WiFi Survey
WiFi Survey is an extremely important consideration for all but the smallest and simplest of WiFi networks. There are many reasons for completing a proper WiFi survey - and some of them are not as obvious as others. Not all WLAN survey software can consider all of these factors.
The first item to consider is of course WiFi coverage. However, it can be difficult to predict how attenuation - WiFi signal loss - can be affected by different elements within a building. This could be construction elements such as a stairwell or lift shaft - or it could be furnishings such as office cubicles or warehouse shelving.
Another consideration is bandwidth/throughput. While simple coverage can seem straightforward, wireless network performance can diminish rapidly as the signal degrades and we use our WLAN survey software to visualise this.
If you are relying on guesswork rather than a WiFi survey - you could find that areas have apparent coverage but poor performance. It would be a shame to spend thousands of pounds on WiFi equipment, only for the deployment to be let down by a lack of WiFi survey. A slow WiFi network is a bad WiFi network.
Further, not having enough wireless access points for your desired quantity of devices and throughput can also create performance problems. WiFi AP congestion can be particularly problematic with audiovisual applications such as voice or video communications and streaming video. Our WiFi survey service will help you to plan for this.
As a final note, placement and spacing of the wireless access points is also very important. If they are too close together, this is wasteful and they can interfere with one another on the 2.4GHz spectrum. If they are too far apart, this can create gaps and handover problems - especially bad for devices in a voice or video call, or an online meeting.
Our WiFi survey service and WiFi site survey software will help you to judge access point quantity and placement for all of the above requirements, but also help you to plan for applications that are especially sensitive to AP placement. Such as WiFi calling - also known as Voice over WiFi or VoWLAN - and even WiFi location services.