Students need to use those same low-cost laptops in classrooms too. Restricting lower data rates to residential areas may not be realistic.
Bruce Osborne Wireless Engineer IT Network Services - Wireless (434) 592-4229 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY Training Champions for Christ since 1971 -----Original Message----- From: Chuck Anderson [mailto:c...@wpi.edu] Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2016 10:57 AM Subject: Re: Turning off 2.4 on a select SSID? Think of it like the Interstate Highway system. You can't use a horse-drawn carriage on it, because it would be unsafe and would slow everyone down. I could maybe see making a case for in-dorm room APs to allow lower data rates because then they would only be slowing themselves (and perhaps adjacent rooms) down, but not in general across the campus. On Wed, Apr 13, 2016 at 02:27:23PM +0000, Jeffrey D. Sessler wrote: > While I would agree that you could/should have recommended minimums, I > believe a hard restriction could be looked at as disadvantaging those > students who don’t have the means to purchase compliant hardware. It’s not > uncommon to have academically strong students who require significant > financial aid, and come with whatever device they can afford. > > Looking at our connection stats, it’s clear that in properly engineered > building/spaces, 5GHz is the dominate band selected by devices. With 2.4GHz > being less popular, devices that are 2.4GHz only should in fact be in pretty > good shape. Given the rarity of even 802.11g devices in 2.4, I don’t believe > you’d ever be in a position of reducing the experience for others… the others > are already on 5GHz. > > I’ve said this before. If you are a residential campus, then shouldn’t the > goal be to have the WiFi experience be as similar to home as possible i.e. > Everything connects and works? The closer you get, the fewer cases where a > student is compelled to stand-up their own WAP. I don’t think we’re there > yet, but we’re getting closer. > > Jeff > > > > On 4/13/16, 5:23 AM, "The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv > on behalf of Chris Adams (IT)" <WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU on behalf > of chris.ad...@ung.edu> wrote: > > >I think this raises an interesting challenge that I've faced too: should we > >enact a minimum specification requirement (ex. no 802.11a/b) for wireless > >network access? > > > >For student PCs that our service desk supports, we have minimum > >requirements, IE Windows versions, AV vendors, etc. Outside of those > >requirements, they cannot support the machines. Should we do something > >similar for wireless? > > > >Is it fair to potentially reduce the network experience for others > >associated to access point to support devices that only utilize legacy > >wireless methods? > > > >I am certainly sympathetic to allow as much device freedom as possible - but > >at what cost to performance and user experience? > > > >I am interested if any of you may have already crossed this bridge. > > > >Thanks, > > > >Chris Adams, CISSP > > > >Director, Network & Telecom Services > >Division of Information Technology > >University of North Georgia > > > >-----Original Message----- > >From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv > >[mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Osborne, > >Bruce W (Network Services) > >Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2016 8:18 AM > >To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU > >Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Turning off 2.4 on a select SSID? > > > >We have some management with Visio TVs that requires 802.11b rates in order > >to associate. That presents a challenge too. > > > > > > > >Bruce Osborne > >Wireless Engineer > >IT Network Services - Wireless > > > >(434) 592-4229 > > > >LIBERTY UNIVERSITY > >Training Champions for Christ since 1971 > > > > > >-----Original Message----- > >From: Gogan, James Patrick [mailto:go...@email.unc.edu] > >Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2016 8:08 AM > >Subject: Re: Turning off 2.4 on a select SSID? > > > >I'm unfortunately seeing that we may actually start to experience an > >INCREASE in 2.4GHz-only devices ..... when we asked about this on campus > >recently, I received this reply ... and this is from a central IT person: > > > >" I wanted to point out that many brand new phones don't speak 5GHz such as > >the Motorola Moto G (3rd generation) which just began shipping late last > >summer. In fact, none of the generations of Moto G have a 5GHz radio. > >Motorola has reserved 5GHz wifi for the Moto X which is their premium spec > >phone. The Moto G is a pretty common phone - I know of several folks (in > >our department) that have such including myself and a coworker who just > >bought a brand new one Friday. Republic Wireless sells a ton of these. The > >Moto E, which is the base model, also doesn't speak 5GHz. Several folks in > >our building also have that phone." > > > >Don't know whether to blame Motorola or folks that go for the cheapest stuff > >possible. > > > >-- Jim Gogan / Univ of North Carolina at Chapel Hill > > > >-----Original Message----- > >From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv > >[mailto:WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Earl > >Barfield > >Sent: Monday, April 11, 2016 4:07 PM > >To: WIRELESS-LAN@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU > >Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Turning off 2.4 on a select SSID? > > > >> On 04/07/2016 09:24 AM, Hector J Rios wrote: > >>> > >>> I guess this brings up another good question, and that is, what is > >>> the percentage of 5GHz vs 2.4GHz you all see in your institutions? > >>> For us is still 50-50. And it’s been like that for a while. I > >>> still see new laptops that only come with 2.4GHz adapters. > >>> > > > > > >While it can be useful to track what percentage of connections use 5GHz > >radios, we've found that a better question to ask is "What percentage of > >5GHz-capable clients are actually connecting at 5GHz". > > > >In our environment, it varies wildly by building: some as high as 95% of > >sessions and others, such as our outdoor spaces, down close to zero. > > > >We focus our resources on improving the 5GHz coverage in the buildings with > >the lower percentages. > > > >All this data is in the Airwave Management Platform database. It just > >takes a little gentle coaxing to get it out. > > > >In our high density spaces, we have many many APs on 5GHz with directional > >antennas, along with turning of lower data rates and > >raising RxSOP to limit the cell size. We turn off 2.4GHz > >radios on all but a few APs in the room, From the user side, this > >should look about like APs with multiple 5GHz radios. > > > >We're using Cisco AP3702Es right now but we're anxious to take a look at the > >upcoming AP3802Es that should allow us to use fewer APs to but the same > >number of 5GHz antennas serving a room. ********** 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/.
