topic Channel Fly Causing Dropouts in To Be Moved

Channel Fly Causing Dropouts

kieran_james_cg — Wed, 08 Mar 2017 13:33:15 GMT

Hi.

We have experienced an issue with Channel Fly. It seems that when it tries to change the channel, all users on the Wifi gets kicked out for a good 30 seconds. We have 2 networks setup, one that is open and one that is hidden. The one that is hidden has around 10 people on it, and the one that is hidden would have 100+ Devices on it. ( Phones, Tablets, Personal Laptops etc ).

We have tried fixing the channel but that doesn't work very well once all the users are connected. E.G Slow.

We've also tried restarted the WAP's. but this does not help either.

We only use 2.4Ghz.
Wireless Mode: 2.4GHz (802.11 b/g/n)
Channel: SmartSelect
Channel Width: 20MHz
Country Code: United Kingdom

Please let me know how I can resolve this 🙂

thanks,

Re: Channel Fly Causing Dropouts

michael_brado — Wed, 08 Mar 2017 17:41:08 GMT

Channel Fly should help determine best channels in your environment, based on individual AP measurements of the RF around them.
They should settle down on some desired channels after a few days, when many customers will fix the channels. That should help to
optimize your coverage on both bands.

Then, if you see sub-optimal performance, you need to analyse the client devices performance, affected by their distance from the AP
and interference local to them. You see connected client RF stats in the AP support info file. A "good" connection will have PER < 10,
and RSSI - PER >= 25. The RSSI is relative to client distance from the AP, and packet error rate indicates RF interference near the client.

example: client (STA) has RSSI = 24, PER = 7, fairly good signal strength, only 7% packet loss, getting 54mbps data rate.

STA: c4:10:8a:df:b7:c7
    rx_data_frm 946619 rx_mgt_frm 2541 rx_bytes 338562247 rx_dup 702
    tx_data_frm 1923183 tx_mgmt_frm 2541 tx_bytes 183424615
    good_tx_frms 1925724 good_rx_frms 949160 tx_retries 597084
    tx_rate 54000 tx_kbps 5234 rx_crc_errs 49292
    tx_per 7 ack_rssi 24 rx_rssi 24

If you identify a few clients that show high PER, try to find where they are sitting/standing as there may be some source of interference.
If you identify a few clients that have low RSSI, try to find where they are sitting/standing and if there are any walls/barriers between them
and the nearest AP(s)? The type of WLAN (hidden/visible) doesn't matter.

Re: Channel Fly Causing Dropouts

nuno_pimentel — Wed, 08 Mar 2017 18:15:49 GMT

Hello Michael,
i use normally channelfly, but you say that "They should settle down on some desired channels after a few days" few days?? it take so much time to get perfect? so if it's a temporary event of 1 or 2 days for example? It's better not to use at all?

Re: Channel Fly Causing Dropouts

nuno_pimentel — Wed, 08 Mar 2017 18:36:16 GMT

Another thing.. where u see that Per and RSSI per client? in support info file of the AP? i don't see that info in any section.

Re: Channel Fly Causing Dropouts

michael_brado — Thu, 09 Mar 2017 18:22:35 GMT

If you only have infrequent events, you might opt for Background Scanning, with default settings.
If using ZD, under Monitor/Access Points, click the first icon (blue/green) to the right of the AP to
see System Info (support text) for connected client details and rolling 2 minute RF athstats samples.
If using SZ, Monitor/Access Points, click the AP MAC to look into, click Download -> Download Support log.
If using Solo AP, Maintenance::Support Info page, Save to Local Computer -> supportinfo.txt.

Re: Channel Fly Causing Dropouts

monnat_systems — Thu, 09 Mar 2017 18:22:36 GMT

In support file..
and you see PER and RSSI in "STA Stats". Just make a search for keyword : STA Stats and slowly scroll down. you wiil see these stats..

Re: Channel Fly Causing Dropouts

monnat_systems — Thu, 09 Mar 2017 18:24:14 GMT

DSE,
time to settle down depends on your local RF conditions..

Re: Channel Fly Causing Dropouts

dave_watkins_74 — Thu, 09 Mar 2017 20:25:48 GMT

I've never had success with ChannelFly on 2.4Ghz networks. It seems basically none of the manufacturers support the required notification for it to work seamlessly. Even those Wireless cards that also support 5Ghz don't seem to behave when they are on 2.4Ghz.

Based on conversations I had at the time that was pretty much agreed to be normal and that ChannelFly only really works on 5Ghz networks without client interuption.