What is the purpose of PoE classification?

I understand that 450i 5Ghz and 3Ghz equipment is 802.3AF type 2 capable, which is nice and I think all future devices should be as well.  For us, this is great when you sell to enterprise customers or multi-tenant customers where you can throw in a PoE switch to serve them.  But, what benefit do you get by enabling the settng on the SM or AP over not enabling the PoE classification setting? 

Hello Nathan,

When PoE Classification is enabled, 450i radio will check if connected power supply is 802.3at Type 2 compliant or not. If it detects 802.3at compliant power supply, it will continue to transmit and GUI display (on Homepage as well as Configuration Page) will show “802.3at Type 2 PoE Status” as Present.

However when PoE switch/port used is not Type 2 compliant (cannot provide 25W power that radio is requesting) 450i radio will shut down transmission and PoE out from AUX port will be disabled as well.  In this scenario GUI homepage will display a message saying “802.3at Type 2 PoE not present, transmit and PoE out disabled”

When you have PoE Classification as disabled, Radio will still check to see if PoE switch is 802.3at Type 2 compliant or not and displays the same on GUI. Only difference is radio will continue to operate as it has Ignored the PoE classificaion. 

Thanks
Dhaval

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