How to set the AP transmit power? Choose auto-power assignment or fixed 100% power?

[Qing]

Hi, anyone please can advise how to set the AP transmit power? When should choose auto-power assignment ?

When or which situation need to use fixed 100% power?  Thanks in advance. 

[PhilipDAth]

I don't think I would ever used fixed 100%.  It's not fair on other WiFi users in the area using excessively more power than you need to operate your WiFi network.

[Qing]

Thanks for your kind reply. But if the environment radio interference is high, then have to use fixed 100% power, right?

if the environment there is another wireless access point (different wireless network), what is minimum distance required between our AP and that AP? 

[ww]

cant you use another channel or 5ghz only

[Qing]

Can use both bands, 2.4 and 5

[PhilipDAth · Accepted solution]

If you can, only use 5Ghz.

With regard to interference - if you can't remove the source of interference then you will probably be better of deploying more access points.  This will reduce the adverage distance from the client to the access points.

If the interference is WiFi based then you can play with the RXSOP setting.

https://documentation.meraki.com/MR/Radio_Settings/Receive_Start_of_Packet_(RX-SOP)

But personally, I would just deploy additional access points.

[wey2go]

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@Qing wrote:

Thanks for your kind reply. But if the environment radio interference is high, then have to use fixed 100% power, right?

if the environment there is another wireless access point (different wireless network), what is minimum distance required between our AP and that AP? 

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Settings power tx at 100% is not a good practice. I quote somebody's comments:

I'll figure out what my best TX Mode is". It means FULL POWER! Maybe they have future plans for the Auto mode, who knows. Your WiFi with an AP set to max transmit power is a bit like having a meeting with a very loud person. If anyone is shouting his/her words out the rest of the attendees will have a hard time getting their say, and will probably feel a bit uncomfortable as well. This is kind of what happens when your AP is screaming at your clients. They will have a hard time getting their say and your throughput will go down. Turning my TX Power down made things a lot better. I settled on putting 2.4Ghz on low and 5Ghz radios on Medium which gave me the best results, don't forget to experiment with this. 
I was now starting to get pretty stable downloads at around 200Mbps on ac..."

taken from https://www.douglasisaksson.com/lessons-learned-from-deploying-a-unifi-network-at-home/

Sorry, not Meraki-related but I think lessons learnt is mostly applicable with any brands of WiFi APs.

[Qing]

Thanks for you all the kind reply. Have a nice day!