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What a Dropping 5 GHz Client Looks Like Inside a .pcap: Drilling Into the RadioTap Header
WirelessWithWade / Technical Blog 802.11 · Wireshark · PCAP Analysis · MCS · Troubleshooting What a Dropping 5 GHz Client Looks Like Inside a .pcap: Drilling Into the RadioTap Header A 35-second passive capture found what weeks of troubleshooting had not: one device that could not hold a usable signal, and the evidence lived only…
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How 802.11 MCS, SNR, and Airtime Drive Accurate AP Density Planning
WirelessWithWade / Technical Blog 802.11 · MCS · SNR · AP Density · CWDP · Wi-Fi Design How 802.11 MCS, SNR, and Airtime Drive Accurate AP Density Planning AP density is not a response to weak coverage. MCS, SNR, CCA, coding rate, noise floor, and airtime overhead collectively determine usable capacity, here is the engineering…
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When the Wireless Network Starts Listening to the Building
WirelessWithWade / Technical Blog Cisco Spaces · EnOcean · IoT · Catalyst Center Cisco Spaces with the EnOcean protocol turns the WLAN from a connectivity layer into a sensor platform, feeding occupancy, environmental, and asset data back into the same infrastructure you already designed for RF coverage. Yes, Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 are important.…
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Enterprise Wi-Fi 7 Security Profiles: GCMP-256 Impact on Client Association and Roam
OK, so it is important to understand that there are some misconceptions about how we interpret Multi-Link Operation. This is often conflated with WPA3, which can lead to problematic client behaviors regarding the AKMs used and the roaming requirements on a dedicated WPA3 SSID we see today in our 802.11 enterprises. One of the biggest…
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The Cisco 9800 Controller-Based Architecture vs. Meraki Cloud-Based Architecture: Which is the Fastest, Higher Performing 802.11 Infrastructure?
While attending the Wireless LAN Professionals Conference in Phoenix a few weeks ago as a Cisco Systems employee, I was repeatedly asked which 802.11 wireless LAN design delivers higher client STA performance: a Meraki cloud-managed access point deployment or a traditional Cisco controller-based deployment with APs operating in local mode. From a data-plane perspective, both…
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Why OWE and WPA3 Need to Take Over
WirelessWithWade / Technical Blog 802.11 · WPA3 · OWE · Security · Kali Linux Why OWE and WPA3 Need to Take Over WPA2 handshake capture and offline cracking remain practical attacks. Here is why I think SAE and OWE eliminate the attack chain, and why the industry needs to finish the migration. Key Takeaways WPA2-PSK…
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Why Understanding 802.11 MCS Index Rates Drive Accurate AP Density Planning
WirelessWithWade / Technical Blog 802.11 · MCS Index · RF Design · WLAN Engineering Why Understanding 802.11 MCS Index Rates Drive Accurate AP Density Planning MCS is the PHY layer’s truth. If you don’t design backward from it, you’re placing APs by instinct, not physics. Key Takeaways The MCS index encodes modulation order, coding rate,…
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IEEE-802.11 Standards Timeline
WirelessWithWade / Technical Blog 802.11 · Wi-Fi Standards · Wi-Fi 7 · RF Engineering IEEE 802.11 Standards Timeline From 2 Mbps DSSS in 1997 to multi-Gbps MLO in Wi-Fi 7, a tight, technical sketch of every major 802.11 amendment and what each one actually changed under the hood. Key Takeaways The original 802.11-1997 spec topped…
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Wi-Fi 7 Is Fast. But Is Your Wireless Architecture Actually Secure?
Wi-Fi 7 Is Fast. But Is Your Wireless Architecture Actually Secure? | WirelessWithWade WirelessWithWade / Technical Blog 802.11be · Wi-Fi 7 · Cisco 9800 · WLAN Architecture · Security Wi-Fi 7 Is Fast. But Is Your Wireless Architecture Actually Secure? Encryption is a feature. Architecture is a discipline. The security gap in most enterprise wireless…
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Why Your Wireless Gaming Router Isn’t a Network Upgrade
WirelessWithWade / Technical Blog Consumer Wi-Fi · Enterprise 802.11 · RF Design Why Your Wireless Gaming Router Isn’t a Network Upgrade Key Takeaways Consumer gaming routers sell speed on the box. Power, coverage, and capacity are three separate RF problems, buying hardware solves none of them by itself. Signal bars are a UI decoration, not…