software-defined radio for Dual 5ghz on WIFI 6 AP ?

[hdr]

Hello community, 

I am currently working on a large Meraki WIFI network equipped with MR42 and MR34 APs.
I will have to recommend to my customer to add some AP because the density of user on some floor is now higher. So I would like to know if the dual 5 GHz function is available on the Meraki APs to meet the needs of high density users?

Thank you 🙂

[Inderdeep]

@hdr : yes, check the below datasheets as they are supporting 5GHz as well as 2.5 GHz

https://meraki.cisco.com/lib/pdf/meraki_datasheet_MR34.pdf 

https://meraki.cisco.com/lib/pdf/meraki_datasheet_MR42.pdf 

[hdr]

Thanks for your answer but I probably misspoke.

To extend the coverage and increase the capacity of the WIFI network I will add WIFI 6 AP. And on these AP WIFI 6 (I thought recommended the model MR46) I would like to know if we can have the TWO radio in 5ghz. Actualy you have one 2.4GHZ and one in 5GHz. but i want both on 5 Ghz 🙂

Some info about this feature in other manufacturer or : https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/collateral/enterprise-networks/802-11ac-solution/at-a-glance...

https://www.extremenetworks.com/extreme-networks-blog/suffering-from-wi-fi-congestion-dual-5-ghz-rad...

[Inderdeep]

You can do band steering to get the client using 5Ghz if client is capable of 5GHz operation leaving other band automatically. 

https://documentation.meraki.com/MR/Radio_Settings/Band_Steering_Overview

https://documentation.meraki.com/Architectures_and_Best_Practices/Cisco_Meraki_Best_Practice_Design/... 

[ww]

Looking at the specs you have to look for these models. (Never used one Not sure if this is really possible/works)

https://documentation.meraki.com/MR/MR_Overview_and_Specifications/MR45_and_MR55_Datasheet

But both are already on the eol list 

https://documentation.meraki.com/General_Administration/Other_Topics/Product_End-of-Life_(EOL)_Polic...

[GIdenJoe]

Hi @hdr , there is currently no Meraki AP that has XOR or dual 5GHz radios like the Cisco Aironet 2802/3802 or Catalyst 9120/9130 for macro micro cell or better mesh performance.

All main Meraki AP's have 1 2.4GHz radio, 1 5GHz radio, 1 scanning radio, 1 IoT radio.

[PhilipDAth · Accepted solution]

No.  The radios strictly do 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz.  You can't reconfigure the two radios to both be 5Ghz.

I think I would avoid mixing WiFi6 and WiFi5 APs in the same coverage area.  I can see it causing roaming issues with clients attached to a WiFi6 AP not wanting to drop back to WiFi5.  Might work ok.  Just seems a risk to me.

If you can, I would replace all the APs on one floor with MR56s (since density is the issue).  Then re-locate the APs that are being removed to the other floors.  Then at least you have similar APs on each floor.

[RomanMD]

I am totally with Philip. Don't mix. Either build the environment with MR46 (preferred), either only Wifi5.

You will start running into different issues and unavailability of certain features like NBAR2.

When you'll have the env ready and working and later on you will want to add another wifi5 AP, you will have to disable traffic analysis, add new ap, enable traffic analysis. This one problem, and I am not sure which other may appear...

[hdr]

Hello, 

Thank you all for your answers, you have answered my question well. It's a pity that Meraki doesn't have this feature but maybe it will be in a future roadmap? I personally find it an essential point for high density to avoid cutting the radio in 2.4 GHz and to exploit the maximum potential of the AP, today all WIFI clients are 5GHz.

Concerning the mix of AP on the same floor I rather agree with you, we do not mix WIFI5 and WIFI 6 on the same floor to avoid that the wifi client switches from one standard to another.

Maybe it is possible to deactivate the WIFI6 features on the new models to integrate them on the same floor with WIFI 5 APs? I don't really understand why the NBAR2 feature which is an analytics function could disturb the WIFI clients on the floor. But if I have to make such a recommendation I will ask meraki to validate the architecture before.

Regards

[cmr]

@hdr in the early days of the MR55 AP you were definitely able to get the 802.11ax features disabled, but I don't know if this still applies to the certified WiFi6 models on sale now.

[RomanMD]

NBAR2 will not disturb the clients at all, but NBAR2 will not be available in a mixed environment. I have just discovered this hard way few days ago when my script had trouble adding one AP to a network.

You want to read "Disabling NBAR" paragraph.

https://documentation.meraki.com/MR/Firewall_and_Traffic_Shaping/Network-Based_Application_Recogniti...

[GIdenJoe]

If necessary you can disable wifi 6 features using RF profiles.

There's a little disable 802.11ax checkmark there.