MR4x vs CW916X

[TyShawn]

Just opening this question to the group to get a feel from the community. I just started demoing a CW9162 and CW9166 and I noticed that many of my cheaper IoT devices are having a hard time either connecting to the correct AP or flat-out having bad performance. My testing site (home) currently has MR44s installed and everything is perfectly stable.

My question is have you guys seen any known issues I need to be aware of or are there any "new" tips on the CW APs I might have missed, lastly for those that have deployed the CW line how have things been for you overall?

Thanks

[alemabrahao]

Can you share the SSID settings? For example, the type of authentication, is 802.11r enabled, is client load balancing enabled? What is the software version?

The more information the better.

[TyShawn]

@alemabrahao Sure.. Thanks for the assist I didn't want to bother you guys with a full support thread, but hey what would it hurt..?

So currently I have the following

SSID 1 | WPA2 | Identity PSK without RADIUS | 2.4-20/ 5.0-80 (I tried 40 still the same) | 802.11r Adaptive

SSID 2 | WPA3 | Preshared key | 2.4-20/ 5.0-80 (I tried 40 still the same) | 802.11r Disabled

SSID 3 | WPA2 | Identity PSK with RADIUS | 2.4-20/ 5.0-80 (I tried 40 still the same) | 802.11r Disabled

Radio

Channel 2.4 set to auto but also locked to 1 / 11 based on utilization

Channel 5.0 set to auto but also locked to 44 / 157 

The coverage is a 2-level 3500 sq ft home. 

[alemabrahao]

You have disabled 802.11b (data rate of 11) generally for these older devices it is advisable to enable the width of 11.

Can you take a test?

[Ryan_Miles]

Which SSID are these IoT devices connecting to? If SSID 2 do those devices support WPA3?

[cmr]

I have a CW9166I and a couple of CW9163Es at home and don't have those issues. I generally restrict the IoT devices to a 2.4GHz only SSID as a lot of them don't support 5GHz or 6GHz.

What exact CW916x models are you using and what firmware are you running?

What IoT devices are having issues?

Do you have band steering and client balancing turned on, if so I'd turn it off as a test, I've often found it to cause issues.

[PhilipDAth]

I have the CW9164I and lots of IoT devices, with no issues.  I mostly sell the CW9162 and I haven't had any issues with customers.

For IoT networks I tend to disable:

• 802.11r
• 802.11w
• Band Steering

I normally leave 2.4Ghz turned on and set a minimum bit rate of 12Mb/s.

I haven't had any issues with "Client Load Balancing" in a long time - but you could also try turning that off for the IoT network if you do.

[TyShawn]

I feel special.. I got the GOATs of the forums responding to this silly ask. Thanks all for your input. I need to get approval from my company to get a couple of long-term testers and get this tuned.

Main SSID 1 (including IoT) | WPA2 | Identity PSK without RADIUS | 2.4-20/ 5.0-80 (I tried 40 still the same) | 802.11r Adaptive <-- Disabled now.

WiFi6e test SSID 2 | WPA3 | Preshared key | 2.4-20/ 5.0-80 (I tried 40 still the same) | 802.11r Disabled

Secondary Testing for PPSK SSID 3 | WPA2 | Identity PSK with RADIUS | 2.4-20/ 5.0-80 (I tried 40 still the same) | 802.11r Disabled

Just like @PhilipDAth I have 11r and B/S disabled, but I had that disabled on the secondary SSIDs now that is changed on the main. 

@alemabrahao  I'm not sure how I overlooked the bit rate I had that set at 11Mb/s vs 12Mb/s

That being said thank you all for responding and I will follow up once my new units come in. As of now, I am back on my MR44's.