Technical Blog – Wireless with Wade

WISPr Automation: Bringing the 9800 Toolkit to the Roaming and Auth Layer

WISPr keeps coming up in the kind of conversations I have about guest Wi-Fi and roaming between networks that don’t belong to the same operator, and after spending a few weeks building out the 9800 WLC automation project and watching how fast it closes the gap between “I know the CLI” and “I don’t have…

October 2, 2026

Back After CWNE: Live Spectrum Data Proves Why 6 GHz Wins

Live Spectrum: 6 GHz Wins CWNE #641 • September 4, 2026 • Ekahau Sidekick 2 It’s been a while. In August, I passed the CWNE exam and became number 641. A full post on that journey is coming. Before that: I had the Ekahau Sidekick 2 with me this morning before heading to a customer…

September 4, 2026

Outdoor Mesh Backhaul: Why the Fresnel Zone Breaks Your Point-to-Point Link

Outdoor point-to-point mesh backhaul fails on Fresnel zone obstruction, not configuration. The corrected first-zone clearance math for 5 and 6 GHz, the survey that has to come first, and how to tell a physics fault from a config fault.

August 2, 2026

RF Exposure: The Part Nobody Brings Up

Almost every reassuring statement about RF exposure describes normal use at normal distances. The staging bench is not that. The arithmetic, the honest caveats, and a full engineering reference with a live calculator.

July 30, 2026

CAD vs. PDF: Why Your Floor Plan Is Costing You the Design

CAD vs. PDF: Your Floor Plan Is the Design | WirelessWithWade WirelessWithWade CWDP | Wireless Design CAD vs. PDF: Your Floor Plan Is the Design A PDF looks like a floor plan. It is not a reliable RF design source. Wade Gerencser There is a conversation happening right now about wireless design efficiency. Nobody in…

July 19, 2026

The Open Wi-Fi Network Is Finally Encrypted: Understanding OWE on Any Band

WirelessWithWade / Technical Blog 802.11 Security · OWE · Enhanced Open · Wi-Fi 6E The Open Wi-Fi Network Is Finally Encrypted: Understanding OWE on Any Band Open Wi-Fi no longer has to mean unencrypted. OWE gives every passwordless client its own Layer 2 session keys on 2.4, 5, and 6 GHz. Here is how it…

July 16, 2026

Squeezing the Most Out of Our 5 GHz SSIDs: Optimizing During the 6 GHz Migration Era

WirelessWithWade / Technical Blog 802.11 RF · 5 GHz · DFS · QoS · Wi-Fi Design Squeezing the Most Out of Our 5 GHz SSIDs: Optimizing During the 6 GHz Migration Era 6 GHz is coming, but 5 GHz is still carrying your network. Here is how I tune it before clients even associate. Overview…

July 16, 2026

Separate AKMs Between SSIDs: Why WPA3 “Transition Mode” Shouldn’t Be a Permanent Design

WirelessWithWade / Technical Blog 802.11 · WPA3 · Security · Enterprise Wi-Fi Separate AKMs Between SSIDs: Why WPA3 “Transition Mode” Shouldn’t Be a Permanent Design Mixing WPA2-Enterprise and WPA3-Enterprise AKMs on the same SSID preserves the legacy attack surface and introduces unpredictable client behavior. Here’s why AKM segmentation is the right call. Key Takeaways WPA3…

July 16, 2026

I Ran a Deauthentication Attack Against My Own Wireless Network; Here’s What the Frames Show

WirelessWithWade / Technical Blog 802.11 Security · 802.11w · CWSP Deep Dive 802.11w PMF Required, decoded frame by frame, live attack, live capture, and exactly where protection gets negotiated inside the RSN Information Element. IEEE 802.11w · IEEE 802.11-2020 Key Takeaways PMF protects Deauthentication, Disassociation, and Action frames from forgery. It does not encrypt Beacon…

July 16, 2026

Cisco 9800 FlexConnect Local Switching – Policy Profile Walkthrough

WirelessWithWade / Technical Blog FlexConnect · Cisco 9800 · IOS-XE · WLAN Design Cisco 9800 FlexConnect Local Switching – Policy Profile Walkthrough FlexConnect on the Catalyst 9800, built by hand: WLAN profiles, policy profiles, policy tags, site tags, and Flex profiles, and how they decide local vs. central switching at the AP. Key Takeaways On…

July 16, 2026