Controller Based WLANs

Question:  How can I improve the roaming performance of an Avaya 3631 phone?

Product and Software: This article applies to the configuration of the Avaya 3631.

The default configuration file for an Avaya 3631 is called 46xxsettings.txt. The PBX administrator can update this file and push it to a single phone.

In a dense environment, the phones can be overwhelmed by the number of APs that are advertising a particular WLAN. We can influence the number of AP that the phone learns by adjusting the power levels and advertised basic and transmit rates on the APs.

The decision for the phones to update the roaming profile can be further restrained by implementing a strict rate requirement on the phone. To make this change, update the WTRATE variable in the configuration file. By default, the specified rate is set to auto and the phones try to adapt to the environment. Depending on the density of your APs, you can set a specific data rate that improves roaming performance.

Sample configuration from the 46xxsettings.txt file:

## Data rate for 3631 telephone
## -1 for Auto
## 2 for 1 Mbps
## 4 for 2 Mbps
## 11 for 5.5 Mbps
## 12 for 6 Mbps
## 18 for 9 Mbps
## 22 for 11 Mbps
## 24 for 12 Mbps
## 36 for 18 Mbps
## 48 for 24 Mbps
## 72 for 36 Mbps
## 96 for 48 Mbps
## 108 for 54 Mbps
SET WTRATE -1 <<<<< Default is Auto
##