WLC 802.11ac dual band best configuration in a big room

[jmprats]

Helo, we have a room (quite big) with 3 AP's AP-1850 dual band positioned as a triangle with 80 people approx.

Users relate about frequents disconnections and re connections, loosing connection for a seconds. A bad user experience.

In the Prime logs I see devices connecting during 5 min to 802.11ac 5GHz, then roaming to 802.11n 2.4GHz, then roaming to 802.11g to another AP, for example.

We have all kind of devices, Android and iphone, Ipad, Macbooks and Windows notebooks.

I have enabled Load balancing but not Band Select

I use auto-channel assignment

Power Level assignment method: automatic

And 802.11a channel width: Best

I attach the WLAN configuration

Which is the best configuration for this kind of room?.

Thanks

The answers will be rated!!!

[Leo Laohoo · Accepted solution]

I have enabled Load balancing but not Band Select

Enable Band Select.  Disable Load Balancing. 

Enable Flexible Radio Assignment. 

Diable low-speed data rates (from 1- to 11 Mbps).  Set 12 Mbps to "Mandatory" and the rest are "Supported". 

Enable 802.11k and 802.11v.  

Disable 802.11r.

Upgrade the wireless NIC drivers to the laptops.  Configure Aggressive Roaming to "high", disable Blue Tooth.  

Enable CleanAir. 

[jmprats]

Thanks for your answer.

I'm going to upgrade the WLC 5508 first, now I'm 8.2.121 and I'm going to upgrade to 8.2.141, which controller version do you recommend?

- I think my AP's 1850 doesn't support Flexible Radio Assignment

- I'm going to disable load balancing and enable band select

- I'm going to disable low-speed data rates in both bands

- I'm going to enable 802.11k and 802.11v

802.11r is disabled

I don't have control over drivers in notebooks (byod)

I will leave cleanAir for later.

[Leo Laohoo]

now I'm 8.2.121 and I'm going to upgrade to 8.2.141, which controller version do you recommend?

Maybe next week (?), but 8.2.150.0 is scheduled for release.  Wait for this version.  

[Ric Beeching]

Not concerned about unknown bugs in 150, Leo? I tend to avoid upgrading for a few months after a release at the least but curious to know your thoughts on this!

Ric

[Leo Laohoo]

Not concerned about unknown bugs in 150, Leo?

I am more concerned about the bugs that have-not-yet-been-discovered when the early versions of 8.2 were released.  

The newer versions, starting from 8.2.141.0, are more mature.  I will presume 8.2.150.0 will be the same too.

Look out, 8.4 is coming out (beta is out for download) and 8.5 is not far over the horizon. 

Look at it this way, Ric:  Cisco WNBU has been very open about people finding bugs.  If you find out, they're happy to fix it (quickly).

[Ric Beeching]

Thanks for explaining your take on it, some good points to consider.

[Leo Laohoo]

I am more concerned about the bugs that have-not-yet-been-discovered when the early versions of 8.2 were released.  

Same goes with 8.3.  I will be cautious when I'm going 8.3.111.0. 

I will be deploying this version soon because we're going to be using new APs that will be supported only on 8.3.111.0.

[jmprats]

OK, I wait for next version

I've done the changes in the configuration and when I activate 11k I receive a warning about problems with single band devices, so I don't check neighbor list dual band nor Assisted Roaming prediction (only neighbor list) , is it ok?

[Leo Laohoo]

Should be fine.

[jmprats]

I have the first problem since the configuration changes but in other rooms with other ap's

Some macbooks that are not near an AP  report frequent disconnections

can it be because  now is difficult for them to connect (I've disabled low speed data-rates)?

the macbook is trying to connect to 5GHz but is to far and then changes to 2.4, over and over.

[jmprats]

I know the best solution is to buy more ap's

But what can I do as a workaround?

I have set 802.11b/g/n radio Power to 1 for the nearest AP (before it was in Auto) and it seems work for the moment

[Leo Laohoo]

Release Notes for Cisco Wireless Controllers and Lightweight Access Points for Cisco Wireless Release 8.2.151.0

[jmprats]

the changes solved my problems of user disconnections, but now I have a bad distribution of users in the room, for example:

AP1-5GHz: 33 clients

AP2-5GHz: 15 clients

AP3-5GHz: 9 clients

AP1-2.4GHz: 10 clients

AP2-2.4GHz: 5

AP3-2.4.GHz: 6

Any recommendation?

Thanks

[jmprats]

It worked very well

Only a few minor problems:

- Now, without load balancing, there are AP's in the large room with many users and another with few

- having disabled the lowest speeds, I have to play with the power of ap in some rooms that are far from the ap's,

Thank you