Using mixed internal and external AP models in an office environment.

[m.s.rees1]

Hi guys,

We recently mistakenly purchased both external and internal 3802 AP's, that would only be used for indoor office use. Instead of returning the external AP's they have now been installed along with the internals and have all appeared to be fine. I was just wondering if anyone could tell me if this would cause any discrepancies or problems with things like client roaming, RF profiles etc. 

We seem to find that clients don't always connect to the closest AP's and sometimes connect to AP's that bypass 2-3 AP's in between and I was wondering if the external AP's would be causing any of this?

Thanks,

Matt

[Sandeep Choudhary]

Even I have mixed of Internal and external APs and all are working fine.

FYI: The "final" decision to join which AP and/or which radio falls on the wireless client. If the wireless client wants to associate to the furthest AP then there's nothing you can do.

Check:

Clients are having latets drivers.

did you do the site survey properly ? if not then you should consider it.

Regards

Dont forget to rate helpful posts

[m.s.rees1]

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@Sandeep Choudhary wrote:

Even I have mixed of Internal and external APs and all are working fine.

FYI: The "final" decision to join which AP and/or which radio falls on the wireless client. If the wireless client wants to associate to the furthest AP then there's nothing you can do.

Check:

Clients are having latets drivers.

did you do the site survey properly ? if not then you should consider it.

Regards

Dont forget to rate helpful posts

---

Thanks for your reply. Ye we were aware that clients one's who decided where they connect, but we have seen that it can be somewhat controlled (not entirely) with RF profiles and limiting data rates etc. we just weren't sure if external AP's would bring any inaccuracy to the testing. I guess though, if you're using both internal and external together and are having no problems, then we should be OK.

Thanks

[superego]

It should be fine but you should fine tune your configurations.  I have same setup where I inherit from previous admin.  

Disable low data rates

Make sure you configure antenna gain/antenna type on the external AP - check datasheet

Fine tune TPC (Max/Min/Power threshold)

Enable FRA

Make sure antenna is pointing on the right direction

Check the link below for WLC best practices as well:

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/wireless/controller/technotes/8-6/b_Cisco_Wireless_LAN_Controller_Configuration_Best_Practices.html

[m.s.rees1]

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@superego wrote:

It should be fine but you should fine tune your configurations.  I have same setup where I inherit from previous admin.  

Disable low data rates

Make sure you configure antenna gain/antenna type on the external AP - check datasheet

Fine tune TPC (Max/Min/Power threshold)

Enable FRA

Make sure antenna is pointing on the right direction

Check the link below for WLC best practices as well:

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/wireless/controller/technotes/8-6/b_Cisco_Wireless_LAN_Controller_Configuration_Best_Practices.html

---

Thanks for the tips, some good things to try.

Our current gain on the antenna is set to 8 x 0.5 dBi on the externals - I have no idea if this is correct, i'm guessing it's the default setting though. Do you have any idea is this seems correct to you?

[superego]

Check the part number of the antenna you have ordered. For me, I don't have the part numbers and they were ordered before I joined the company.  What I did is I googled the dipole dual band antenna we have then corrected 2.4 and 5 GHz gain.  The default value is lower than actual gain of the antenna installed so AP will power up more.

Here's the link for the antenna gain for different types of antenna:

https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/products/collateral/wireless/aironet-antennas-accessories/solution-overview-c22-734002.pdf

As I've said, this is just one of the settings I've fine tuned.  I also corrected the maps in PI so auto RRM will compute properly, need to have the proper scale/position of the APs.

I know most companies doesn't have site survey tool but if you have Prime, check the current RF utilization/channel/power.  Make necessary adjustments in RRM/roaming settings.  Do a walk with your laptop or cellphone and see if you are roaming properly.

I go to work early and when I walk going from the entrance to my cubicle, I just look at the AP LED.  It just gives me smile when I see them turn to blue each time I pass by to an AP close to me. 

[Haydn Andrews]

First the decision of which AP the client joins is the clients decision.

Have the external APs been installed with external antennas, if they haven't then that will be an issue.

If the externals have high gain antennas this could be making the signal from these appear louder to the client so its joining them

Was a site survey conducted to determine if coverage is meeting the design requirements?

[m.s.rees1]

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@Haydn Andrews wrote:

First the decision of which AP the client joins is the clients decision.

Have the external APs been installed with external antennas, if they haven't then that will be an issue.

If the externals have high gain antennas this could be making the signal from these appear louder to the client so its joining them

Was a site survey conducted to determine if coverage is meeting the design requirements?

---

Thanks for your reply. Yes they have external antennas on them - regarding high antenna gain, i'm not sure what antennas are on them but on the controller they are set to 8 x 0.5 dBi (antenna gain), does that clarify anything?

They replaced previous WAPs so no survey was undertaken. We never seemed to have problems previously, but tbh that doesn't mean there weren't any.