Bruce, I guess I don't see high-end smartphones or netbooks as devices that are going to tax 2.4GHz to the point that turning off the lower data rates, or other tuning, will have a positive impact on their experience. At least not on my campus.
The trouble ultimately rests on the shoulders of each given wireless deployment. That is to say, depending on when wireless was introduced at a given university, and the last time it was updated, the deployment is going to fall somewhere between basic coverage and a super-dense replacement for wired. For those at/near the basic coverage side, then more management is going to be necessary of 2.4GHz simply because the number of clients on a given radio is much higher. You face far more impact/problems with distant clients and the occasional b-only device will impact a lot of users. The closer one gets to a dense dual radio deployment, where your number of clients per AP are extremely low, then distant clients become less likely, and even a b-only client will have little to no consequences. Jeff >>> "Osborne, Bruce W" <bosbo...@liberty.edu> 7/23/2011 7:21 AM >>> Jeff, Your statements may be true 5 years from now. Currently, many high-end smartphones and netbooks only do b/g/n (2.4GHz). Last year, we had to allow our streaming Haivision video on 2.4 GHz because of the number of b/g/n clients that could not access the service. Perhaps 5years from now 2.4GHz Wi-Fi will disappear. For now, many mid-range & mobile clients are still only able to use 2.4GHz. Bruce Osborne Wireless Network Engineer IT Network Services (434) 592-4229 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY 40 Years of Training Champions for Christ: 1971-2011 -----Original Message----- From: Jeffrey Sessler [mailto:j...@scrippscollege.edu] Sent: Friday, July 22, 2011 2:49 PM Subject: Re: Interference in dorms. I would have agreed with Neil if this conversation was happening several years ago. Today however, is 2.4Ghz anything other than for low-performance low-bandwidth and/or legacy devices? That is, at least on my campus, every high-performance high-bandwidth device appears to come equipped with a dual-band radio. Our 5GHz deployment/coverage is equal to our 2.4GHZ, so we find that the vast majority of the "most demanding" devices park on 5GHz. At least for us, the 2.4GHz band is the home of all the low-bandwidth low-performance devices such as the Wii, VoIP phones, etc. and the idea of turning off data rates or trying to tune every bit of performance from 2.4GHz seems unnecessary. In other words, if a "b" client connects, so what, there isn't anything else on the AP that's going to care and/or notice. Jeff >>> Rick Brown <r...@ncsu.edu> 7/21/2011 11:54 AM >>> We've disabled all 11B speeds. It was time to make 11b go bye-bye. It is just not worth letting one client drag everyone down. I agree with Neil's sentiment, 'you want to connect your game box go buy a wired adapter' Rick B. On 7/21/2011 2:36 PM, Gogan, James P wrote: > > That kinda begs the question then what DO you do about Wii's (for > example)? Do you have 1-2 Mbps disabled? > > -- Jim Gogan > > UNC-Chapel Hill > > *From:*The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv > [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] *On Behalf Of *Tim Fairlie > *Sent:* Thursday, July 21, 2011 1:31 PM > *To:* WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU > *Subject:* Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Interference in dorms. > > Yep, that was our experience with Wii's. > > Through experimentation we saw that once the Wii joined, if you > disabled 2mpbs, they'd stay on...but they couldn't join if 2mbps > wasn't on initially. Really weird > > Timothy J. Fairlie - Director > Network/User/Telecommunication Services (N.U.T.S) Rider University > fair...@rider.edu <mailto:fair...@rider.edu> > > ----- "Rick Coloccia" <coloc...@geneseo.edu > <mailto:coloc...@geneseo.edu>> wrote: > > Be careful disabling 2 mbps. We were told at the Cisco conference > > in > a wireless class just last week that the Wiis require 2mbps to > successfully find and join the wireless network. I have not personally > verified this, but the source is reliable... > > > > -Rick > > > > On 7/21/2011 12:58 PM, Johnson, Neil M wrote: > > We are struggling with the same issues. We are finding that X-boxes > and PS3s generate lots of interference (they use a proprietary 2.4 > protocol between the joysticks and console). > > > > > > This summer we've added over 100 AP to the dorms, moved several, > changed our AP's antenna configuration, disabled 1 and 2 Mbps data > rates, and are implementing channel layering (Meru) to try and > address the issue. > > > > > > We are also planning on being more aggressive at getting rid of > student installed wireless AP's. > > > > > > We are considering adding a 5GHz only SSID in the dorms to encourage > users to use 5 GHz ( we do have band steering enabled, but a dedicated > SSID would insure that devices only use 5GHz and not fall back to 2.4). > > > > > > We'll see what happens. > > > > > > -Neil > > > > > > -- > > Neil Johnson > > Network Engineer > > The University of Iowa > > Phone: 319 384-0938 > > Fax: 319 335-2951 > > Mobile: 319 540-2081 > > E-Mail: neil-john...@uiowa.edu <mailto:neil-john...@uiowa.edu> > > > > > > > > > > > *From: *"Lay, Daniel" <dl...@samford.edu <mailto:dl...@samford.edu>> > > *Reply-To: *The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv > <WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU > <mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU>> > > *Date: *Thu, 21 Jul 2011 11:16:29 -0500 > > *To: *<WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU > <mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU>> > > *Subject: *[WIRELESS-LAN] Interference in dorms. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Last year we had several students that would complain about poor > wireless coverage in their rooms. It was usually followed by the > comment that they did not have this problem at home or in other areas > of the campus. After performing various test and wireless scans I am > of the opinion that a good portion of these problems were introduced > by the students themselves by bringing in various devices that emit > 2.4 interference. I am curious about how any of you guys have > addressed this problem and informed the students of these potential > interferences. Have any of you added a section to orientation that > discusses the problem of interference and did it have good results. > Did any of you do a poster campaign with good results or did you issue > a Faraday cage to each student to store their stuff in (yes that was a > joke). I can only see this problem getting worse with wireless > printers and game consoles that all have a potential to cause > interference. I am open to any ideas and or suggestions. Thanks. > > Daniel Lay > > Networking Specialist > > Samford University > > ********** 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/. > > > > > > -- > Rick Coloccia, Jr. > Network Manager > State University of NY College at Geneseo > 1 College Circle, 119 South Hall > Geneseo, NY 14454 > V: 585-245-5577 > F: 585-245-5579 > > CIT will never ask for your password or other confidential information via > email. > > ********** 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/. ********** 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/.
