About Channel Selection

2.4 GHz Radio Settings

The 2.4 GHz radio has between 11 and 14 channels, depending on the country code, but only three are completely non-overlapping (channels 1 - 6 - 11). Most wireless vendors recommend choosing one of the non-overlapping channels to avoid interference. However, in some cases, especially in very dense deployments, it can be better to use four channels, particularly in European countries where there are more channels available.

You can set the channel model as three or four channels, depending on the selected region (USA or Europe). When you select Europe, you can modify the channel choices and set a different combination of channels. If you disable limiting channel selection, the AP uses Advanced Channel Selection Protocol (ACSP) to determine the best among all available channels in its region, using data about channel utilization, interference, CRC errors, noise floor, and the number of neighbors and their signal strength. The AP then selects the best channel available.

5 GHz Radio Settings

The 5 GHz radio mode is 802.11a, 802.11n, or 802.11ac. One of the key features in the 802.11n and 802.11ac standards is channel bonding, in which the radio bonds two or four adjacent 20-MHz channels into one 40-MHz or 80-MHz channel to increase the transmit data bandwidth. Unlike the 2.4 GHz radio band, the 5 GHz band has enough space for channel bonding. When you enable channel bonding on an AP whose region code is FCC and choose 40 MHz or 80 MHz, ACSP automatically chooses the primary channel based on the current RF environment and optimizes channel usage.

You can also use channel bonding in the European Community in conjunction with Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS), which makes channels 52-64 and 100-140 available in addition to channels non-DFS channels 36-48. Without DFS enabled, channel bonding is not recommended for client access in the European Community because only the Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) lower band would be available (5.15-5.25 GHz; bandwidth: 100 MHz; channels 36 - 40 - 44 - 48) and there would not be enough space for three non-overlapping 40-MHz channels.
Note

Note

The DFS option only takes effect when the AP is configured with the country code of a country complying with European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) or Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations. All Extreme Networks APs are certified to use DFS channels in the ETSI region and all are certified for the FCC region.

The 5-GHz radio frequency spectrum is partitioned U-NII bands. Extreme Networks devices support the following:

Note

Note

When a hive contains some APs that do not support channel bonding and others that do, the dynamic channel selection process works as follows:
  • Channel selection for backhaul mode: The APs that support only 20-MHz channels converge on the control channel that the other members use as part of their 40-MHz channel.
  • Channel selection for access mode: The APs that support only 20-MHz channels avoid choosing either the control channel or extension channel that the other members are using as part of their 40-MHz channels.

6 GHz Radio Settings

WiFi 6 is the next generation of WiFi based on 802.11ax HE (high efficiency) technology. Currently, AP4000 devices support Wifi 6 on radio 2.