Controllerless Networks

Hi There,

 

We have a single IAP-225 on it's own with the latest firmware on it, which we are connecting around 10 devices to(3-4 laptops,2-3 iPhones, iPad's etc), now I've tried and tried but for the life of me cannot figure this out.

 

NOTE:

Initially we had this working with LACP, so for testing, I took it off LACP but it didn't make any difference(currently it is not on LACP). This is a standalone AP, not part of a cluster.

 

So the steps I took:

1.) Factory reset

2.) set up 1 new SSID with default settings, WPA-2 Personal.

3.) In the System tab I set the prefered band to 5 Ghz

4.) In the RF tab I change the following:

         4.a) Band steering mode: Prefer 5Ghz

         4.b) Valid 5 Ghz channels = 116E, 132+, 124+, 116+

         4.c) Valid 2.4 Ghz channels = 8,12

 

From here the devices connect, Band steering mode barely seems to work as devices capable of 5 Ghz more often than not, connect on the 2.4 Ghz frequency, rarely a device may connect onto the 5 Ghz.

 

My problem starts with the picture below, it seems as though even if all devices are almost next to the AP the stats are like below, with the Signal often beeing close to 20-25, for iPhones especially it's terrible, almost always at 14 or 10.

 

Below is an example, doesn't exactly show what I get but mostly the Signal hovers around the 25 mark and the speed is a bit lower than that on GN, for iPhones the Signal/Speed is almost always at a combination of 14/30.

 

 

 

Then comes the speed which is always quite low, marked in orange or red, I don't understand why it does that, I've tried almost every combination of options and nothing seems to improve it, I have adjusted the channels to where it has the least interference so the IDS shows very little as interfering. I've tried checking the debugging on the AP but am not familiar enough to know where to look.

 

Another problem is that if it DOES do AC or AN then either the Signal or the Speed is lower, so it always look like 10/150 or 90/5, it never has good numbers for both.

 

Lastly, if I change the SSID band setting to "5Ghz"(see picture below for example), it goes completely, no device is able to see the SSID at all, what makes it worse is when I change the setting back to "All", devices connect, but NEVER on the 5 Ghz frequency, no matter how many times I try and disconnect/reconenct them, they ALWAYS go to the 2.4Ghz band.

 

This is the setting I change:

 

I have tried and tried differnet combinations of all settings and cannot figure out why this is happening, the effect is of course poor wireless performance, setting the Band steering to "Force 5Ghz" makes absoloutely no difference. If anybody can help with this it would be greatly appreciated, have spent days trying to figure this out and am getting nowhere.

 

Kind Regards,

 

Nisha

#AP225

1.  How is the IAP mounted?

2.  What is your regulatory domain?  (Channels 116E, 132+, 124+, 116+ should not be used, because many clients cannot see or scan DFS channels).

3.  What kind of POE are you using?  What switch is powering the device?

How about leaving the default channels selected instead of manually choosing them and see what results you get.

What version of IAP are using?

Are you powering the AP via POE+?

Hi There,

 

Thanks for the replys, sorry for my late one.

 

@cjoseph

1.) At the moment while we test, it has a mounting bracket fitted to it and is sitting flat on a average height table, we are in the same room at close proximity.

2.) Were in the UK, if that's what your asking ?, for the most time I had not touched the channels at all.

3.) Netgear GSM7224P with POE+

 

@pmonardo

Initially for the most part I left the channels as is, I still had the same problem so then I started adjusting them.

 

I am using IAP 6.4.2.0-4.1.1.1_46936

 

Yes I am powering it using a Netgear GSM7224P with POE+, currently it is drawing 53V, I do however have the power brick for the ap if need be.

 

Right so here's an updated screenshot of it after some connected on 5 Ghz:

nishabharadia,

 

The access point has a downtilt pattern, so you will get more horizontal coverage, the higher it is mounted.  If it is on the table, it will not have good horizontal coverage.  Try mounting it on the ceiling and measuring the signal strength from there at a 45 degree angle.

 

cjoseph,

 

Sorry I should have mentioned, we originally took this AP down from the ceiling as it was having these same issues.

What signal strength is being displayed on the devices?

Hi Colin, if you are asking me the devices all show good signal strengh both before and after killing that WPA2 Personal SSID.

ddevore,

 

the "speed" of devices could come down because of contention, or because they are not sending any data at the time.  If I were handling your TAC case, I would look at your logs and it would give me an idea if that was happening.  I would also look at the noise on those channels and see if you possibly have interference.  There is a world of things that could possibly explain that behavior.  Only your logs would give a definitive full picture of that.

WPA Personal was a giant issue for us.  I had 2 SSIDs, one with clearpass authentication and one with WPA2 personal.  The best thoughput I could get using a macbook pro on AC was 10-30 megs internally when connecting back the aes ssid.  

 

I turned off the WPA2-Personal SSID and imediatly got over 400.  All of the devices we were using in that lab pretty much instantly began working perfectly.  I've seen it at several of our locations that had the WPA2 personal SSID now.  Eveytime I kill that SSID all of our problems go away and speeds are great.

 

Give it a shot... If you can't use 8021.x security maybe temporily just turn off security on all the SSIDs on an AP to see if it starts working better.  

 

 

Hiya,

 

@ddevore,

 

I tried taking WPA-2 and I think it did help a bit, the devices seemed to to have better Signal/Speed but not by much, I don't think it helped much for the iPhones, also I can't leave it as an Open network so will see what else I can try.

 

@cjoseph

 

The devices always have full signal, sometimes they will drop a bar or 2 which I find odd because of how close I am.

 

Thanks

 

Nisha

nishabharadia,

 

We went through all the obvious guesses.  Please open a TAC case so that they can get your logs...