Configuring Radio
Use this screen to configure radio settings for all access points in the network.
Double-click one of the networks on Org-Trees > Configure > Radio Settings.
The settings and options in the Radio Setting page apply to all access points in a network, and you can configure the following settings:
Channel
This option allows users to customize the channels. On the Auto setting, EnGenius access points automatically adjust the channels of their radios to avoid RF interference.
Channel Width
The use of 40 MHz channels on the 2.4 GHz band does not provide for multiple independent channels in multi-AP deployments for 2.4GHz. The recommended setting is 20MHz. To maximize throughput, use 40 MHz for 802.11n and 80 MHz for 802.11ac for 5GHz. Note that higher density deployments should use 20 MHz or 40 MHz channels on 5 GHz.
Target Tx Power
Using this option, users can set a custom range for Tx power.
The higher the transmission power (Tx power) of the access point, the bigger the coverage of the WiFi signal, so usually maximum power is set for an access point to connect to another access point for WDS or mesh purposes.
However, it might not be the best practice if the access point serves the purpose of being a client access point because usually client devices (notebooks, mobile phones, etc.) might not have the same transmission power to be able to communicate back.
The current device's transmission power can be referenced here, where most notebooks and mobile phone transmission power range from 15dBm - 25dBm. Some WiFi devices, like Amazon Echo, are in the smaller range of 10-11dBm.
If your environment is comprised mainly of notebooks and mobile phones, then it is better to turn down your access point transmission power to 15-17dBm on 5G, and 10-12dBm for 2.4G (so the coverage area of 5G and 2.4G is about the same). If you keep the same transmission power of 5G and 2.4G, it also means the signal strength of 2.4G is about 6 dB higher than 5G at the same location. Then the client device might roam from 5G to 2.4G because it detects better signal strength. It is highly recommended to leverage the EnGenius ezWiFiPlanner tool to simulate coverage with different transmission power settings.
Minimum Bit Rate
EnGenius access points can adjust the minimum bit rate for each radio (2.4G and 5G separately). When the minimum bitrate is set, an access point will send out beacons based on the minimum bit rate.
For example, if the bit rate is set to 6Mbps, then those clients with slower than 6Mbps bit rate will not be able to connect to the WiFi and will not slow down other clients' performance. 802.11b max bit rate is 11Mbps, so if 12Mbps is set per radio, then 802.11b clients will not be able to connect to the network.
The other benefit is to help better roaming, because when a client roams to a weaker RSSI signal and causes slower performance, then the access point will be kicked out, and the client will search the available SSIDs again to connect to a stronger signal SSID.
If the value is set too high, then it also means a greater density of access points are required to cover the area with the minimum bit rate. This may potentially cause more channel conflict because the transmission power of the access point remains the same, so the RF coverage area is the same and more RF areas overlap.
Client Limit
This is a hardware limitation, commonly applied to most access points in the market. There can be 254 clients connected to an access point at a maximum (127 clients to each 2.4G and 5G band). To serve more than 127 2.4/5G clients in a space, a higher density of access points must be deployed.
Discard 802.11 a/b/g
This option allows users to discard 802.11 a/b/g devices to use network to prevent the impact of performance on other 802.11ac/ax clients.
Disable 11ax
Some legacy wireless clients are not compatible with 11ax. This option allows legacy equipment to connect with your network as usual, we suggest you disable 11ax in 2.4G of your Radio settings. In this way, you can have equipment working in 5G with better performance and get legacy devices served well in 2.4G.
Mesh
This option allows users to enable mesh on 2.4GHz or 5GHz. After you enable mesh, there is an Auto Pairing button. After you click Auto Pairing, access points that haven't linked to the Internet are able to be scanned by neighborhood APs to run the mesh.
How to enable mesh node
Find an AP which is wired and working fine (connecting to FitController successfully that Power LED is steady orange)
Place your new try-to-mesh AP which is already registered to your Org and be assigned to a Network nearby the FitController-connected AP. (less than 10 meters depends on the transmission power set of 2 AP’s)
Power on try-to-mesh AP until “mesh” LED keep flashing
Click Auto Pairing and it starts to count down on our Cloud Web UI. That means the FitController-connected AP is trying to find the try-to-mesh AP and help it to join FitController.
There must be a FitController-connected AP nearby try-to-mesh AP to access wirelessly and in the same “Network”, so the Mesh configuration can be pushed to 2 AP’s to mesh together.
2. It might take some time since the try-to-mesh AP might need to go through firmware upgrade and reboot (around 4-10 min…).
5. After everything is good, you can find a try-to-mesh AP (only ECW120) mesh LED is on, and Power LED is blue.
After you complete each configuration above, you can click Apply, or click Reset to revert back to the original settings.
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