It’s a good idea to check all the settings for the technology you use, and this definitely applies to Wi-Fi. Whether you are providing Wi-Fi to thousands of users in your office building hundreds of devices in your warehouse or some technology in your home, the tips below will apply to any wireless access points installation and should be used as a foundation for future network configurations.
- REGULARLY CHECK AND UPDATE FIRMWARE
One of the most overlooked aspects of access point installation can be firmware updates. Outdated firmware may not be immediately noticeable, but it can prevent your wireless network from operating at peak performance.
The quality of system firmware determines its security and reliability. A security flaw in a wireless system can make all your data vulnerable to hackers, and even seasoned IT professionals may not know how to fix it. According to a 2014 report, 32% of IT pros don’t even know how to update their over-the-air firmware at home!
Firmware update is still a process that requires proper knowledge and technical knowledge and may require troubleshooting and specific tools. You may need a tool to do a manual reset or to unhook the hook from the mounting bracket. In some circumstances, it may be safer and cheaper to hire a managed Wi-Fi service provider to do the job.
- IMPLEMENT THE PROPER SECURITY PROTOCOL
Almost all Wi-Fi networks are vulnerable to malicious attacks that can jeopardize valuable company data. After setting up your wireless access point installation, the first thing you need to do is choose a strong password. While password-protecting your Wi-Fi may seem unnecessary, passwords are the first level of defense against hackers trying to gain access to your network. The current standard for Wi-Fi security is WPA2, which has its own vulnerabilities, but WPA2 is much more secure than previous security protocols including WPA, WEP, and EAP.
I chose WPA2, but it hasn’t come out of the forest yet! You still need to create a strong password to secure your wireless access point installation. Contrary to popular belief, you should not choose short passwords that contain random symbols, letters, and numbers. You would think a password like “d07;oj7MgLz’%v” would be pretty secure, but in reality it would be very difficult for humans to remember such a random password. If someone really wants to hack into your network, all they have to do is use a computer program that generates a random key until they figure out the correct password. – Force guess password.
When choosing a password, choose a long-form sentence that uses multiple characters (15+) and feel free to enter any numbers and symbols if you wish. The most important thing is to make sure the sentence is unique to you and easy to remember. A password like “My daughter turns 15 in 4 days and so happy!” It contains 50 characters and takes hundreds or thousands of years to decipher a computer program. If someone invests that much time hacking into a wireless network, they may have to deal with a bigger problem.
- IMPROVE ROAMING IF YOU INSTALLED MULTIPLE ACCESS POINTS
If you have a lot of space, your wireless access point installation is likely to include multiple access points. Part 1 of this blog series discussed the importance of utilizing an integrated management system when deploying more than one access point. A management system, typically in the form of a physical or cloud controller, manages the access point to enable seamless client roaming from one radio to another.
In most cases, the end-user device decides which access point to keep a connection to base on the access point with the strongest signal. However, there may be instances where multiple access points are deployed in a small area to support a requirement such as high density. In this case, even if there is a closer access point nearby that carries a stronger signal, the signal received by the device from the additional access point is still strong enough so that the device can choose to stay connected. There may be environmental factors that interfere with the propagation of the wireless signal, which may cause performance issues.
One thing that roaming can help with is reducing the signal strength at certain or all access points so that when a client device moves through a facility it is easier to move from one access point to another.
- CONFIGURE YOUR EQUIPMENT TO SUPPORT LEGACY DEVICES
Perhaps you are working for an old school boss who refuses to throw away your 2008 BlackBerry, or you have an old laptop that you love more than your children. These devices connect using older Wi-Fi standards and typically strictly use the 2.4 GHz band.
Most modern Internet-enabled devices use the 802.11ac wireless standard and connect only in the 5GHz band. This is because it supports more channels and higher throughput. Some legacy devices use older wireless standards such as 802.11a, 802.11b, or 802.11g. These devices typically use the 2.4 GHz band exclusively, so you may need to configure your wireless access point installation to support it. If your office only uses technology manufactured within the last 4 years, you probably won’t need to set up your network to broadcast in the 2.4GHz band. If you own some of these older devices, only enable channels 1, 6, and 11 to avoid duplication. Use a spectrum analyzer to check for channel overlap and reduce radio power accordingly.
- TRUST THE MACHINE
If your wireless access point installation consists of modern access points and you are in an environment with high radio interference, let the controller make all the channel decisions. After all, it’s called a controller. In a radio-polluting environment like New York, new networks are constantly being broadcast from nearby offices. Their signal can penetrate the office and cause problems with wireless performance.
In this ever-changing environment, it’s a good idea to trust the access point to do its job. Modern access points have antennas that can detect the surrounding wireless network. The channel being used and interference. This information is then reported back to the controller, which determines the access point should broadcast for optimal performance.
Pinning to one channel may seem like a good idea at first because you run the spectrum analyzer. That one channel is free, but within a few days you will start to notice all sorts of problems. Running a second spectrum analysis shows that the selected channel is currently very congested and slowing down Wi-Fi performance.
- RECOGNIZE HIDDEN CHANNELS THAT CAN PROVIDE MINIMAL INTERFERENCE
Most access points can use the full range of 5 GHz channels, though not by default. It is not commonly used and may provide some performance benefit, make sure you can enable the DFS channel. If your wireless network is near an airport or weather radar, disregard this as discovered equipment often uses DFS coverage. Double DFS can slow wireless network performance.
- REDUCE SIGNAL POWER TO IMPROVE WIRELESS PERFORMANCE
A wireless access point can actually consist of multiple access points. You choose to increase the signal power because you think more power would be better. Not always a good idea. If you have many access points in a small space, you may need to reduce the cell size to avoid co-channel interference. How much power should I reduce? It depends on the environment.
- DON’T CREATE TOO MANY SSIDS
These tips are probably the simplest and apply to any wireless access point installation, regardless of industry or application. We recommend broadcasting no more than 4-5 wireless networks. Each SSID has a significant impact on airtime utilization.
