Wireless Trouble in 1 Area

MelvinV
Here to help

Wireless Trouble in 1 Area

Hi All,

 

I'm having a tough time with the wireless network in one space that is part of a more extensive site. This area is having issues with is about 500 sq feet. Our shop is all Meraki. We have 2x MR34 covering about 40 users with phones and laptops in this smaller space (this is where the trouble is). We another 80 devices spread out over 14 access points over 2 floors (this is the rest of the space and it's fine)

 

The speeds are horrible in the affected area. We have a 1gbps synchronous connection to Verizon Fios. Wireless tests are about 150-200 Mbps at all other wireless locations on the same network (we have about 16 access points).

 

Speed in the trouble locations can drop down as low as 5mbps, then go up to 20mbps then lose connectivity (pings stop working) altogether without dropping the wireless connection. I've had an MSP look at this and, they adjusted the minimum bitrate density which did not help.

 

The switch negotiation was set to 1gb manually as they would not auto-negotiate, they were on the walls, and I thought concrete columns be interfering so I brought the access points down to the desks but have had no improvements.

 

I have added a third access point today to see if that helps, but I'm really at wit's end. Any advice is appreciated, the rest of the networks seems to be okay, it's just in this concentrated area where we are having issues.

 

Update: Disabled 2.4 Ghz band and left only 5Ghz for now.

 

Thanks, Melvin

15 REPLIES 15
PhilipDAth
Kind of a big deal
Kind of a big deal

Does Wireless Health say anything interesting?

Does Wireless/RF Spectrum indicate any issues?

 

Hopefully you are not having to use 2.4ghz spectrum ...

I've attached some screens and highlighted the problem APs. I'm not sure what to look for.Screen Shot 2018-08-14 at 4.16.32 PM.pngScreen Shot 2018-08-14 at 4.18.47 PM.png

What is the SSID RF profile set to? What is your minimum data rate on both bands?

Screen Shot 2018-08-15 at 9.47.05 AM.pngIt's the default.

Maybe you want to try 20Mhz width on 5GHz to increase compatibility as well.

And for 2.4GHz, are you able go for minimum 18Mbps or even 24Mbps to shrink the cell sizes a little so your utilisation goes down a bit. If you cant decrease the cell size then maybe apply a medium or high sensitivity RX-SOP.

<duplicate>

ww
Kind of a big deal
Kind of a big deal

did you check the switch ports on errors?

 

MelvinV
Here to help

I have no idea how to do this, any advice is appreciated. I went to the switch/port and clicked event log but cannot see any events for the port connected to the AP. I am really new to this. 

PhilipDAth
Kind of a big deal
Kind of a big deal

Do you have any clients that have only 2.4Ghz radios?  It looks like the 2.4Ghz spectrum is congested in your area.

 

My first choice would be if you have no 2.4Ghz only clients make the SSID 5Ghz only.

If you must support 2.4Ghz then enable band steering.

Switched to 5Ghz only. I had the dual band with steering enabled. Thanks

PhilipDAth
Kind of a big deal
Kind of a big deal

And has the bandwidth improved a lot?

it improved a bit, not a lot.

If you have dome both, you might be able to increase power to the next level.

ww
Kind of a big deal
Kind of a big deal


@MelvinV wrote:

I have no idea how to do this, any advice is appreciated. I went to the switch/port and clicked event log but cannot see any events for the port connected to the AP. I am really new to this. 


you click on the switch port the affected ap is connected to. then at the end of the page look for crc errors/collisions.  

 

 

MelvinV
Here to help

Negligible perhaps?Screen Shot 2018-08-14 at 5.25.54 PM.pngScreen Shot 2018-08-14 at 5.25.01 PM.pngScreen Shot 2018-08-14 at 5.24.34 PM.png

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