In 802.11ac (Wi-Fi-5), how many device/client per Access Point in best practice

[william.li]

Hello all, 

I would like ask how many device/client per AP is in best practice for Cisco 802.11ac (or Wi-Fi5) Access Point in (1) 5MBps condition and (2) 20 MBps condition.

It is so much better with black-and-white proof.

Thanks a lot!!

This guide states "In most cases assuming 802.11ac (AP and Client) and a properly designed and configured edge - we can comfortably deliver 10-20 Mbps, to 50 clients. We generally shape the bandwidth to limit it to 4-8 Mbps (client occupancy rates of 100 per Radio) in the densest scenarios."

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/wireless/controller/technotes/8-7/b_wireless_high_client_density_design_guide.html

He suggested 35 device per AP in 2800 Series AP (802.11ac)

https://community.cisco.com/t5/wireless-and-mobility/2800-ap-max-clients/td-p/3009739

He suggested 25 device per AP

https://community.cisco.com/t5/other-wireless-mobility-subjects/wireless-access-point-maximum-users/td-p/3042360

[marce1000]

 - There is always no clear answer to this question ; it depends on the intranet-profile of the users , there is a big difference between sporadic checking e-mail or everybody watching Dr. Zhivago on YouTube ( a long movie...)..  Wireless intranet-infrastructure should adapt accordingly.

 M.

[patoberli]

With very low bandwidth usage (a lecture in a university) I go with about 60-70 clients per AP and don't get any complaint. With (near) real-time applications like VDI, I prefer to not have more than 20 users per 5 GHz radio.
This, of course, with an otherwise clean wireless and low noise/interference/traffic by other devices.

[Scott Fella]

If you keep searching the forums for “clients per ap”, you will find 25-30 being the recommended and if using voice, maybe 10 at most. Doesn’t matter what type of ap, it’s more about half duplex and sharing the channel. I have seen 50+ with no issues but users browsing the internet with their devices and I have seen 35+ user heavily using the wireless and having issues. If you can get 25 max, I would say that is the good number, but know your users. If you have developers using wireless and they are doing a lot of connections to backend or test environments and there is a lot of syncing, you might also not want many connections per ap or put them on wired ports.

[JPavonM]

Like all the post from colleagues here say, it all depend on the type and frequency of hte traffic from the client stations. But it also depend on channel reuse, as WLAN works over a shared medium so it is not exactly clients per AP (or to be more precisse per radio interface) but clients per channel, and what's more, it is not only your clients but all of the devices using that channel in that area (yours and from neighbour networks).

This is an interesting (and maybe some old) agnostic stress test to show you how traffic can be impacted by the type of traffic and number of users.

https://wlanprofessionals.com/wi-fi-stress-test-a-vendor-independent-access-point-analysis/ (broken link, document attached below)

HTH
-Jesus

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