Wifi solutions can cause headaches for IT. Along with IT services, wifi is essential to support the business, yet it often suffers from various issues. Dropped connections, low signal strength, and interference directly hamper employee productivity—making reliable wifi a business-critical requirement.
Here at Corsica Technologies, we see 5 consistent problems when we help companies improve their wifi experience. Here are those problems—and the solutions we recommend.
1. Inconsistent wifi coverage
Wireless should “just work,” right?
Whether at someone’s desk, in the lunchroom, over by the chairs in the corner—it should just work.
These are the expectations that business users have for modern wifi. Unfortunately, having consistent coverage isn’t that simple. Weak signals, interference from other sources, and poor radio placement relative to the building’s architectural features all contribute to spotty coverage.
Solution: Wireless site survey
The first step in obtaining better coverage is a wireless site survey. Utilizing specialized equipment, our team of experts will perform a passive survey of the current environment, seeking to obtain a better understanding of the current RF (radio frequency) environment. This provides us with the necessary information to determine the next steps. Occasionally, it’s as simple as adding another AP or two—but this usually doesn’t address the root problem, and it can create a completely different set of problems. (See #4 below.)
2. Interference from other radio sources
Older wifi technology solutions operate primarily in the 2.4GHz band, which is now considered outdated. This band provides only 3 non-overlapping channels, leading to increased interference and congestion, which ultimately creates poor performance.
Many types of equipment can cause interference:
- Cordless phones
- Microwaves
- Plasma cutters in warehouses
- Bluetooth devices
- Radios and walkie-talkies
Like many things in IT though, utilizing 2.4Ghz is a tradeoff. It provides greater coverage compared to its 5Ghz and 6Ghz counterparts, but as a result, it’s unable to provide the throughput required by many of today’s current business applications.
Solution: Wireless assessment, revisit network design, possibly upgrade equipment
Newer APs provide you with 2.4GHz operation alongside 5GHz and even 6GHz. The two latter bands offer more channels than 2.4, thus reducing the likelihood of interference and providing you more throughput when bonding the channels together.
In fact, the connection quality on 5 or 6GHz can even exceed the throughput you experience while connected via ethernet cable at your desk. The higher bands are really that powerful.
That said, replacing hardware isn’t trivial. If you have an older business wifi system today, we don’t recommend going in and replacing all equipment 1:1. Newer technology changes the way the radios propagate the signal. (As discussed above, 2.4Ghz provides greater coverage while sacrificing throughput, and vice versa with 5Ghz and 6Ghz technologies.) We recommend a wireless assessment to understand the RF environment so we can design a solution tailored to your business needs and desired outcomes.
3. Exceeding your wireless network’s capabilities or designed function
Not all wifi problems come from coverage issues or interference. If a network wasn’t originally designed for its current use, you can run into problems.
Different wifi use cases come with different requirements. For example, a network that’s designed to provide general coverage in a warehouse may not work as desired when implementing handheld scanners for inventory management. Alternatively, a single wireless AP in an office filled with desktops will fail to provide the necessary support when converting entire business units to laptops.
Whatever the situation, it’s easy to exceed the capacity of your original wireless solution as the business evolves.
Solution: Wireless assessment, consulting, and potential redesign
An experienced partner like Corsica can analyze your current network usage, identify gaps in network design, and provide advice on a path forward. The end goal is to create the wireless network your organization needs today—PLUS build in the flexibility required to handle the ever-changing requirements.
4. Adding wireless APs willy-nilly
When you’re dealing with interference and poor signal coverage, it’s easy to think you just need to add another AP near the troubled area to solve the problem.
Unfortunately, that’s rarely the case.
Here at Corsica, we have a little saying: “More APs doesn’t equal ‘more gooder.’” While the grammar hurts, it helps us make our point in a memorable way. More isn’t always better—especially if the wireless network design isn’t suited to the business’s current requirements.
In fact, adding more APs can (and typically does) make the problem worse. This is often a result of the radios on the APs creating interference, which in turn creates congestion, ultimately resulting in your web browsing being slow, phone calls dropping, or emails not sending. This dilemma is an issue in the 5/6GHz spectrums and is only exacerbated in the 2.4Ghz spectrum. This fact, and not the number of APs, is the ultimate constraint in any business network that’s suffering from interference or coverage issues.
Solution: Assessment, consulting, and possible redesign
It’s not a matter of more, but rather of the right number of APs in the right spots, operating on the right frequency bands, managed by a unified controller and backed with the right switches and routers. The first step is a wireless assessment and expert consulting to determine your wireless requirements.
5. Wrong wireless controller for your needs
If you’re administering your wifi network yourself (rather than outsourcing that function), it’s worth examining whether cloud or on-premises is best for your controller.
As with all things cloud vs. on prem, there’s no right answer. On premises typically provides you more control and greater management responsibility, whereas cloud may offer a more seamless experience with less control or fewer features.
The difference, while invisible to the end user, does impact the management of your network.
Solution: Review wireless requirements and perform a cost modeling analysis
How much granular control do you need over the network? Does your organization prefer capex (capital expenses) or opex (operating expenses)? Is there a revenue value associated with wifi traffic that allows you to calculate ROI, or is wifi just part of the cost of operations?
All these questions will influence your choice of wireless controller. If you’re not sure how to proceed, an experienced wireless consultant can help.
The takeaway: Invest in a wireless assessment to pinpoint issues
Wifi is a complex technology, and most businesses don’t have the resources on staff to keep their solution current with their needs. Corsica Technologies fills this gap. Our wireless experts can audit your current environment, analyze problems and opportunities, and chart the path forward. The result is a wireless network that satisfies your users today (and is ready to grow tomorrow).
Want to learn more about business wifi solutions?
Reach out to schedule a consultation with our network specialists.
