Nothing is more troubling than spotty Wi-Fi. Imagine this: You’re sitting down after a lunch meeting, and you can’t retrieve emails. You double-check, and you’re definitely connected to the coffee shop’s Wi-Fi. Anger builds, and desperation sets in. Why can’t it just work? We’ve grown to expect decent connectivity at work, at home and in public spaces. Unfortunately, the Wi-Fi vertical is riddled with newcomers, science projects and enterprise offerings that have better marketing than anything else. There is no true standard for creating a ubiquitous wireless network that “just works.”
So what do we do? Well, it depends on your setting.
Just because something says Cisco or Aruba doesn’t make it infallible to spotty coverage. There are several common misconceptions about commercial equipment: It delivers bullet-proof coverage; the APs might be better assembled; the software might be more feature-enriched. Unfortunately, the issues with Wi-Fi aren’t derived from shoddy plastics or lacking controls. What most enterprise offerings miss is that Wi-Fi is ultimately at the mercy of the clients who connect.
No system can control what a client radio will do when roaming, connecting or staying connected. This is all controlled at the device level and is not standard across platforms. The other reality is that no system can control what devices will be entering their space. Androids, iPhones, watches and computers of all flavours pop up on Wi-Fi networks. Workplaces are now big on “bring your own device,” which makes this reality even more poignant.
Meraki has become one of the best-selling enterprise products in recent years. Unlike their brethren at Cisco, Meraki understands the nature of Wi-Fi and has features that support the lowest common denominators on a Wi-Fi system in a business setting — the clients.
When Smart Wireless consider designing a network for your organisation, we focus on signal strength, channel widths and channel overlap. Nothing matters more than getting a quality signal to the devices people work from.
While advanced features for roaming, QOS and balancing sound great, the reality is the client cannot be told what to do, so some of these features only work for certain products. There is no greater axiom in regard to Wi-Fi than the phrase “Life with perfect wifi”
