Unleashed - Per Radio SSIDs

[william_burnett]

So I ordered a few R600 UNLEASHED APs for a client site that is having tremendous interference issues (4 story building with multiple tenants per floor) with their current APs (Sophos JUNK).

I find it frustrating, if not laughable that the Unleashed APs are not capable of PER RADIO SSID assignment. 

Simple facts:

In a typical SMB deployment (or a town home or cul-de-sac for that matter), there are typically multiple (sometimes dozens) of APs in close proximity, but not controlled by the customer. This means that 2.4 channels 1, 6 and 11 are almost always full of interference and noise.

Most SMB customers still require some connectivity on 2.4, for the sake of legacy devices, even if it is saturated and slow.

Putting the primary WLAN/SSID on 5GHz is usually the best practice.

Lastly, when an SSID is being broadcast on BOTH 2.4 and 5, the connection usually ends up landing on 2.4.

Why in the world would Ruckus decide to force unleashed SSIDs to be broadcast on both radios?

Somebody has their head up their backside. 

[daniel_marrero_]

You can create two SSID networks and name one 2.4G and the other 5G (of course just examples). Then at the access point level you can disable the 2.4 radio or the 5G radio depending on your desired outcome or you can lower the antenna to min and it will force the device to connect to the desired frequency that has more power. The unleashed product is limited on options but what you are describing can be done with regular R600 access points and a controller maybe even the new cloud product. 

[william_burnett]

Dan,

In the kindest way, that makes no sense.

In a scenario where two (or more) APs are needed for coverage, then the coverage for each SSID is halved and therefore the number of APs needed is doubled. In the case where a single AP is needed, then one is stuck with the nonsensical dual band SSID option or abandoning 2.4, or adding as second AP. 

Moreover, the UNLEASHED is simply firmware for an already existing piece of hardware that is (was) capable of PER RADIO SSIDs already.

There is no reasonable excuse, workaround or reasoning for such shortsightedness. It is best practice to isolate SSIDs per RADIO and this newly released product contradicts that best practice, even though the hardware is capable and the predecessor firmware is capable.  It is lazy and short sighted development and product management... PERIOD.

 

[john_d]

Sorry, I understand the frustration of figuring this out after your purchase. Ruckus reps have already mentioned that per-radio SSIDs are on the short-term roadmap for Unleashed, so it's not like they're not planning to do it, it's just a feature that didn't make the first cut.

It's not out of the ordinary for the first cut of a software release to not have every feature you want. I rely on meshing and that was unavailable with the initial Unleashed releases as well, but has been added since then.

I'm not sure why it's necessary to be so rude about your dissatisfaction with the product, particularly to unpaid volunteers trying to be helpful. It seems more productive to work with your VAR on either returning the AP's, converting them to ZD/SZ/cloud managed, or otherwise finding an acceptable solution.

[william_burnett]

John,

Just frustrated and somewhat tired of situations like this where it appears that pretty graphics and bullet points trump common sense. In this case, the underlying quality of the hardware and previous firmware make it even harder to swallow. 

I think you will find that most of us are tired of buying products that are missing essential components that may or may not make it in later releases. It has become the modern model for product development and it leaves many of us in a perpetual bad spot with our SMB customers.