A wireless site survey is needed to verify areas of RF interference, RF coverage, and the locations of access points as it helps to determine where to place WiFi APs to avoid overlap coverage from other APS. A wireless site survey is required, especially when your network does not perform well as this survey will enable you to determine where to place WiFi access points to provide proper signal coverage and performance. A wireless site survey analyzes the RF environment of an area where a Wi-Fi network gets deployed, and it can be conducted when you are planning a new network to determine where to install access points (APs). So now let us see Why is a Wireless Site Survey needed and importance of Accurate 4G Tester, 4G LTE Tester, 4G Network Tester and VOLTE Testing tools & Equipment and Best wireless site survey software, site survey tools for wireless networks & Wifi site survey software app.
We live in a world where our life revolves around wireless connectivity in one way or another – most people connect to the network (wireless) for streaming, video conferencing, reading informative articles, downloading, running several programs at once, and connecting multiple devices. For such activities, people need a strong WiFi network, near-instantaneous downloads, and minimal latency. Therefore, a predictive wireless site survey is essential to improve your network capacity and connectivity to meet user demands. Periodic site surveys are required while the network is operating.
Reasons to have a wireless site survey and its types
The most important reason to have a wireless site survey is to maintain consistent and optimal Wi-Fi coverage at your site when you implement a wireless network. A wireless site survey is beneficial to expose areas of signal interference, and dead zones – it can detect any existing radio sources of neighbouring networks, and identify structures such as columns, beams, walls, and metal objects which might interfere with your network deployment. Moreover, a wireless site survey is important to determine the feasibility of deploying a wireless network to meet your needs in terms of deploying a wireless network within the constraints of your site.
Here are 3 major reasons why wireless site surveys are necessary.
1. Identity coverage holes and interference
As furniture and people can affect radio frequency, a site survey will be helpful in identifying co-channel interferences and troublesome external radio interferences. Wireless site survey will further let you know the exact place to install APs for the best coverage because correctly placing APs can avoid minimizing overlap from other APs and eliminating coverage dead zones.
2. Establish the correct types and amounts of Aps
Installation of correct Access Points (Aps) is key to getting a clear yet fast signal. Installing too few or too many Aps will lead to poor signal, dead spots, and wasting money on unnecessary equipment costs for fixing and maintenance.
3. Save time and money
A wireless site survey will help you in saving time and money. For example, if you face network connectivity issues, that will take longer and lose more money to fix networking issues.
There are mainly 3 types of wireless site surveys, mentioned below:
Predictive site survey – It is performed without field measurements,or an onsite visit as predictive site survey relies on floor plans,WiFi standards, and computer software as RF software simulates the building and predicts the number of APs (access points) in the specified locations. With a predictive site survey, you will be able to meet the required coverage.
Passive site survey – It is performed with a physical survey of the specified building, which ensures the collection of data seamlessly and detects the factors that may impact network performance by measuring signal strength, signal-to-noise ratios, and interference. A passive site survey is generally performed once a building is built with network installation – can be conducted before a network is operational, and a periodic survey is conductedto monitor network performance.
Active site survey – It is like a passive survey, but the only difference from an active site survey is that survey tools do connect to the network’s access points to gather information such as network traffic, round-trip-time (RTT), throughput, and upload/download speeds.
An active site survey – This survey is used to troubleshoot WiFi networks and measure the real-world performance of your network. It is like a passive survey, but the survey tools are connected to the network’s access points. This allows for gathering an array of information like network traffic, round-trip-time (RTT), throughput, and upload/download speeds.
Conclusion
A wireless site survey is highly recommended to maintain a strong network signal strength. To perform a predictive wireless site survey, you can use RantCell to predict wireless coverage of the access points based on floor plans. To conduct such surveys, you can use RantCell even when the site or building has not yetbeen built – this will ensure strong wireless coverage, network capacity, and quality of service. Contact us to schedule a wireless site survey.
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