RE: Unifi wifi AP's

[Nigel Giddings <nigel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Phil,



I am in the lucky position of being able to manage the unlicensed a & g
bands where I live as with no neighbours we have nobody else transmitting=
=85



When I visit my parents and see 10 or more WAPs visible on my phone in
their living room it brings home just how much interference there is to
those living in an urban environment=85



*From:* ukha_d@xxxxxxx [mailto:ukha_d@xxxxxxx] *On Behalf
Of *Phil Harris
*Sent:* 18 August 2013 11:57
*To:* ukha_d@xxxxxxx
*Subject:* RE: [ukha_d] Unifi wifi AP's





Those wonderful "n" speeds are another one of WiFi's wonderful
real-world
untruisms ... I have no doubt that any of the manufacturers claims to range
or throughput can be achieved in an isolated environment but in a domestic
environment where other networks are involved too then the throughput
claim=
s
are pants ... "n" achieves its greater throughput by transmitting
on
multiple channels simultaneously and so in practical terms all that does is
cause three times more contention for bandwidth.

WiFi is just not reliable in its domestic form when you have lots of
uncoordinated access points battling each other ... :(

Phil

-----Original Message-----
From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx [mailto:ukha_d@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
Nigel Giddings
Sent: 17 August 2013 19:58
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject: RE: [ukha_d] Unifi wifi AP's

Actually considering using 802.11a at home with some Netgear WAG102s
(probably 4) as an overlay network for a few RaspberryPi based media
player=
s
leaving 802.11g for laptops.

Using 'n' isn't really on the roadmap as we have slow Broadband and while
150Mbs sounds good not sure we would see the benefit.

*From:* ukha_d@xxxxxxx [mailto:ukha_d@xxxxxxx] *On Behalf O=
f
*Phil Harris
*Sent:* 17 August 2013 16:31
*To:* ukha_d@xxxxxxx
*Subject:* RE: [ukha_d] Unifi wifi AP's

Yeah - doing shows and such like nowadays is an absolute nightmare ... the
venue obviously want to try to get you to use their WiFi (and often
specifically exclude you from throwing up your own wireless network) but
ca=
n
you imagine somewhere like ISE or CEDIA with a couple of hundred exhibitors
with all their kit streaming media on a single network ...

The "boss" usually just expects you to be able to throw in a self
contained
network and use that because you use it for dealer demos and of course
assumes you can use WiFi so that you don't have the hassle of wiring the
stand for Ethernet (as the stand builders generally don't understand that
yet).

WiFi really shouldn't be used by anything other than portable devices and I
mourn the passing of 802.11a which was actually a really good standard -
short range and 5GHz - and would have been a great basis for building a
nic=
e
stable, reliable managed network. :-)

Phil

>
> What you *NEED* for a reliable WiFi network is numerous short range
> WiFi APs with a tightly controlled performance envelope and seamless
> handoff between grouped APs (generally using a centralised AP
> controller to manage the controlled handover of connections between
> APs) - then everything works as it should. (Just think of it as a
> cell-phone setup but on a smaller scale.)
>
> Greater range / sensitivity just means that you come into conflict
> with more wireless networks and have more wireless networks
> conflicting with you and your devices hang on to a poorly performing
> connection for longer.
>
> WiFi is so poorly understood when it is used in the real world that it
> is almost useless!
>
>
Oh Yes!

Have been at conferences in the US (couple thousand geeks), where people
with MiFi's were completely trampling over the conf WiFi due to channel
conflict and broadcasting at higher power.

Andy

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

------------------------------------