Cisco WLC - WiFi6 Support

[RS19]

At present I have the below WLC Model : AIR-CT5520-K9

Does this model supports WiFi6 .If so what models of AP will support WiFi 6 with this WLC ?

[RS19]

If 802.11ax is enabled in AP, does it mean it will also support 802.11ac

If the above is true, the laptop/PC in office#2 since it is not compatible with 802.a11ax it will fall back to 802.11ac

Is this the way it works ?

[Rasika Nayanajith]

Let me explain it like this & see if that makes sense.

Most of APs are dual-band & have radios in 5GHz and 2.4GHz frequency

802.11a/n/ac/ax supported on 5GHz and are different technologies that increase throughput/efficiency.

802.11b/g/n/ax supported on 2.4GHz band are different technologies that increase throughput/efficiency.

When AP advertising its SSID capability it will be listed that 802.11n / ac / ax support. Depend on client capability it can join to a SSID (eg if client support ax & AP support it, the client will join on ax). When the same client goes to a place where APs only capable of "ac", then the client will connect using 802.11ac (even client capable of "ax", it does not see AP advertising that capability)

Here are some data rates in some of those technologies

802.11a support 6,9,18,24,36,48,54Mbps 

Refer below page for 802.11n/ac data rates

http://mcsindex.com/ 

Refer below for 802.11ax data rate

https://mcsindex.net/ 

These data rates depend on RSSI/SNR (Received Signal Strength/Signal to Noise Ratio), if you are closer to the AP it can use higher data rates. When you move away from the AP, you will get lower RSSI/SNR and you have to reduce data rates (it is an automatic process called dynamic rate shifting). 

HTH

Rasika

[RS19]

Thanks. I am planning to use the below

802.11a/n/ac/ax supported on 5GHz and are different technologies that increase throughput/efficiency.

So in this case if my Laptop supports 802.11ax it will connect to the AP using 802.11ax

But if my laptop does not support 802.11ax it will connect to the same AP using 802.11ac

Is my understanding right.

[Scott Fella]

That is correct. This is how it is if you go out to a cafe, restaurant, hotel or airport for example and connect to their wireless. All the protocols are backwards compatibility but depends on what the ap or the wireless device supports.

[RS19]

High level diagram which I have prepared. based on inputs received.

[Scott Fella]

That is okay. If I were to change something, I would change the title to supported protocols. This is because you then list what is supported.

[Rasika Nayanajith]

Pls see below responses specific to your 3 queries 

1. Your understanding is right. In fact ax support start with 8.9 software, but that is not a recommended release. 8.10.x will be long live code release and safe to be in that code train.

2. Yes, As you got a 5520, it require 8.10.x software if you like to deploy enterprise grade 9120 or 9130. Note that 9115 & 9117 are first to market 802.11ax AP from Cisco and little different to 9120/9130. Prefer 9120/9130 over 9115/9117 model.

Refer this table to see what softaware version start to support these AP model

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/wireless/compatibility/matrix/compatibility-matrix.html#56735 

3. Yes, you need to upgrade your 5520 to 8.10.112.0 (as of today) in order to support 9120/9130 (technically you can go with 8.9.x as well, but it is not a recommended code release). Refer below release note for upgrade instruction & known/resolved issues with that software version.

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/wireless/controller/release/notes/crn810mr1.html 

HTH

Rasika

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[Rasika Nayanajith]

Here are the 802.11ax AP (as of today). If you are using AireOS based WLC, then go with 8.10.x software for these AP deployment.

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/wireless/controller/release/notes/crn810mr1.html 

HTH

Rasika

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