Cisco – Wifi dropping randomly on Cisco AP-1602

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I have a single Cisco AP-1602 broadcasting 3 SSIDs in a small office. Some of my team are complaining about random drops in network connectivity. (Over 3 days, I've had 3 different users complain about drops every 10 minutes or so.)

What could be causing this? Are 3 SSIDs on the same channel at the same strength (because they are all from the same AP) causing interference? Are these APs built to broadcast multiple networks or was I sold a bill of goods by a reseller?

Best Answer

There could be many causes for this, but your suspicion about the AP not being built to broadcast multiple WLANs is not one of them.

I would start by looking at this list:

  1. What version of code are you running on the AP? Upgrade to a more recent code if possible, as there may be bugs in your current code.
  2. Check for sources of interference or other usage on the channel you are using. The 1602 includes clean air express I believe, so you should be able to do this from the hardware built into the AP itself.
  3. Check the hardware that is having problems for similarities and look for problems related to the hardware (make sure their drivers are up to date). For instance, some Apple 802.11n products have issues if you disable lower 802.11n rates. Or some clients have issues with PMK caching (don't remember if Cisco has this or what it is called) if enabled. Could be re-authentication issues.
  4. Check power save configurations on the AP and clients. Could be an issue related to clients entering/leaving power save modes.
  5. Check for other configuration that could be causing the problem. Disable anything you don't need on the AP or may cause problems outside of a larger deployment. For instance, with a single AP, make sure any rogue detection or scanning is disabled. You also wouldn't need any roaming features.

Hopefully something there will get you looking in the right direction.

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