Higher Education

Our wireless environment has been set up by the ACE Team to steer devices to 80Mhz if the device are capable. Is it OK to have this setting in a dorm environment? There will be some devices on 80, 40, or 20 Mhz in the dorms. We have AP-315's in the dorms.

Skair,
I assume you mean they are bandsteering devices to the 5GHz spectrum that utilize 80MHz wide channels? The ACE Team is full of Rock Stars, so I'm sure they had a reason to utilize 80 MHz channel widths. Are you using DFS channels in your channel plan? The fact that you have a mix of clients that are at max 80 or 40 or 20 MHz capable isn't a problem because for the 80 or 40 widths, there is always a primary channel. Just don't expect the primary and all of the secondary channels for a particular bonded set to be utilized equally. I believe a 20 MHz only client will only ever use the primary channel of a bonded set.

Please let me know if DFS channels are in use and which ones. Are you in the US?
Thanks,
Brad

We are in the US. We use DFS channels 52-100, 108, 112, 116, 132, and 136.

Skair,

36 through 48 = 80MHz in UNII-1
52 through 64 = 80MHz in UNII-2
100 through 112 = 80MHz in UNII-2-Extended
116 through 128 = 80MHz in UNII-2-Extended (If usable because of no Terminal Doppler Weather Radar in the area)
132 through 144 = 80MHz in UNII-2-Extended (I understand that 144 has some clients that don't support it)
149 through 161 = 80MHz in UNII-3

If you map the DFS channel numbers you provided to the 80 MHz mappings, it looks like you would likely have a 6 channel plan. Keep this in mind, the wider the channel: 1) the higher your noise floor and 2) the more likely another AP / client in your system or another wireless system overlapping your channels that could cause contention and a back-off.

If you're concerned about the design, I would recommend contacting the ACE Engineer you worked with. I believe they would likely be happy to explain the reasoning behind the 80 MHz width selection.

Thanks,
Brad