Versus having them all enabled?
Only I benefit i can think of is it onbaords faster when it disconnects. Other than that, any benefits to SNR or anything like that?
Only benefit is it speeds up registration.
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If an SM can hear multiple APs but differing frequencies then disabling the unwanted frequencies keeps the SM from flopping back and forth.
We disable all unused frequencies as policy, no point looking for APs that we dont have. This also speeds up registration as the search is only the desired frequencies. We also disable unused channel widths, no point scanning for a 10MHz or a 40MHz channel when there is only a 20Mhz channel available.
SA still scans all frequencies regardless so no need to worry about that.
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Doug,
I’ve had it in the past where a new signal starts to appear and interfere with our channel. Food for thought on having all SM table options enabled is that you can float to new channels or channel widths without any additional configuration on the radio. This makes it easier when you have to respond to some sort of real world interference than changing your frequency and wondering why half your SM’s don’t like on the new channel.
Different circumstances make each network unique, so what you have to do will impact your design.
The number of WISPs in my area is thankfully small so we do not have as tight of constraints, also we use the same group of frequencies across all towers and backhauls so my competitors tend to stay away from those frequencies as my fully sync’d network causes havoc with their links if they wander on one of the channels we use. Our biggest interference comes from dual band routers that our clients get talked into buying and then they dont set the channel size or frequency properly which causes them major issues.
That all said, we do have a block that is scanned as there are times that we have to move frequencies around but we try to keep those blocks as small as possible, no point in scanning frequencies we do not use like dfs channels and since our SMs do not use 5200 to 5300 no point in scanning them. Between 5765 and 5825 there are two 40mhz channels or one 40 and two 20 or two 20s, it doesnt take too much to determine which frequencies that need to be scanned and it helps your competitors if you are consistent in your frequency use plan. They will always avoid interference that you create unless they are trying to colapse your sector, which case you can usually come to an agreement between gentlemen since your system is also creating issues for them.
Agreed, I got myself stuck once when I had some pretty severe interference and could not connect to affected SM to change. Now Ill just disable what Im 100% certain will not be used (typically all 80M and non-DFS 40), everything else I enable. Was just curious if there was any benefit like Douglas mentioned, but I disagree, as long as there isnt any conflicting SSID’s (which there shouldnt be), I dont see why it would make a difference outside of registration time.