So, you know that your wireless network needs to be upgraded and optimized, and you’ve heard of this thing called a “wireless site survey”.What is that? How can it help you? What’s involved? And perhaps the most important question: How will the site survey affect your daily operations? We’re glad you asked! Here’s what you can expect when you get a network survey.
We Gather the Information and Enter it Into Our Advanced Planning Software
The first step in a wireless site survey is to assess the layout of the facilities and campus, to see what obstacles and problem areas exist and develop a better plan for enabling the entire area with consistent, reliable network coverage. This involves entering things like your facilities blueprints, floor plans, campus views, etc. into our advanced planning software. We’ll take into consideration numerous factors, including:
- What building materials are used to evaluate signal propagation
- The locations of access points
- Areas that might be especially problematic, such as where large numbers of users tend to congregate or where bandwidth-intensive applications are in use
- An assessment of what outdoor coverage is needed
- A predictive evaluation of future needs in terms of coverage and bandwidth
- Any potential sources of interference
- Predictive and actual measurements
What’s Next?
Today’s workers aren’t just bringing one device to work. Many are bringing two or three. Additionally, modern applications are more demanding of bandwidth than ever before. Is your network ready?
From there, we will begin to assess what access point locations will best meet the needs of the users, based on the infrastructure and other conditions. We will identify areas of concern, as well as potential sources of interference. We can generate reports to issue your current network a grade, or assemble a bill of materials for establishing a new network infrastructure. We can also generate reports to alert a wiring crew of where new access point installations need to go.
Planning for Now as Well as the Future
When the wireless site survey is done, you will have accurate information regarding how many access points you need and where those access points should go. It will include detailed maps of coverage areas, as well as data rates for providing that coverage. You will also be informed of the sources of interference your network is subject to, as well as where that interference is coming from.
We will find rogue access points so that those can be addressed. If you’re planning any renovations or expansions to your facilities, those can be included in the network site survey. We can also help you plan for the outdoor coverage you need, and uncover any voids that exist in your current deployments. The wireless site survey will also include an assessment of any neighboring networks that could impact your network, as well as what channel(s) are in use there.
