WAP571 New Firmware

[jasons6930]

Hi Guys,

Being a little slow with firmware updates, a couple of days ago, i updated my WAP571 access points to the latest 1.1.0.3 and the transformation is brilliant.

The GUI has had a massive update, and to me, wifi seems a little snappier across all devices.

Lesson learnt to keep an eye put more often!

 

[coxhaus]

I just checked the WAP371 firmware and realized it was last April when the WAP571 and WAP371 firmware was released. So yes keep an eye out.

 

[Trip]

Another tip, if you go to software.cisco.com and browse to the specific release section for the model(s) of interest, you can click "My Notifications" (in blue next to the bell icon) and presuming you're signed into your Cisco account, have them email you whenever new firmware is released. No manual checking necessary.

 

[jasons6930]

Thanks guys.

 

[jasons6930]

I have just found a new WAP581 for a good price so is it worth me grabbing it to upgrade to wave 2 AC?

 

[Trip]

Compared to Wave 1, Wave 2 will give you up to 4 spatial streams (versus 3), MU-MIMO on 5Ghz (versus SU-MIMO) and 160Mhz, 80+80 bonded, channel capability. In layman's terms, that means it could allow more client density at potentially faster bandwidth per client, but it will only make a real-world difference if your 5Ghz numeric client capacity is currently being saturated and/or you're running up against bandwidth maximums that are well below what you'd like, or both. For you to see a difference, though, you're endpoint hardware would have to be Wave 2 capable. On the 2.4Ghz size of things, capabilities remain largely unchanged. One final difference would be the firmware and underlying hardware between the 571 and 581; I would presume the 581 may have a slightly beefier CPU and maybe a bit more RAM, as well as a more up-to-date (optimized) code base, which apart from the Wave 2 standards jump, may improve general endpoint "snappiness" a fair bit all on its own.

Long story short, if you think it's a good buy, pull the trigger!

 

[coxhaus]

I bought 2 WAP581 wireless units but they are still in the mail. I also found them at a good price.

I believe the WAP581 will be better than the older ones. They have high density and better gain antennas plus support wave2.

 

[jasons6930]

Looking at general availability of these units, i am guessing they have, or will be discontinued soon?

 

[coxhaus]

I doubt real soon. The WAP571 and WAP371 will be first to go end of life. You tend to get around 10 years out of Cisco gear.

 

[jasons6930]

Ah ok thanks.

Just doing a comparison between the two on the Cisco website, and it states that both do 802.11r (when supported by driver).

I am using them standalone so I assume this function is not available without a proper controller?

Also, i have a POE+ Linksys 16 port switch so i assume that will provide sufficient POE power for two of these?

 

[coxhaus]

Ah ok thanks.

Just doing a comparison between the two on the Cisco website, and it states that both do 802.11r (when supported by driver).

I am using them standalone so I assume this function is not available without a proper controller?

Also, i have a POE+ Linksys 16 port switch so i assume that will provide sufficient POE power for two of these?

The controller for Cisco wireless APs is built-in. And since you are only using 1 AP roaming does not apply.

There is a difference between POE and POE+. I don't know what Linksys supports. The WAP581 also has a 2.5Gig port.

 

[jasons6930]

Thanks, sorry i wasnt very clear.

I have bought the one WAP581 although i am currently running 2 x WAP571 AP's standalone and was assuming that the roaming function would only be available running a dedicated controller for the two AP's.

This is the POE switch i am currently using..

https://www.linksys.com/gb/p/P-LGS116P/

 

[Trip]

Your Linksys switch does support PoE+ (30W of power), so it should be fine to power your APs.

Regarding End-of-Sale/End-of-Life, the 581 should be sold for at least another 2 to 3 years and likely supported for another 2-3 after that.

Per @coxhaus's note on roaming, I would see if you can get away with just the single 581 in place of both 571's. If so, then you need not even worry about roaming.

Just FYI on controller. While it's not fully aware, it does allow for what Cisco calls Single Point Setup (SPS) to add and control APs on the same L2 subnet. Compared to real enterprise controllers, certain wifi intelligence is distributed; some is not (this specs page explains more). Also, SPS will not work if WDS wireless repeating is active, so WAPs are best used hardwired. They do support Fast Roaming (802.11r), but I couldn't find any mention of .11k or .11v Assisted Roaming / Power Savings, although I'm sure some level of it is implemented.

