Managed 802.11n - anyone using this yet?

[White_Fi]

However a glimmer of light as I presume you don’t want to upgrade 120 laptops yet, is if the clients you have can also support 11a, which runs in the 5ghz range which is called abg typically

 

You could then use 10 aps x 7962 (dual 11n abgn APs) to get this bandwidth required of 10x20mbps on 11a plus 3 x 20mbps on the 11g, which would then scale up to over 750mbps as the clients move to 11n in the future

[Jose]

However a glimmer of light as I presume you don’t want to upgrade 120 laptops yet, is if the clients you have can also support 11a, which runs in the 5ghz range which is called abg typically

 

You could then use 10 aps x 7962 (dual 11n abgn APs) to get this bandwidth required of 10x20mbps on 11a plus 3 x 20mbps on the 11g, which would then scale up to over 750mbps as the clients move to 11n in the future

 

 

We have only recently sorted our classroom wireless out, we have 100 staff laptops that only support 11g, 3 x 18 ict laptops = 54 laptops 11abg, 5 x 18 science laptops = 54 laptops 11g + 18 11a +18 11n

36 eng/hum laptops 11g, 28 dt laptops 11g, 18 maths laptops 11abg , 36 mfl laptops 18 11g + 18 11abg plus a few extra around the place.

 

362 classroom laptops

 

126 support 5GHZ,

236 support 2.4GHZ

 

we have recently come to the conclusion that the way forward is with the 5GHZ APs

thanks for your help Stuart.

 

we purchased ten of these netgear WNHDE111 last month, they are N 5GHZ APs that also support 11a, they have 6 antennas and don't slow down N clients while supporting 11a clients at the same time.

we have it worked out that 2 APs per 18 laptops gives us a high quality service.

This involves making sure each room used for laptops can see 2 APs.

[eean]

I'm trying to figure out how clever these things actually are.

 

Let’s say, hypothetically, I had 10 access points all in the same room. Would it put 3 APs on the n (2.4ghz + 5ghz) bands, using up the 3 channels in the 2.4. Then the remaining 7 on the A (5 ghz bands). Then, would it put more clients on the full n APs then fewer on a.

Or, would it try and stick them all on n, causing loads of interference on the 2.4ghz band? Then distribute the clients evenly.

Would it do this automatically or would this have to be configured manually.

I’m thinking of, perhaps, providing blanket coverage in all areas. Then having mobile access points to add more bands for when laptops are used as sets. This might mean that if one year group were all using laptops simultaneously, there might be a 5+ APs in fairly close proximity.

 

If it was forced into a situation where there was channel interference (say 5 2.4ghz APs in range), would it use it's directional antenna system to make it so the signals don't interfere.

[Jose]

is it possible to get thes ruckus APs to use 5ghz wireless N only, ie don't use 2.4 at all when using N clients that have 5ghz wifi cards ?.

[White_Fi]

Hi eean,

 

If you had 10 AP's in close proximity you could have 3 of them on 2.4 and the remaining on 5ghz. It would load balance the clients as to how busy they are / how many clients happen to be on one AP at any one point. If a client is wanting to stream video or make a VOIP call on an AP that has 25 other busy clients then the client wanting to VOIP would roam to a less busy AP.

If all AP's happen to be the in the same situation then the Smart QoS will be more than enough to handle the client’s needs. Remember most wireless systems will only have 8 Qos queues per wireless network where as the Ruckus APs have 4 Qos queues per IP device.

 

If it was forced into a situation where there was channel interference (say 5 2.4ghz APs in range), would it use it's directional antenna system to make it so the signals don't interfere.

 

Yes it would chose the best pattern out from one of its 4095 possible patterns to avoid interference from anything else and provide the client with a reliable connection at all times.

 

Jose:

is it possible to get thes ruckus APs to use 5ghz wireless N only, ie don't use 2.4 at all when using N clients that have 5ghz wifi cards ?.

 

Yes you can specify what AP's or SSID's are broadcast in the 5GHz spectrum only

 

Regards

Stuart