Stand Alone 3502I without Controller?

[joe]

I have a customer with several older Aironet 1121G WAP's.  In one area of the plant the noise levels from several large motors is preventing reliable connection to the WAP, even though it is located in the same conference room as the users.  I am suggesting upgrading the 1121G to the 3502I to take advantage of the Clean Air technology.  This raises two questions:

1) Will a single 3502I be able to effectively handle the RF noise, or does it require a network of WAPs to function properly?

2) Does the 3502I require the CT2504 controller for the Clean Air to work, or will it function in a stand alone mode?

Thanks in advance,

Joe

[Leo Laohoo]

3500 and 3600 requires a WLC to enable CleanAir.  Otherwise, you can also load autonomous IOS into them but CleanAir will NOT work

RF noise is dependent on the "library" of the spectrum chip within the WAPs.  If the RF noise is not in the "library" then it can't make a decision.  Best bet is to use 802.11a.

[joe]

Thanks for the quick resonse.  Unfortunately adding the WLC about doubles the cost of the project. 

I've never thought about going to 802.11a.  Does that drop the connection speed down to about 1Mb/s?

Thanks,

Joe

[Leo Laohoo · Accepted solution]

Does that drop the connection speed down to about 1Mb/s?

No.  802.11a is high speed, short range radio.  802.11b is long range and low speed and has 3 non-overlapping channels.

Unfortunately, if you have a very noisy RF environment, putting a WLC (with DCA and TPC enabled) can help.  Without it, you'll need to constantly monitor each WAP and manually change the channels and Tx power.

You're in a "which comes first, the chicken or the egg" kinda situation.  If you can't afford to get a WLC with your solution, then don't bother upgrading.  It's a waste of money.

[joe]

Do you know if the 1121G supports that?  Sorry for the stupid question.

Joe

[blakekrone]

1121G only supports 2.4GHz hence the 'G' in the name.

I would go with a 1142. CleanAir on a single AP isn't going to get you much. Have you done a proper survey and spectrum analysis of the area?

[joe]

Understood.  Thanks.  I have done an informal survey and found that the interference is pretty well spread across the spectrum.  We will be looking into cleaning up the intereference through the use of power filters as well.

Thanks for your help.

Joe

[blakekrone]

Good luck, please mark your question as answered and rate posts to help others find answers.

Thanks!

[Leo Laohoo]

Do you know if the 1121G supports that?  Sorry for the stupid question.

Nothing stupid about that.  1120 does NOT support CleanAir.

We will be looking into cleaning up the intereference through the use of power filters as well.

Sorry, what do you mean by "power filters"?

Before choosing your WAPs, tell us what your requirements are.  I mean is the client happy with 802.11 a/b/g or 802.11 a/b/g/n.

The most affordable 802.11 a/b/g WAP is the 1130 (still in the market).  1040 is the most affordable 802.11 a/b/g/n WAP.