Hope that helps!

 

[jasons6930]

Hi Guys, and apologies for the late reply.

Currently, have two 571, one on the ground floor and one on the first floor, and roaming between the two, works extremely well.

I have the power on both set at 50%.


Thanks Trip, i am going to get the 581 and try it in place of both the 571 as you have suggested, and maybe set it up using 100% power to get the coverage?

 

[Trip]

That might work. Generally the rule of thumb (assuming hardware capabilities are held roughly equal) is more radios at lower power (your 571's) will beat out fewer radios at higher power (a single 581), because clients usually have an easier time responding closer at lower gain, versus further away at higher gain, due to signal fragmentation, etc. So just because the 581 might be able to reach clients with similar dB signal strength at all distances, doesn't mean the link bandwidth and/or stability will be equivalent. Hope that makes sense. You'll probably just have to experiment via trial-and-error by taking speedtest measurements and comparing.

 

[coxhaus]

Hi Guys, and apologies for the late reply.

Currently, have two 571, one on the ground floor and one on the first floor, and roaming between the two, works extremely well.

I have the power on both set at 50%.


Thanks Trip, i am going to get the 581 and try it in place of both the 571 as you have suggested, and maybe set it up using 100% power to get the coverage?

If it is working well why change it.

 

[jasons6930]

Only reason really is that it is going for a good price, and is a step up from the 571's.



I really should try and do a network throughput test.

I have downloaded the TamoSoft test programs but don't even know where to start using my MBP and iphone!

 

[coxhaus]

It is not going to be much of a step up. The Wi-Fi calling seems to be the same for me. I end up with a 1 second drop with iPhones. It seems that Android phones roam when iPhones won't. The WAPP581 does support virtualizing of the APs for roaming but it only seems to work with Radius or I have not figured it out yet. It has higher gain antennas but I have not figured out if the wireless clients can keep up with them when roaming. I tried band steering but I am not happy with it. I still think only using 5Ghz is a lot simpler and better but I am going to play with 2.4Ghz for a while. The new 2.4Ghz I am getting is a lot higher band width now then years ago when I turned off 2.4Ghz. The higher band width is now going to work with internet speeds up around 200 meg connection which should work for a while. If I had 1 gig internet at my house I would turn off 2.4Ghz in a heart beat as 2.4Ghz is too slow for that kind of speed. It is not available at my house even though AT&T ran fiber down my street 2 years ago. I would sign a 5 year contract if they give me a fiber drop.

I only upgraded because my daughter needed my old APs.

PS
I posted a thread on here for iPhone Wi-Fi roaming and nobody has iPhones Wi-Fi roaming perfect. I think 1 second drop is about as good as you can get with iPhones Wi-Fi roaming and small network roaming.

 

[jasons6930]

I haven't tried wifi calling, but there is no drop of Wifi going between access points with the iPhone.

The wifi signal drops to 2 bars, and then jumps back to three quite quickly.

My only thought with the 581, would mean better throughput on the network, and maybe a bit of future proofing with Wave2 AC, especially while AX access points are still quite expensive.

 

[coxhaus]

Wi-Fi roaming is the only issue as FaceTime calling roams fine with no dropped calls. And of course laptop roaming works great.

I have not bothered to setup LAG on my wireless as I don't want to string more cable. Sometime in the future I will buy a 2.5gig Cisco switch which will save from stringing more cable. Most homes are centered around the internet pipe size so having a 2.5 gig capability doesn't do anything right now. If you run a lot of server stuff the maybe.

I would buy the WAP581 over the WAP571 but I would not pay to replace the WAP571 with the WAP581 APs. The biggie is they won't cluster together, only like Cisco small business APs cluster together. All WAP571 or all WAP581. This is probably how they keep the controller on board by not supporting all different kinds of WAPs. If you are worried about speed just use 5Ghz and all your fast issues will go away. It would be cheaper to add 1 more WAP571 if you had to than replace all with WAP581 APs.