topic Re: Hotel WiFi Deployment. in Wireless

Hotel WiFi Deployment.

rmiller17206 — Mon, 23 Sep 2024 19:19:10 GMT

Good day,

We've changed our Hotel Wifi APs to Cisco 9120-AX with Catalyst 9800 controller. We're running into an issue where through the hallway the signal is good, but several rooms on each floor have weak or inconsistent signal strength. The APs are mounted in the main hallway away from guests. The walls are metal beam studs and steel doors.

So far in the Controller under Configuration > Radio Configurations > RRM > TPC, I've changed the Min Power Level Assignment to 20 from the default -10 hoping to boost the lower end of the AP balancing. I read this is something that Cisco recognizes and mentions this may need adjusted.

Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller Software Configuration Guide, Cisco IOS XE Cupertino 17.9.x - Radio Resource Management [Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers] - Cisco

I'm hoping someone with hotel hallway deployment experience can provide some configuration guidance for our scenario.

Re: Hotel WiFi Deployment.

eglinsky2012 — Mon, 23 Sep 2024 20:24:14 GMT

Cranking up minimum power to 20 dBm is not a best practice; it should be capped at about 18 dBm maximum, since that is the maximum that many mobile client devices can transmit at. For a while, Ekahau recommended min 14 / max 17, but I think they've more recently lowered their recommended min to 12 or so.

Here's a great video that explains why NOT to line up access points down the hallway. Long story short, they should be installed in the rooms. They even include a hotel example (starting at 6:38) that shows how fewer APs can be installed to achieve adequate signal throughout if they're in the rooms than if they're in the hallways.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYvP8Ck2zDY

A site survey and predictive redesign using a tool like Ekahau, Hamina, AirMagnet, etc. will be the best way to determine a path forward.

Disclaimer, I do not work with hotels specifically. But, I do work at a university where we have hotel-like suites. We use wall-mount hospitality APs, typically in every other room, staggered floor by floor. If your hotel has data jacks in the rooms, you might consider a hospitality-style deployment if rerunning wires for overhead APs in the rooms isn't feasible. Personally, I'd prefer if we could move away from hospitality APs and go with overhead models instead (like a 916x series) since the quality and stability of the hardware and software tends to be better on those. Plus, the signal is able to propagate to the clients better with the AP being line of sight rather than hidden behind furniture or in the walls like a hospitality AP might be.

Re: Hotel WiFi Deployment.

Leo Laohoo — Mon, 23 Sep 2024 21:58:56 GMT

APs-along-the-hallway hotel is a 15 year old design proven to be inefficient.

Get a wireless AP placement design. If done correctly, the design can tweak the RRM & DCA correctly.

Re: Hotel WiFi Deployment.

Haydn Andrews — Mon, 23 Sep 2024 23:47:30 GMT

Generally for Hotel designs I like to utilise wall plate APs like the C9105AXW and install into each room. These APs have POE ports that allow things like voip phones to connect to them.

As with anything best thing to do is have a wireless survey done

Re: Hotel WiFi Deployment.

rmiller17206 — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 14:45:11 GMT

We have some C9105AXW-B for this scenario. I'm trying to set one up and the WiFi is normal, broadcasting public, but I'm working on trying to route the VoIP through the LAN1 port for in-room phone and not sure how this works.

Re: Hotel WiFi Deployment.

jagan.chowdam — Fri, 27 Sep 2024 15:55:07 GMT

Have a look at the "RLAN" config section from the following deployment guide

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/wireless/controller/technotes/8-4/b_AP_1815_wall_plate_deployment_guide.html#task_7284E300B86E4452B14D401B83C8BC1E

Jagan Chowdam

/**Pls rate useful responses**/

Re: Hotel WiFi Deployment.

eglinsky2012 — Tue, 01 Oct 2024 13:23:07 GMT

Those instructions are for AireOS, but OP is using 9800 WLC. The instructions for 9800 are here: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/wireless/controller/9800/config-guide/newconfigmodel/b_catalyst-9800-configuration-model/m_configuring-remote-lans.html