Your Wi-Fi network is critical for employees and customers. It allows work to be done across a range of devices, access points and connected objects.
When your network is not working at its best, work suffers and frustrations surface. That’s why you need tools to help you assess the capabilities and problem areas of your wireless network … and a partner like BCS that can help you build and implement a network that optimizes performance.
Our Wi-Fi assessments help you identify deficiencies, gain a better understanding of requirements, and develop solutions to maximizes network impact and performance.
Designing a Great Wi-Fi Network
Every Wi-Fi site is different, both in the physical composition of the building and in the way users and objects are situated within it. While there are certain best practices to be deployed regardless of the physical location, at BCS we start by learning about the functional requirements of your network. We also want to understand any constraints about the network that need to be addressed, whether it’s available budget, building materials or inability to run Ethernet cables to parts of the building.
Functional requirements fall into several broad categories, including:
- Usage. What do staff and visitors need? What objects and security devices are connected? Are voice and video transmissions critical?
- Coverage. What physical constraints get in the way of providing access to data and apps? Are there neighboring networks or radio signals that need to be factored in?
- Capacity. It’s not just a matter of how many devices are connected to the network, but also how many devices simultaneously need access, which can affect performance.
- Control. Not all users need access to the same information and services. That’s why we focus on authentication, access control and monitoring to ensure the right users have the right permissions and that unwanted users are not causing problems.
- Support and Integration. Your access points will need power, data connectivity, infrastructure, and physical enclosures. Coordinating how these points are managed and maintained are important considerations.
Gaining Insights and a Plan of Action
At BCS, our Wi-Fi assessments use powerful tools to understand and evaluate your network. Our tools are designed to provide a deeper understanding of how the system is used and to create solutions that optimize performance.
Here’s a closer look at the tools we use to create a powerful network for your enterprise:
- Heat Maps. Our easy-to-read heat maps show signal strength coverage, data rates, signal-to-noise ratios, throughout and packet loss. These maps identify network capacity problems, such as overloads of access points or excessive VoIP calls per radio.
- Interference Analysis. These tools analyze interference on public frequencies sharing the same spectrum, with visual displays of interference on floor plans, displayed in density views and over time.
- Site Surveys. One walkthrough of your site is all it takes to to collect active, passive and spectrum survey information that locates all of your access points, automates channel optimization, and surveys both 2.4 and 5 GHz bands simultaneously.
- Analysis and Simulation. Our analyses will simulate how your network will perform using different Wi-Fi devices using customized requirements profiles to determine needs for different usage scenarios.
- 3D Modeling. Our modeling tools can create, in minutes, multi-floor and multi-building plans, including wall heights and materials, antenna directions, and, if necessary, outdoor plans.
At BCS, we help companies plan for coverage and capacity. Contact us today about a free Wi-Fi- site assessment and building a better network for your enterprise.
