How many SSID's are recommended to be enabled?

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elmer_grand
Comes here often

How many SSID's are recommended to be enabled?

Is there any downside for running more than a certain number of SSIDs? I see 15 of them are available.

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION
Teague
Here to help

No more than 3 SSIDs should be enabled on any single AP

The downside of enabling more SSIDs is that it creates more channel utilization due to overhead.

 

https://documentation.meraki.com/MR/WiFi_Basics_and_Best_Practices/Multi-SSID_Deployment_Considerati...

 

 

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Teague
Here to help

No more than 3 SSIDs should be enabled on any single AP

The downside of enabling more SSIDs is that it creates more channel utilization due to overhead.

 

https://documentation.meraki.com/MR/WiFi_Basics_and_Best_Practices/Multi-SSID_Deployment_Considerati...

 

 

Thanks, @Teague

The writeup Meraki provides as to why no more than 3 SSIDs are recommended is excellent. For a TLDR explanation, basically each SSID being broadcast has to send out a beacon, so that client devices can find it. The more beacons, the more congested the airtime - which especially on the 2.4ghz band, is precious to begin with.

 

For us, we generally operate a "Public/Guest" network, an internal employee network, and a third that varies depending on the location. Sometimes in our restaurants, we have a specific network for the restaurant to attract non in-house guests (as we operate hotels). We also usually have a "Group/Meeting Space" network for our ballrooms and large group areas, that often has different bandwidth allocations and/or a lack of a splash page.

 

We have scaled up to 5 SSIDs on a few very busy APs, and haven't noticed any huge drawbacks - but your mileage may vary depending on your RF environment.

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