topic RE: will turning off radio 2 (g/n) improve a wireless network in ExtremeSwitching (EXOS/Switch Engine)

will turning off radio 2 (g/n) improve a wireless network

Laura4 — Sat, 11 Apr 2015 03:01:00 GMT

RE: will turning off radio 2 (g/n) improve a wireless network

Zdeněk_Pala — Sat, 11 Apr 2015 03:31:00 GMT

hi Laura. Why do you think it should help? What issues are you trying to solve?

RE: will turning off radio 2 (g/n) improve a wireless network

Laura4 — Sat, 11 Apr 2015 03:31:00 GMT

Another apple tech thinks that too many devices are jumping on the g/n radio, which is slowing everyone else down. He thinks there are too many SSIDs being broadcast and causing interference. He says there are more channels in the 5Ghz band and only 3 in the 2.4Ghz.
The main issue we have is teachers not being able to mirror from their laptop/ipads to Apple TVs. I think it's an Apple issues, not a wireless network issue.

RE: will turning off radio 2 (g/n) improve a wireless network

Robert_Styma1 — Sat, 11 Apr 2015 03:54:00 GMT

One thing too look for at is what channels are in use in the area. The link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels shows that there is a lot of overlap between channels. The more overlap, the more interference. For a given location, if you see strong channels which are numerically close together you are likely to see an impact to wireless network performance.

RE: will turning off radio 2 (g/n) improve a wireless network

Andre_Brits_Kan — Mon, 13 Apr 2015 18:20:00 GMT

Hi Laura

As Pala asked what issues are you trying to solve?
By disabling radio 2 you will loose all your 2.4Ghz clients.
They will not be able to connect unless they have a dual band wifi NIC that will be able to connect to the 5Ghz radio 1.

RE: will turning off radio 2 (g/n) improve a wireless network

Laura4 — Mon, 13 Apr 2015 21:37:00 GMT

RE: will turning off radio 2 (g/n) improve a wireless network

Raffi — Tue, 14 Apr 2015 01:42:00 GMT

5Ghz band is a better than 2.4Ghz band. There are more non overlapping channels, and less interference from non 802.11 wifi devices ( like cordless phones, Bluetooth, etc ).

If you disable your 802.11 g/n radio, then it will force all users to connect to the 5Ghz band. You could also just not broadcast the ssid on the 2.4ghz radio though.

You could have 5ghz broadcast your apple tv ssid, and use 2.4ghz for other purposes, like guest access.

There is also a band steering feature you could switch on that would push clients that are 5ghz a/n capable to use that band.

It is true that a client roaming back and forth from 5Ghz to 2.4Ghz would not be ideal. You would be able to see if that is happening though from the gui.

RE: will turning off radio 2 (g/n) improve a wireless network

Laura4 — Tue, 14 Apr 2015 01:42:00 GMT

Where is the setting to band steer clients to 5GHz?

RE: will turning off radio 2 (g/n) improve a wireless network

Andre_Brits_Kan — Tue, 14 Apr 2015 18:43:00 GMT

Hi Laura, as mentioned you will need to ensure that all your clients is capable of 5ghz before disabling the 2.4Ghz.
Is the mirror not working at all or is in intermittent?
If the teachers can not find the mirror device you might be blocking the bonjour protocol on the AP.
Also note that bonjour does not function across a layer 3 enviroment.
You will need to isolate all the bonjour traffic in a Vlan to discover the Mirror device.
You can find detailed guides for this setup on the Hub or extreme support page.

RE: will turning off radio 2 (g/n) improve a wireless network

Laura4 — Tue, 14 Apr 2015 21:20:00 GMT

the mirroring is intermittent

RE: will turning off radio 2 (g/n) improve a wireless network

Chris_Sherman — Wed, 22 Apr 2015 18:39:00 GMT

I'm assuming that density can also be a concern here. I definitely have places that I would not want to turn off 2.4 due to poor coverage - i.e. 2.4 has better range that I need in some places and I have so many places to monitor that it would be difficult to see where I could turn it off. If there's an easy-ish way to tell where I don't need 2.4, please let me know.

RE: will turning off radio 2 (g/n) improve a wireless network

Laura4 — Wed, 29 Apr 2015 02:11:00 GMT

I tried turning off 2.4, but then users couldn't get on the wifi, so i had to turn it back on. So that idea didn't work out.