topic R730 channel utilization? in To Be Moved

R730 channel utilization?

b8 — Wed, 05 Jun 2019 00:02:49 GMT

I recently purchased a R730 to integrate into my SOHO setting, replacing one of my three existing R720s which have performed flawlessly.
I've been seeing really high channel utilization figures so am trying to understand root cause. Ive disconnected all wifi devices other than my MacBook to run some diagnostics software and Ruckus vSZ-E and still see 20% utilization (sometimes peaking at closer to 50%).
I have 3 SSIDs on 5Ghz and 4 on 2.4Ghz (IoT subnet)
Im curious if this is expected behavior with the AX chipset or a config error by a somewhat new to Ruckus user.

Controller: 5.1.1.0.598
Control plane: 5.1.1.0.405
AP firmware: 5.1.1.0.624

thanks in advance

Re: R730 channel utilization?

john_d — Wed, 05 Jun 2019 16:21:11 GMT

Sorry I don’t have an answer here but I am curious about your home setup — I use Ruckus APs for my home office setup too and have thought about moving over to vSZ as well. The last time I looked into it, the requirements were kind of steep, something like 12GB RAM not to mention licensing costs.

Are you using a vSZ instance shared with something else or a dedicated one at home?

Re: R730 channel utilization?

b8 — Wed, 05 Jun 2019 17:14:48 GMT

Thanks John. I have another R730 due to arrive today so I'll verify with that one too.
I run a vSZ virtual machine runs under VMware with minimum requirements (4 cores, 13GB RAM, 100GB 'thin' provisioned disk etc) at home. It's been largely trouble free since installation other than one user invoked error which Ruckus support untangled for me. Ruckus provide a VMware image which makes experimentation trivial. The licensing costs associated with the Ruckus platform were acceptable to when purchasing a 5yr license and in respect to the value offered due to increased performance, reliability and functioning guest portal, fast roaming and other bits and pieces compared to my previous setup.

Re: R730 channel utilization?

john_d — Wed, 05 Jun 2019 17:47:35 GMT

Thank you for the info!

I know what I’m gonna do when I go home tonight 😄

Re: R730 channel utilization?

b8 — Wed, 05 Jun 2019 21:24:14 GMT

Update. I went back to the three r720s which I knew worked and started debugging. I found the source of noise using my WiSpy hardware! I discovered the wife had recently plugged in some wireless mosquito repellers she bought of eBay which were flooding the wireless frequency range. 2.4Ghz scan looks much cleaner now. I do however still see 20% utilization on the R730 with few clients. I'm still debugging.

Re: R730 channel utilization?

ali_db0udsohr2q — Thu, 06 Jun 2019 14:17:09 GMT

I saw this on my 730 on 5 GHz radio however my throughput was still excellent.

Re: R730 channel utilization?

john_d — Thu, 06 Jun 2019 14:37:30 GMT

I just changed my R730 to vSZ-E and I’m seeing the same behavior. Also the packet error rate being reported is like 40-50% which doesn’t sound right either. Throughput is fantastic.

Re: R730 channel utilization?

b8 — Fri, 07 Jun 2019 02:02:17 GMT

Thanks for the feedback guys. Since resolving the wifi blocking mosquito devices the throughput looks more typical although the error rates are still reported as high although falling since originally reporting this problem. It looks like the values are averaged over some time / traffic hence the skewed results. I also connected my second R730 which demonstrates the same escalated values.

Re: R730 channel utilization?

ali_db0udsohr2q — Fri, 07 Jun 2019 15:12:45 GMT

That is interesting I was seeing high utilization on 80 MHz channel 100+. I actually ended up changing that to 40 MHz.

Re: R730 channel utilization?

abilash_pr_ir5b — Fri, 07 Jun 2019 15:24:25 GMT

Hi RF0V1K,

Kudos, hunting down the Noise source.

Regards,
Abilash PR.

Re: R730 channel utilization?

abilash_pr_ir5b — Fri, 07 Jun 2019 15:30:15 GMT

Hi RF0V1K,

Nice share, Good to know that these devices would interfere with WiFi.

Regards,
Abilash PR.