MR18 - Only B or G

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MR18 - Only B or G

Is there a way to configure the MR18 access point to use only wifi B or wifi G?

 

We use 2 AP's MR18 in a warehouse to deliver wireless connection for Datalogic Skorpio handheld scanners.
Now we are suffering with roaming problems. Datalogic told us that it would be better to use only B or G on the accesspoints so we can put the scanners also fixed on B or G.

7 REPLIES 7
redsector
Head in the Cloud

Yes, go to "wireless" - "SSIDs" choose the SSID you want to change.

Then put the speed to higher density, then the b will not be supported (at about 12 MBit)Bildschirmfoto 2018-02-01 um 16.20.09.png

@redsector

 

What you have suggested makes sense, but, unfortunately, aged or old design, scanners are notorious for belonging in a museum as far as WiFi security and capability are concerned.

 

They will only attach to a WAP running IEEE802.11b/g - this is a security weakness, incredibly inefficient and depending on the APs concerned can limit overall network throughput for all devices connected to WAPs configured to handle these flavours of WiFi.

Robin St.Clair | Principal, Caithness Analytics | @uberseehandel

@Uberseehandel redsector's suggestion is reasonable since the scanner uses B or G. By changing the minimum throughput so that B is not supported, G becomes the only choice on that SSID for the scanners. Other devices on the SSID can use N or AC as well if need be.


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@Chris_M wrote:

@Uberseehandel redsector's suggestion is reasonable since the scanner uses B or G. By changing the minimum throughput so that B is not supported, G becomes the only choice on that SSID for the scanners. Other devices on the SSID can use N or AC as well if need be.


It may be reasonable but, in my experience, being advised to use only 802.11b/g raises a red flag, better to stick the devices on their own physical network and white list them.

 

AS I also said very often, SSIDs that handle b/g are throughput constrained, even when running 802.11n. 802.11ac is a different radio.

Robin St.Clair | Principal, Caithness Analytics | @uberseehandel

I think you guys have mis-read the original post.  The users only wants to use "B" or "G" - specifically they want to be able to use "B".  Or maybe I have mis-understood.  I'm not sure now I have re-read it.

 

I can not think of anyway to disable 5Ghz support.

 

If roaming is such a serious issue, disable the option that Meraki uses to make clients roam.

Wireless/Radio Settings

And set "Client balancing" to "Off".

 

Screenshot from 2018-02-02 08-37-24.png

Just to add, to my knowledge Meraki support have the ability to enable a 2.4Ghz only option for your MR SSID's. Open up a support case and ask to have it enabled for the network if required.

Eliot F | Simplifying IT with Cloud Solutions
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Correct, if that is the case and you want a 2.4GHz only network, call Meraki Support, as that option is not necessarily visible by default and they can enable a back-end feature to also give you a 2.4GHz-only radio button just like the 5GHz only button, and you can do this on an SSID-by-SSID basis.  

 

On the other hand, if you MUST support legacy 802.11b rates, you could also consider using AP tags and SSID Availability to only broadcast a legacy SSID at the 11Mbps rate from specific APs only where it's needed.  

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