How to optimize connectivity for cnPilot e700

Products Enterprise Wi-Fi Networks
1

Hello All,
We are using 23 cnPilot Enterprise Wi-Fi e700 APs for a public hotspot with a voucher as security access which works very and is a very good experience so far. But we are having issues connecting iOS devices and when 25 users per APs with whatever devices are reached, the connection is no longer stable, and some devices are not allowed on the network yet e700 is meant to connect around 512 theorically. But no matter, we want to reach at least 150 guests with stable connectivity.
Does anyone have tips that can help, please?

2

What firmware is in use on e700?
MESH yes or no?
Are all clients on all APs in same broadcast domain or it is separete network per AP or somehow?
Are APs available all the time on cnmaestro (if you are using it) and on the network (some monitoring tools)?
If APs are close to each other did you select different channal per AP per radio? Maybe to select some other channal fir test?
Did you try to see log message on AP when issue occurs?

3

And the first question !
Airtime fairness enabled ?

4

Firmware is 4.2.1-r12.
Mesh is not used.
All clients on all APs are on the same LAN and APs as well
All APs are available all the time on cnMaestro and on the network as well
All APs are distanced 100m or more from each other and channel selection is set to auto on each.
We are actually not seeing any issues only client devices that cannot be connected
Thank you

5

Yes, Airtime fairness is already enabled. thank you

6

So all is is one big broadcast domain with 23 APx25 client per AP, aprox. 500+ clients including APs.
I would segment that if possible and put xlients in separate vlan from APs.
Also what subnet mask are you using and did you check dhcp server, maybe it is out of free IP addresses (no clients are not able to connect)?

7

We can’t be out of IP add since we are using a /8 subnet mask which grants us millions of IPs.
but the issue is on the connectivity once we reach around 25 devices connected.

8

Do you have any client management features like band steering or enhanced roaming enabled? These could cause client connectivity issues.

9

Hello William,

I think this is not a problem of the AP.
This is a problem from your authentication (which is beyond the AP) to establish a connection.

You will need to tell us more about your network. Here are some questions:

  1. On your network, how do the 23 cnPilot Enterprise Wi-Fi e700 APs get internet?
  2. How do you authenticate the 23 cnPilot Enterprise Wi-Fi e700 APs for billing?
  3. What device does the billing? What radius server do you use?
  4. What device gives you a captive portal for end users to enter the account details?
  5. Is your AP network on a VLAN over your core network?

Let me know and I can guide you solve this problem.

10

Hi, none of those options are enabled so far, since we are in this context: “Configure Roaming Protocol (not applicable when authentication type is Open or WPA2-PSK)”

11

Hello Frederick,
thanks for your questions. Here are the answers:

  1. We have: Core router(NAT…)–> Switch–>Router dedicated to Public Wi-Fi (10.0.0.0/8)–>Fiber Switch–>Fiber cable running to Cambium switches on poles–>Cat6a ethernet cable providing connectivity to APs via PoE ethernet port of the Switch. I hope gives you a clear idea and answers the question
  2. APs are on a Wi-Fi AP Group. then on the WLANs configuration, on the Guest Access menu, we have enabled and set the “Portal Mode” to cnMaestro. Clients connect to Wi-Fi via a captive portal with a voucher. I think this answers questions 3 and 4 as well
  3. cnMaestro. No Radius server
  4. cnMaestro captive portal configuration is used for end-users.
  5. Please refer to answer 1.

Thank you for your help on this. I’m available for a remote session if you don’t mind.

12

Thanks for the information.

Let me know if the 23 cnPilot Enterprise Wi-Fi e700 APs assign IP’s locally for each at the AP level or cnMaestro assigns IP’s for browsing?
Let me also know if IP set for each AP is same or every AP has a different IPset.

13

cnMaestro doesn’t assign any IP. They are getting their IPs from a DHCP Server.
All the APs are on the same LAN 10.0.0.0/8

14

Correct me if I am wrong. So, the AP assigns IP’s first then communication travels to your core router for internet - then this hits the captive portal for user to enter details and finally, they get authenticated to browse.

If so, 2 transactions - first - IP gets given at AP and then authenticated at cnMaestro then transaction given to your DHCP server for browsing IP and BYOD able to browse.

  1. Go on AP and send me log
  2. Let me know the version and brand.
15

Actually, APs and user devices all get their IPs from the DHCP server from the same pool. APs are assigned static IPs.
The user device gets IP from the DHCP server on the network but without internet connectivity, the user is re-directed to the splash page and has internet only after the voucher code is validated.