topic Re: AP305C WiFi6 best practice in ExtremeCloud IQ

AP305C WiFi6 best practice

Naza783 — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 11:28:12 GMT

Dear Community,

We just got a couple of AP305C with the idea of start replacing the dozen of AP230 we have around our concrete building, and was wondering if you can give me some advice in regards to WiFi6 best practices or recommended configuration for our new AP305C, we are putting great hope that these devices will start coping with the extra-load of clients that we have, but so far there has not even a massive improvement, and I don't even know if WiFi6 is actually enable on them! I can see on the Extreme IQ portal that they have the radio mode 11-ax-5g, and using the default template for 305C, so I guess WiFi6 is enable.

Would be great to know what settings would you recommend as best practice for their Radio Profile

Any help would be much appreciated, thank you!!!!

Re: AP305C WiFi6 best practice

Stefan_K_ — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 11:32:01 GMT

Not sure about the default settings, but you could check if OFDMA and MU-MIMO is enabled.

Re: AP305C WiFi6 best practice

JonasD_Complit — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 12:25:43 GMT

ap230 is a 3x3:3 access point and ap305c is a 2x2:2 access point. So it is a less performing ap. Off course you have the Wi-Fi 6 advantage. AP410c was a better replacement of the ap230 I think.

but we see if the performance is not ok, it it mostly a bad configured ap. I would recommend to disable data rates less then 12Mbps on the ssid's (or you must be using very old clients). And also have a look to your power levels. Depending on the design but mostly 14dbm is the max we use. And also try to the clients on the 5Ghz.

Re: AP305C WiFi6 best practice

Stefan_K_ — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 12:30:04 GMT

@JonasD_Complit wrote:
ap230 is a 3x3:3 access point and ap305c is a 2x2:2 access point. So it is a less performing ap.

Given that most WiFi-Clients are 2x2 I wouldn't agree here in general.

I would recommend to disable data rates less then 12Mbps on the ssid's (or you must be using very old clients).

Good Idea! I even set it to 24 Mbps, most of the time.

Re: AP305C WiFi6 best practice

Naza783 — Sun, 06 Oct 2024 04:54:21 GMT

Thank you so much for the reply! Yes, we are ordering some AP410C because the AP305C did not make a significant difference, we are putting those now only in small rooms. We made a custom template for the AP410C, and configured also a 6GHz radio profile under ExtremeCloud IQ > Configure > Common Objects > Radio Profiles, but that new 6GHz profile is not displayed under the drop list of WiFi1 in the AP template for the AP410C, does it mean that the 6GHz is not eanble for that AP?

Thank you! and as you can see I'm all new with this

Re: AP305C WiFi6 best practice

Naza783 — Sun, 06 Oct 2024 05:35:57 GMT

Thank you!! Didn't realised WiFi6 means that to actually enable those settings, as mentioned here: https://community.extremenetworks.com/t5/extremecloud-iq/newer-wifi-6-ax-aps-with-bss-coloring-ofdma/td-p/74922

Was a bit confused by the number of channels to use, I thought WiFi6 will use more channels, but as I understand WiFi6 what it does is actually using the channels for both 2.5 and 5 Ghz, shall I perharps disable steering or leave it all as default?

Re: AP305C WiFi6 best practice

Stefan_K_ — Sun, 06 Oct 2024 11:25:59 GMT

Hi Naza,

don't confuse Wifi6 with Wifi 6E. Wifi 6 (802.11ax) uses 2.4 and 5 Ghz Channels, but offers new features like OFDMA, MU-MIMO (UL) and some more...

Wifi 6E is also 802.11ax with the same new features, but also offers the usage of 6 Ghz channels. Neither AP410C nor AP305C have Wifi 6E support.

Re: AP305C WiFi6 best practice

Naza783 — Mon, 07 Oct 2024 05:14:01 GMT

Thank you so much Stefan_K_!

Yes, that was exactly my problem, for some reason I assumed new channels would be of 6Ghz just like it was when we jumped from 2.4 to 5....oh dear, I'm showing my age here! lol

I've got a couple of more last-minute questions? if you guys can help me out that woudl be great!

1) If I enable OFDMA in the 5Ghz Radio Profile, shall I enable it too in the 2.4 Ghz Radio Profile too? I think I'll have to, right? So that the AP has OFDMA enable on both frequencies, or does it really matter?

2) OFDMA and MU-MIMO seem to be doing the same function, is it advisable to have both of these features enable on both radio profiles? I'm starting only with OFDMA in the 5Ghz range, see how that goes when we monitor the performance, and it would be good to know the community's thoughts and experience regarding this

Thanks again!

Re: AP305C WiFi6 best practice

Stefan_K_ — Mon, 07 Oct 2024 13:10:19 GMT

1) Nothing speaks against enabling it on both radios.

2) They are not really the same, so you can enable both! Not sure if you can enable MU-MIMO on 2.4Ghz channels. Technically its possible with Wifi6, but I don't think its possible to configure with Extreme (at least with the on-prem WLC)

MU-MIMO improves capacity by allowing multiple devices to be served simultaneously through different spatial streams. OFDMA enhances efficiency by dividing bandwidth more granularly, enabling multiple devices to transmit or receive small amounts of data at the same time.