Aironet 1142's and channel overlap

[gwright74]

I have just come into new employment and have inherited a large wifi network. I am used to other wifi vendors so I'm going to ask some rudimentary questions.

I'm dealing with 50+ 1142's with users primarily using the 2.4ghz band. It was interesting to see that they are all on channel 11.

How does cisco deal with channel overlap. Should these be set to appropriate channels, or does cisco do some mojo to make this not a problem.

Many Thanks.

GW

[Leo Laohoo]

How does cisco deal with channel overlap. Should these be set to appropriate channels, or does cisco do some mojo to make this not a problem.

You may want to consider investing in a wireless LAN controller (WLC).  One of the benefits of WLC is the ability of the appliance to manage the power setting as well as channel assignments of the APs.  

Another thing ... talk to your Cisco SE/AM and ask them about the Technology Migration Program (TMP).  Your 1140 is already end-of-sale and future WLC codes, like 8.X, will no longer be able to support the AP.  You may want to look into APs which can support CleanAir.  TMP is a trade-in program.

[gwright74]

Thanks for the response. There indeed is a WLC but it is early days and I have not ventured in there just yet. If the controller was managing channel assignments I'm sure I would see the AP's on different channels. Since they are all sitting on channel 11 from external observations I have my concerns.

My experience has been with the vendor Meru which does have the AP's sit on the same channel intentionally with its virtual cell technology. I was not sure if Cisco did something similar.

Thanks Again.

GW

[gwright74]

I finally ventured into the WISM and not all access points are on channel 11. I went back to the software that I used to initially monitor this and they were not all on that channel now. Maybe they were having a bad day when I checked last but they were all on 11. This does not seem to be the case now. The only thing I have changed is physically removing some rogue access points.

GW