softphone and interactive video over Wi-Fi

[jblake00111]

Is there a good document available that details the latest (April 2017) thinking and best practice for the use/config of a single WLAN/SSID supporting PCs running softphone and or interactive voice/video (Skype, Jabber, etc.) in a controller based wireless network.

Thanks for any suggestions

Jim

[Rasika Nayanajith]

I do not think there is any guide Cisco published on this topic specific to PCs running softphone.

There is business application prioritization when using ios (apple devices), you can get an idea how they do it.

http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/td/docs/wireless/controller/technotes/8-3/Optimizing_WiFi_Connectivity_and_Prioritizing_Business_Apps.pdf

It is depend on how consistent end device is classifying important traffic (wireless frame level) and how your network treat those frames while it is on your network.

HTH

Rasika

[jblake00111]

Thanks,  that's a step towards what I seek...but is there anything out there that's written by others that tells of their experience in the field?

TThanks

Jim

[Scott Fella]

Let me talk about Skype for Business since we use that globally. At Microsoft we look at SfB PCR (poor call report) as a metric on how wireless is working globally. Now we have other things we look at but there is a lot of data we get from PCR.  We also run a mix of sites that are Cisco and or Aruba.  To summarize everything we do or should I say what I look at is 2.4ghz vs 5ghz clients, clients per AP, AP density, client devices which includes NIC and driver and SfB version. These are all things that help make the user experience better.

find a good tested driver and standardize it, make sure you have enough density so your clients per AP ratio is low, optimize the site so dual band clients prefer the 5ghz.

As far as standards that work for every site... well not in our environment due to a mix of client devices globally in which many vendors still have 2.4ghz devices and that we can't control their machines to push drivers.  We can't control SfB versions and or OS versions.  Vendors and consultants can make up a majority of wireless devices in some of our buildings so you can see how following one standard might not help in all cases.

We still see Lync and SfB consumer versions out in our network and there are over 200 versions of SfB that we see, so you see how hard it can be to troubleshoot SfB issues.  Again, we have a large vendor/consultant workforce in which they control their own versions and NIC drivers.

-Scott 

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[jblake00111]

All useful comments, so thanks to all contributors....its a paradox: the situation changes so frequently that we need guidance, but its not possible to write guidance because the situation changes so  fast!

Jim

[Leo Laohoo]

Most of the issues I see in our network is caused by poor driver codes.  In our Windows OS fleet, we use Intel and we've taken upon ourselves to ensure the following is done before forwarding any wireless issues/complaints to our BU: 

1. Upgrade wireless drivers; 
2. Disable BlueTooth; and
3. Enable "Aggressive Roaming"

We start with that and then continue to solve one issue at a time until they situation gets fixed.

The thing about "good document available" about Best Practices is very rare (other than the  Cisco Wireless IP Phone 8821 Deployment Guide).  The reason being is because what happens out in the "wild" hasn't been put down in official document.  And with the rate of improvements in the wireless field, it is very difficult to put this down in blood.