We shut off 802.11b rates in 2011. While we received no complaints about incompatible devices, it’s worth mentioning that our only SSID was WPA2-Enterpirse. We knew going in that there we few if any 802.11b devices could connect anyway. In fact, that’s what encouraged us to shut it off. We had lots of devices connecting at 802.11b data rates that we knew shouldn’t be. Once those rates were disabled, some of those devices just naturally started connecting at g-rates and some stopped connecting until their drivers were updated, but it allowed us to solve a problem that was severely hurting network performance.
Chuck Enfield Manager, Wireless Systems & Engineering Telecommunications & Networking Services The Pennsylvania State University 110H, USB2, UP, PA 16802 ph: 814.863.8715 fx: 814.865.3988 From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Samuel Clements Sent: Monday, June 20, 2016 11:56 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] 802.11b data rates disabled? I think we've arrived at a point where most 802.11b devices are flat out deprecated. I also believe that you're going to run into far more 802.11g devices that don't like 1 & 2 being disabled (most notably the Nintendo Wii) than you are people that actually expect an 802.11b device to still function. Between that, and the significant positive impact to CU that you'll undoubtedly get, it's a very timely conversation to be having. Unfortunately, you can't rely on your NMS platforms reporting of 802.11b devices since many .11g clients will stick further out than what's reasonable using CCK modulation (and showing .11b clients). In all instances in recent memory (say, 2 years), I've had the number of complaints by disabling .11b data rates be so low as to be background noise. Couple the ethernet adapter for the Wii into the equation, and the problems are practically nonexistent except in the most corner of cases. -Sam On Mon, Jun 20, 2016 at 10:49 AM, Todd M. Hall <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: Do you have all of the 802.11b data rates disabled? If so, how long have they been disabled? Did you have many complaints when you disabled them? Were there any particular devices that could not connect as a result? I'm hoping this information will help us move towards disabling these old rates. Thank you for your feedback. -- Todd M. Hall Sr. Network Analyst Information Technology Services Mississippi State University [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> 662-325-9311 <tel:662-325-9311> (phone) ********** 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/.
