Meraki Firmware Update Issues

[MarkReb]

Has anyone performed any recent Meraki access points firmware upgrades?  We have been told not to perform the last few because they would impact client roaming which is critical.  It seems odd that Meraki has produced the last few firmware updates (29.6, 29.6.1, and 29.7) and not addressed client balancing, and band steering issues noted in the released notes as “KNOWN ISSUES” .  Even when we followed up with our Meraki engineer on an issue where we saw access point drops his recommendation was not to do the firmware updates but shut off the client balancing feature.     

[Rimccart]

Hi MarkReb, 

I know this is an older post but I figured I'd offer my thoughts on the topic. 

The issues that have been observed on MR29+ with client balancing are because we updated to an active client balancing method that can be more aggressive and cause some client instability. These issues are much more prevalent in high-density wireless deployments with lots of clients and APs. I have not come across too many issues with band steering on MR29+. Generally, I advise having band steering enabled and client balancing disabled. 
Depending on the needs of your wireless deployment and the combination of RF settings used, you could update to MR29 or 30 without issue. 

For any potential issues that are observed after an update, it would be best to work with support if possible to confirm if there is a specific known issue we are hitting and get your case attached for tracking and updates on that issue.