Re: Recommended wireless AP for 400 users office

[Mike Hammett <nanog () ics-il net>]

They should have never made the LR models. Louder radios don't work with today's mobile clients. It's antenna or 
nothing. 

The pricing is old as well. It hasn't changed since it debuted. 

A platform that manages handoffs would mitigate that issue. Mobile devices really suck in that regard. 




----- 
Mike Hammett 
Intelligent Computing Solutions 
http://www.ics-il.com 



----- Original Message -----

From: "Sean Harlow" <sean () seanharlow info> 
To: "Mike Hammett" <nanog () ics-il net> 
Cc: nanog () nanog org 
Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2015 1:50:20 PM 
Subject: Re: Recommended wireless AP for 400 users office 


I have had this same behavior at my UniFi pilot site. What I discovered in my case was a combination of bad behaviors 
in both the UniFi unit and Android. 



Long story short Android really wants to hang on to a WiFi signal as long as it can and does not seemingly scan for 
other signals when connected. If it sees even the slightest bit of a signal from the access point it's connected to it 
doesn't give it up. I can replicate this behavior on every Android device I have where I can walk across a building and 
pass through 2-3 other "cells", even others on the same channel, and still see my device connected to the AP I started 
on in the UniFi control panel until it completely loses signal. 


This behavior then interacts poorly with UniFi in that it seems to be very willing to keep trying to get the data 
through to the distant client and queues up everything else until it either succeeds or possibly times out. 


Presumably if ZHR worked this would effectively work around the issue, but as already noted it has its own issues that 
reduce its utility in a crowded environment. Our solution has been to stop using the "Long Range" units and install 
more small cells to minimize the impacted area if this does occur, plus ensure that any Android devices are set to 
sleep their WiFi when the display is off (this is often set by default). The customer we were testing with had a few 
tablets that needed to be on most of the time, but they switched to Windows devices for unrelated reasons and basically 
eliminated the problem. 


There is apparently some way to have the APs drop clients that are below a certain signal threshold now, but I haven't 
looked in to it in a while as it hasn't really been an issue. 


--- 


Overall my experience with UniFi is positive, if you have relatively simple needs they'll usually get the job done. 
You'll probably need a few more access points than you would with another solution, but they're generally a fraction of 
the price so it still often works out. If you need your wireless to get fancy or handle a high number of clients on a 
single AP look elsewhere. Needing to work on 5GHz also changes the value equation as those units are significantly more 
expensive than the plain 2.4GHz 802.11n units. 


On Thu, Jan 29, 2015 at 10:53 AM, Mike Hammett < nanog () ics-il net > wrote: 


Did you figure out why it was dropping out? All of it dropping out? Just some APs dropping? Just some users dropping? 




----- 
Mike Hammett 
Intelligent Computing Solutions 
http://www.ics-il.com 



----- Original Message ----- 

From: "Paul Stewart" < paul () paulstewart org > 
To: "Mike Hammett" < nanog () ics-il net >, nanog () nanog org 
Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2015 8:34:46 AM 
Subject: RE: Recommended wireless AP for 400 users office 



I had a bad experience with it one time at a tradeshow environment. 6 access points setup for public wifi. The radio 
levels were quite good in various areas of the tradeshow however traffic would keep dropping out at random intervals as 
soon as about 300 users were online. It wasn't my idea to use UBNT but it definitely turned me off of their product 
after digging into their gear... 

Again as someone pointed out, for residential and perhaps SOHO applications it can probably work well - and in my 
opinion it's priced for that market. 

Paul 


-----Original Message----- 
From: NANOG [mailto: nanog-bounces () nanog org ] On Behalf Of Mike Hammett 
Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2015 8:23 AM 
To: nanog () nanog org 
Subject: Re: Recommended wireless AP for 400 users office 

What problems have you had with UBNT? 

It's zero hand-off doesn't work on unsecured networks, but that's about the extent of the issues I've heard of other 
than stadium density environments. 




----- 
Mike Hammett 
Intelligent Computing Solutions 
http://www.ics-il.com 



----- Original Message ----- 

From: "Manuel Marín" < mmg () transtelco net > 
To: nanog () nanog org 
Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2015 11:06:39 PM 
Subject: Recommended wireless AP for 400 users office 

Dear nanog community 

I was wondering if you can recommend or share your experience with APs that you can use in locations that have 300-500 
users. I friend recommended me Ruckus Wireless, it would be great if you can share your experience with Ruckus or with 
a similar vendor. My experience with ubiquity for this type of requirement was not that good. 

Thank you and have a great day