Controller Based WLANs

Product and Software: This article applies to all Aruba controllers and ArubaOS versions. 

In 802.11, “basic rate” has a specific meaning. For example, 6 – 24 Mbps are basic rates for 11a. This means all devices claiming to be 802.11a must support these rates. All other rates are “supported rates”.

In other words, the basic rates cannot be changed, but in Aruba, basic and transmit (supported) are configurable. Aruba just takes an “OR” of basic and transmit rates for most purposes. 

So, Aruba uses the lowest rate configured for management and multicast (except when multicast optimization is ON).