Site Survey:

• Analyze the environment to find optimal access point (AP) locations.
• Active: Measures real-time signal strength and throughput.
• Passive: Detects existing network signals.

Design Considerations:

• Coverage, device capacity, interference, frequency band, AP placement, security, and redundancy.

Access Point Placement:

• Focus on high-traffic areas, ceiling mounts, slight overlap for seamless roaming, and avoiding obstructions.

Planning Tools:

• Ekahau, AirMagnet, Ubiquiti UniFi, NetSpot.

• Signal & Coverage: Walkthrough surveys, heatmaps, minimum -67 dBm signal.
• Bandwidth & Throughput: Speed and load testing for multiple devices.
• Roaming & Handover: Ensure seamless transitions between APs.
• Interference & Channels: Avoid co-channel conflicts and test for environmental interference.
• Security: Verify WPA2/WPA3 encryption, detect rogue APs, and isolate guest networks.

Address low signal, slow speeds, interference, connection drops, and capacity issues by adjusting AP placement, channels, power, or bandwidth allocation.

• Conduct pre-installation surveys
• Plan for device capacity
• Use both 2.4 GHz & 5 GHz bands
• Minimize interference and physical obstacles
• Monitor network performance continuously