Resource
Office network and Wi-Fi design
Almost every business with unreliable wireless has a design problem rather than a hardware problem. Access points placed where cabling was convenient, equipment specified for the wrong environment, and no consideration of what happens as the space fills with people and stock.
What causes the symptoms
Five causes account for nearly every wireless complaint we investigate.
| Symptom | Usual cause |
|---|---|
| Dead zonesSurvey and reposition | Access points placed for cabling convenience |
| Drops when movingTune power and overlap | Poor roaming configuration between access points |
| Slow at peak timesAdd capacity, not range | Too many devices per radio |
| Works in the morning onlyInvestigate rather than reboot | Interference or thermal issues |
| Poor in the warehouseCorrect equipment and survey | Office grade equipment in an industrial space |
| Guest traffic affects staffSegment and prioritise | No separation or quality of service |
What a designed network includes
Six elements that distinguish a designed network from an accumulated one.
- A survey establishing coverage against the actual floor plan, racking and stock levels
- Segmentation separating guest, staff, voice and any equipment that cannot be patched
- Quality of service configuration so voice traffic is not competing with a file upload
- Documented IP addressing and VLAN scheme rather than whatever was set at install
- Sufficient uplink capacity, since access points are frequently limited by the switch behind them
- A refresh plan, because wireless standards move and equipment reaches end of firmware support
Coverage is not the same as capacity
The most common design error is solving a capacity problem by adding range. If forty people in a meeting room have poor performance, a more powerful access point makes it worse rather than better by extending interference.
Capacity problems are solved by more access points at lower power with careful channel planning, which is counterintuitive and is why surveys exist.
This matters most in spaces that change. A warehouse with full racking behaves entirely differently from the same warehouse empty, and an office designed for thirty people behaves differently at sixty.
Common questions
Answered before you ask.
Do we need a survey, or can you just add access points?
For a small office with a simple layout, experienced placement is often sufficient. For anything with racking, thick walls, multiple floors, or where wireless carries voice or handheld scanners, a survey pays for itself immediately by avoiding the cycle of buying equipment that does not fix the problem.
Should guest wireless be separate?
Always. Guest devices are unmanaged and unknown, and giving them a path to internal systems creates risk for no benefit. Separation is straightforward configuration on business grade equipment and several compliance frameworks expect it explicitly.
How long does wireless equipment last?
Usually five to seven years before standards and firmware support make replacement sensible. The trigger to watch is firmware support ending, because an access point no longer receiving updates is a network device with known vulnerabilities sitting inside your building.
Related
Read next.
Network and infrastructure
Firewalls, switching, Wi-Fi, servers and remote access, monitored.
Business VoIP and UC
Number porting, call flows and Teams Phone deployments.
Logistics and maritime
Port of Tacoma, warehouse Wi-Fi, EDI, 24 by 7
The real cost of network downtime
Building a number you can put in front of a board.
What is included in managed IT services
A line by line scope, including the exclusions most contracts hide.
Start with the assessment, not the contract.
We document what you have, test whether your backups restore, and give you the findings in writing. Yours to keep either way.