Ruckus AES causes poor connectivity

[GoldenWonder]

We've got a Ruckus wireless setup here (running a single SSID with WPA/TKIP) which works well.

 

However I've set up a second SSID with WPA/AES (so we can use the N channel speed) and this sort of works. Even though it is only the AES that differs from the main SSID we get random disconnection, failure to get an IP address, or the 'Limited or no connectivity' message in XP. Repairing the connection always seems to work, but this is no use as a solution.

 

Anyone got any ideas why changing to AES encryption would causes this? It must be the AES because when we move the netbooks back to the other SSID they work very reliably again.

[SYNACK]

AES is a much more secure encryption, TKIP was owned ages ago but is much more simple and supported with older hardware. Does the same issue occur with other laptops on the AES SSID as it could be the drivers or the cards in the netbooks. If it happens with all sorts of different cards it may be an issue with your wireless controller, does it have the latest firmware?

[GoldenWonder]

The ZoneDirector contoller is up to date and the clients are brand new EEEPCs with XP Sp3 on them. The wireless driver on the netbooks is the latest (2009) and they work fine on the TKIP side.

[SYNACK]

Netbooks usually have cheaper wireless cards in them and TKIP and AES are implemented differently so it is quite possible that the cards or drivers are fully capable of the old standard but not the new one (reliably). Try it with a fully fledged laptop just to make sure it is not the netbooks, if you have a system with Windows 7 on it you may want to try that too as it has much better wireless support.

 

If after testing the issue shows up across multiple types of machines then you should contact Ruckus tech support and log it with them as you will have narrowed it down to their gear causing the issue. If the other systems don't experience the issues log it with Asus, it would not be the first time their wireless has been less than perfect.

Edited April 29, 2010 by SYNACK

[GoldenWonder]

You might be right about Asus, ironically the early 900 model seems to work with AES fine, yet the newer 1008HA model is one failing

[Xirrus]

I've got a couple of sites running 600+ Asus netbooks with full 802.11n, WPA2/AES without issue. What card models and drivers are you running and I'd be happy to compare?