Last April in http://listserv.educause.edu/scripts/wa.exe?A2=WIRELESS-LAN;57305dd0.1504 "802.11ac AP Deployment," several respondents say they use 40 MHz channel width campus wide. Some noted that the ac standard provides for dynamic switching back and forth to 20 MHz, so interference is less of an issue.
But, those respondents didn't mention if they were using only the U-NII-1 and U-NII-3 bands, or if they are also using the bands that require DFS, U-NII-2 and/or -2e . Is there any consensus or best practice on this? Is anyone using -2 and -2e, or just staying with four non-overlapping 40 MHz 5 GHz channels? Are most current clients able to connect to the DFS channels? Aruba's "RF and Roaming Optimization for Aruba 802.11ac Networks" doc ( http://community.arubanetworks.com/t5/Validated-Reference-Design/RF-and-Roaming-Optimization-for-Aruba-802-11ac-Networks/ta-p/227716 ) says that: "Majority of voice specific devices do not scan many channels before roaming as they have active voice calls. For such devices, do not use U-NII-2 and U-NII-2e channels." and "Roaming test should be performed using different types of clients expected on the WLAN, to see their behavior on DFS channels." So, that sounds like a "no" vote on DFS, though we don't have wifi VoIP phones. Does any one have field experience and recommendations? Any guesses if DFS channels will ever be useable with a student BYO client base? Thanks, Steve Bohrer Network & Security Admin IT Infrastructure, Emerson College 617-824-8523 ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
