We turned off all B rates this summer along with "802.11b protection" (we are an Aruba campus). We did it during the summer and saw immediate improvements in speed. To be effective, you need all B rates off, the goal isn't to kill the lower speeds, the goal is to kill B altogether. It's an older and less efficient protocol.
Part of the reason for the increase of speed even during the quiet time of summer is that the AP's will use the lower speeds 1Mps/2Mps for management / broadcasting / Beacons / etc. By dropping B, the slowest speed is now 6 Mbps for all the base level management traffic, etc. No complaints so far, we have both open and wpa2 and all sorts of devices. Stats from last semester showed almost no B usage, so we felt pretty safe in shutting it down. I have heard that the Wii's want B/1Mbps to find the AP and then can ramp up, but haven't confirmed / seen this yet. Carl Oakes California State University Sacramento -----Original Message----- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Marcelo Lew Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2012 8:05 AM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Disabling 802.11b speeds In my experience, disabling b rates only help in areas with high AP density, in particular, Apple devices that like to be very close to the APs. In areas with low AP density, it could create issues for devices such as Macbooks. Marcelo Lew Wireless Enterprise Administrator University Technology Services University of Denver Desk: (303) 871-6523 Cell: (303) 669-4217 Fax: (303) 871-5900 Email: m...@du.edu -----Original Message----- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Harry Rauch Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2012 8:30 AM To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Disabling 802.11b speeds We will probably end most of the B rates at the end of this school year. They have not been a problem since switching to Ruckus wireless. We get a LOT of BYODs on campus, we support TVs, Game Consoles, wireless printers, etc. Most of our slower B traffic has been Android devices. Harry Rauch Sr. Network Analyst Eckerd College 4200 - 54th Ave S St. Petersburg, FL 33711 On 9/27/12 9:30 AM, Watters, John wrote: > We disabled all the b speeds several years ago. Had no complaints then and > continue to not have any. > > -jcw > > ------------------------------------- > John Watters UA: OIT 205-348-3992 > > > -----Original Message----- > From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv > [mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Todd M. Hall > Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2012 7:55 AM > To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU > Subject: [WIRELESS-LAN] Disabling 802.11b speeds > > This has been discussed in the past, but it has been a long time. > > We're at the point that we have to turn off the lower connection rates > on our campus. I'm curious what other schools have done and the > positive/negative results from the changes. We have disabled 1, 2, > 5.5, and 11 Mbps in some of our buildings with great success, but some > might argue to just eliminate 1 & 2 Mbps rates. Also, I'd be > interested to hear from schools that have not disabled these rates and why > not. > ********** 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/.