Channel Fly Causing Dropouts

[kieran_james_cg]

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, 

[michael_brado]

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.

[nuno_pimentel]

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?

[nuno_pimentel]

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. 

[michael_brado]

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.