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Troubleshooting Wireless Issues

When it comes to troubleshooting issues with the wireless network, you always want to be sure that a proper site survey was both conducted and followed. Assuming one was, then you can make the best use of Marvis, Insights, and SLEs. For example, you can use Marvis, the virtual network assistant, to view a client's roaming history to track and discover the root cause of connection drops. See Using SLEs for Troubleshooting and View Roaming History.

You can also use AP insights to see channel utilization (which should always be less than 50%). See Figure 1.

The Radio Management (page) is good place to understand radio coverage and performance site wide.

In addition to these tools, the following principles apply:

  • Be sure that the APs are running the recommended firmware (from the Juniper Mist portal, click the Help icon and then Firmware Updates for the list of recommended firmware).

  • Use the 5 GHz radio band for voice and video in the WLAN. It provides both higher bandwidth and more channels so the performance could be better than 2.4 GHz. Be aware that the environmental variables (such as distance and RF interference) could affect the performance.

  • When using 802.11b/g, disable the data rates below 9 Mbps if possible. Similarly, when using 802.11a, disable the 6-Mbps and 9-Mbps data rates if possible. Do be aware, though, that eliminating the lower data rates will prevent any legacy clients from connecting to the WLAN, so some prior research and experimentation is advisable. See Radio Settings (RF Templates).

  • Make sure you are using RRM on the APs. This will ensure that both power and channel usage are optimized at all times. See Radio Management.

  • Be sure that QoS is enabled on the WLAN, and that the same QoS settings are reflected on the connected switch and any VLANs. See QoS setting in WLAN Options. For the steps to create a WLAN, see Adding a WLAN.

  • Make sure that the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is at least 25 or greater, and that signal strength is at least -65 dBa for both the client and the AP. See RSSI, Roaming, and Fast Roaming.

  • Disable band-steering and force the clients to choose a radio band (5 GHz or 2.4 GHz).