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802.11n connection speeds

lburke
Level 1
Level 1

Hi Guys,

I have a new customer with 1250 lwapp ap's installed. They have two wlans running, an open guest web auth network, where they can connect at 144meg speeds, and an internal 802.1x WPA2 with AES network where they can only get 54meg connections.

I read somewhere that AES encryption is required for higher speeds, so why am I only getting 54meg connections?

There is a mix of 802.11abg/n laptops out there.

Thanks,

Liam

1 Accepted Solution

Accepted Solutions

ericgarnel
Level 7
Level 7

Liam,

Do you have "wmm allowed" for the encrypted network on the controllers?

under controller | wlan | qos policy

View solution in original post

8 Replies 8

ericgarnel
Level 7
Level 7

Liam,

Do you have "wmm allowed" for the encrypted network on the controllers?

under controller | wlan | qos policy

hmm, i didn't on two of the four corporate wlc's but did on two. hmmm. the guest network had it enabled on all four wlc's, so I have enabled and will get back after testing tomorrow.

Cheers,

Liam

Also, did you enable 40mhz channel width on the 802.11a radios for each ap?

-Scott
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chris-atkins
Level 1
Level 1

Hi Guys,

I have exactly the same issue, only running 2.4GHZ. guest access riuns at 144 Mbs however the encrypted is only 54mbs. The WWM policy is set to Allowed. Any help appreciated.

Cheers

Chris

Some of the requirements is that you need to enable WMM along with either open encryption of WPA2/AES. Channel bonding is recommended only on the 5ghz side and not the 2.4ghz. So if your guest is getting 144mbps on the 2.4ghz, then your encrypted users should also get that. If not then you are either using WPA/TKIP, WPA/AES or WPA2/TKIP which isn't supported in 802.11N.

-Scott
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Hi,

I am running 802.1x with dyanmic 108 bit wep keys (customer requested this), the only difference I can see is the QoS on the guest access is set to silver and the guest is set to bronze. So still not sure what is going on.

Cheers

Chris

I have found the answer.

So, You Want to Run at 11n Speeds?

Getting your network operating on 11n is so simple that it's strangely easy to get something wrong along the way. Let's review some important factors that affect 11n throughput to save you from wondering where you went wrong. None will prevent you from passing data, but it pays to take notes and do things right here to make sure you get the most out of your new installation.

Getting Up to Speed

First, 11n presents some new requirements for WLAN configuration. If you don't heed them, the standard requires that your higher rates not be supported. This is most common when upgrading an existing configuration to support 11n rates. In order for your clients to be able to realize 11n rates, necessary WLANs need to be enabled for WMM (either "allowed" or "required," depending on your needs and client support).

Also, 11n requires AES cryptography be performed on all encrypted links. This means that you can get away with an open WLAN, but if you flip on Layer 2 crypto functions, you need to have Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 AES-enabled (with either Pre-Shared Key or back-end authentication, authorization, and accounting) or that WLAN won't work at all for 11n rates. You can go for a mix of crypto types (WPA with Temporal Key Integrity Protocol or AES and WPA2 with TKIP), just as long as you have WPA2 with AES-enabled.

The easiest way to make sure that your clients are connected at these rates (after confirming your WLAN configuration) is to check the client records in the wireless LAN controller GUI. Do this by going to Monitor and then the Clients subheading.

The image below shows how to identify which clients are connected at 11n rates (in this example, the 11n client is using 5 GHz). You can see further details on clients by selecting them individually on the same page.

that is correct... 802.11x with wep will not give you the speeds you see with the guest.

-Scott
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