I have had this same behavior at my UniFi pilot site. What I discovered in my case was a combination of bad behaviors in both the UniFi unit and Android. Long story short Android really wants to hang on to a WiFi signal as long as it can and does not seemingly scan for other signals when connected. If it sees even the slightest bit of a signal from the access point it's connected to it doesn't give it up. I can replicate this behavior on every Android device I have where I can walk across a building and pass through 2-3 other "cells", even others on the same channel, and still see my device connected to the AP I started on in the UniFi control panel until it completely loses signal. This behavior then interacts poorly with UniFi in that it seems to be very willing to keep trying to get the data through to the distant client and queues up everything else until it either succeeds or possibly times out. Presumably if ZHR worked this would effectively work around the issue, but as already noted it has its own issues that reduce its utility in a crowded environment. Our solution has been to stop using the "Long Range" units and install more small cells to minimize the impacted area if this does occur, plus ensure that any Android devices are set to sleep their WiFi when the display is off (this is often set by default). The customer we were testing with had a few tablets that needed to be on most of the time, but they switched to Windows devices for unrelated reasons and basically eliminated the problem. There is apparently some way to have the APs drop clients that are below a certain signal threshold now, but I haven't looked in to it in a while as it hasn't really been an issue. --- Overall my experience with UniFi is positive, if you have relatively simple needs they'll usually get the job done. You'll probably need a few more access points than you would with another solution, but they're generally a fraction of the price so it still often works out. If you need your wireless to get fancy or handle a high number of clients on a single AP look elsewhere. Needing to work on 5GHz also changes the value equation as those units are significantly more expensive than the plain 2.4GHz 802.11n units. On Thu, Jan 29, 2015 at 10:53 AM, Mike Hammett <nanog@ics-il.net> wrote:
Did you figure out why it was dropping out? All of it dropping out? Just some APs dropping? Just some users dropping?
----- Mike Hammett Intelligent Computing Solutions http://www.ics-il.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Stewart" <paul@paulstewart.org> To: "Mike Hammett" <nanog@ics-il.net>, nanog@nanog.org Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2015 8:34:46 AM Subject: RE: Recommended wireless AP for 400 users office
I had a bad experience with it one time at a tradeshow environment. 6 access points setup for public wifi. The radio levels were quite good in various areas of the tradeshow however traffic would keep dropping out at random intervals as soon as about 300 users were online. It wasn't my idea to use UBNT but it definitely turned me off of their product after digging into their gear...
Again as someone pointed out, for residential and perhaps SOHO applications it can probably work well - and in my opinion it's priced for that market.
Paul
-----Original Message----- From: NANOG [mailto:nanog-bounces@nanog.org] On Behalf Of Mike Hammett Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2015 8:23 AM To: nanog@nanog.org Subject: Re: Recommended wireless AP for 400 users office
What problems have you had with UBNT?
It's zero hand-off doesn't work on unsecured networks, but that's about the extent of the issues I've heard of other than stadium density environments.
----- Mike Hammett Intelligent Computing Solutions http://www.ics-il.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Manuel Marín" <mmg@transtelco.net> To: nanog@nanog.org Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2015 11:06:39 PM Subject: Recommended wireless AP for 400 users office
Dear nanog community
I was wondering if you can recommend or share your experience with APs that you can use in locations that have 300-500 users. I friend recommended me Ruckus Wireless, it would be great if you can share your experience with Ruckus or with a similar vendor. My experience with ubiquity for this type of requirement was not that good.
Thank you and have a great day