4G/5G interference with Cisco Wi-Fi Access points

[ali.iranzadi]

Hi All,

Our office is on top two floors of the building and straight on the roof there are many different Telco (Including Telstra and Optus) 3G, 4G and I think recently 5G equipment installed (Can’t verify).

I have Cisco Virtual Wireless Controller with many combination of AIR-CAP1602 and Air-AP1832 Access Points on both floors. Everything is on the latest Cisco IOS versions.

We have been noticing issues with signal dropouts on laptops during MS Teams meetings since we are back to office from the lockdown (We never had this issue before). Also meanwhile during the lockdown I have seen many works done on the roof by the telco techs which I suspect they have been installing 5G or perhaps stronger/more power output 4G equipment.

I suspect that perhaps the 4G/5G on the roof is causing my Wi-Fi on laptops drop outs.

Has anyone come across this issue and has any suggestion how can I test the interference by 4G/5G signals on my Wi-Fi access points? I do understand that they are on different frequencies and should not interfere, but has anyone seen this issue?

Thanks

Ali

[Rich R]

You can try Spectrum Intelligence on the 1832 APs: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/wireless/controller/technotes/8-6/b_wlc_8_6_spectrum_intelligence_on_cisco_wave_2_aps.html
You switch an AP to Spectrum Expert mode used with https://software.cisco.com/download/home/281783245/type/281789927/release/4.1.11 to see what that shows.
Or you need to get a proper spectrum analyser to survey for interference.
Of course you should have checked all the basics first - make sure you don't have something triggering excessive DFS detection on the APs (you should see that in the logs).
Check radio power settings and coverage etc.

[ali.iranzadi]

Thank you rrudling for your reply and suggestion. I will follow your suggestion and will let you know of the outcome.