Recommended Beacon Interval for 2.4GHz vs 5GHz dual band networks with single SSID

[Arend van Spriel]

On 01/05/15 21:31, Jeremy Ward wrote:
> Greetings,
>
> Looking for a reccomendation as to what should be specified for a beacon
> interval on each wireless interface when using two cards under hostAPd,
> one operating at 2.4GHz the other at 5GHz, with the same SSID on each.
>
> The goal is to increase the likelihood that an STA will see the 5GHz
> beacon before the 2.4GHz beacon, and thus associate with the 5GHz AP and
> not the 2.4GHz AP.
>
> A number of enterprise-class dual-band APs use exactly this tactic to
> "entice" a dual-band STA to associate with the 5GHz radio, mostly
> because out in the wild, 5GHz is less encumbered than 2.4GHz and has
> close to 10x the amount of available spectrum (regulatory domain
> dependent, of course)

This statement may be true, but you overlook a number of constraints. It 
is true that 5G is less crowded and will suffer less from interference. 
Howerver, when it comes to range "out in the wild" you are better of 
with 2.4G. If you STA is in good range and stationary 5G is probably the 
better choice. So in my opinion (not a CWNE) these kind of settings are 
not very useful unless you have some kind of algorithm that takes signal 
strength and rate info into account dynamically, which is what roaming 
algorithms would do.

Regards,
Arend

> My thoughts were the following:
> 2.4GHz Beacon Interval: 200
> 5GHz Beacon Interval: 50
 >
> Also, if this is not the right forum in which to post such a question,
> please let me know.
>
> Thanks for your feedback and assistance,
>
> Jeremy D. Ward, CWNE
> (954) 661-4965
>
>
>
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