GUEST BLOG: A Site Survey is Worth a Thousand Support Calls

GUEST BLOG: A Site Survey is Worth a Thousand Support Calls

By CWNP On 06/03/2014 - 62 Comments

Jussi Kiviniemi of Ekahau gives us a look a quick look into the importance of a Site Survey and how we can best build our networks. Jussi will be talking more about this at the CWNP Conference in September.

By: Jussi Kiviniemi, Ekahau

When asked for his two cents on Wi-Fi deployments, here's what Andrew Von Nagy said: "A site survey is worth a thousand support calls".

Now that's well said.

Enterprise Wi-Fi networks have been built for 15 or so years, yet still, we tend to forget the basics --basics like....

• 80% of the Wi-Fi problems stem from a bad wireless design
• One should site survey before deployment, or pay big money and fix later
• Trusting a self-configuring Wi-Fi network is shooting yourself in the foot
• Designing to a budget is designing to a WLAN failure
• One should design the network as you will take the support calls personally

This is based on the observations of the leading Wi-Fi folks...folks like Peter Mackenzie, David Coleman, Joeri De Winter, Keith Parsons, and Darrel Derosia. [More quotes available here, btw.]

So what can we do about it?

Educate ourselves, and others.

Wi-Fi is growing . More and more folks are designing and deploying wireless. Most of those folks come with a strong wired background, and are thus in a good position.

What kind of info should we give those folks as a starting point? Here's what I like to say. What are your top 3 "get started with Wi-Fi tips"?

• Talk to your peers. That's' whoever else is interested in Wi-Fi. We love sharing our war stories, horror stories, the big successes
• Use Twitter. You don't need to post, but at least follow some of the folks there. Start by checking out who I follow for example and pick your favorites.
• Follow some Wi-Fi blogs. Start with Andrew's Revolution Wi-Fi and go from there.
• And last but not least, use the CWNP resources. Great books. Great courses. And no, I was not paid to write this ;).

Oh, and join the CWNP conference in late September in North Carolina. See you there!

Cheers,
Jussi

Tagged with: Site Survey, Support, Resources, Ekahau, Jussi Kiviemi,

Blog Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within these blog posts are solely the author’s and do not reflect the opinions and beliefs of the Certitrek, CWNP or its affiliates.