommend 802.11ac compatibility, but since we have residences with game consoles (Xbox 360) & some clueless TVs (Vizio) we needed to turn on 1 & 2 mbps so those devices would associate to our mac-auth SSID for non-802.1X devices. Bruce Osborne Wireless Engineer IT Infrastructure & Media Solutions (434) 592-4229 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY Training Champions for Christ since 1971 -----Original Message----- From: Smith, Todd [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, November 4, 2015 5:41 PM Subject: Re: Minimum Standards We are starting to move away from 802.11a since it doesn't support DFS channels with with our new 802.11ac Wave 2 rollout coming soon will be needed. Turning 802.11b down has helped quite a bit but we still see a large about of 802.11g traffic. Todd ________________________________ From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [[email protected]] On Behalf Of Hinson, Matthew P [[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, November 04, 2015 4:42 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [WIRELESS-LAN] Minimum Standards Just wondering what everyone's minimum standards look like for supported Wi-Fi devices. Or if your department has any defined. We don't enforce any sort of minimum bar aside from -Your device needs to support 802.11a, g, n, or ac. 802.11b devices cannot successfully authenticate -Consistent 2.4GHz-only connectivity usually cannot be guaranteed in residence halls. At a glance, we're usually only at about 0.3% 802.11g clients. Everyone else is a, n, or ac. Thank you! Matthew Hinson Supervisor, Network Operations "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged. For the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." 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