If there’s one thing we all want more of, it’s fast internet. In fact, speed is one of the most important things used to measure network performance. So, how do you test it? What is commonly referred to as speed, is often technically called throughput. Throughput tells you how much data was “effectively” transferred between …
How important is the response time of network infrastructure? For anyone looking for a high-performing wireless network, the answer is very important. Network response time, or network latency, is a measurement of the amount of time it takes a packet to travel from sender to receiver. Response times vary based on the number of users, …
On the job training is important for any position, but perhaps none more so than for new network technicians. After all, the functioning of your network and success is dependent upon hands-on experience with setup and installation, troubleshooting, and repair. Training new technicians often presents novel challenges and takes current critical people away from the …
In an earlier post discussing over-coverage on the 2.4GHz spectrum, we mentioned that we don’t recommend completely disabling the 2.4GHz band. We got several questions about that, so today we want to discuss it in more detail. First, let’s check out the benefits to disabling the band. There are more channels available in 5GHz, so …
What do we mean by Airtime Utilization? Free airtime describes how much time is available on a channel for data transmissions. Any time a device communicates with another device or an access point (AP) it uses airtime. Airtime Utilization is a per-channel statistic that defines what percentage of the channel is currently being used, and …
Not all networks are exactly alike, and for good reason. At a basic level, the network you need for your house has different requirements than the network you need for your school, but it gets more complicated than that. Not even all schools need the exact same network, and this applies to schools in the …
Are you familiar with site surveys? You probably, and should have, had one when your wireless network was installed, but you might not have thought about it since. Site surveys determine exactly where access points (APs) should be placed for optimum network performance. Those performing the site survey know that physical obstructions (walls, ceilings) and …
It’s an unfortunate fact that, frequently, problems are not reported to IT while they are occurring. Maybe this is because IT isn’t onsite, maybe it’s because the problem seemed to resolve itself quickly, or maybe it didn’t seem like a big enough problem to warrant flagging down IT. Whatever the reason, the fact is that …
A WLAN controller’s auto-channel capability can be used to manage the wireless channels used by all the Access Points (APs) in a network. This can be a great way to ensure all APs select optimum channels based on usage and interference levels, but it does require some monitoring. Some APs don’t recognize RF interference and …
From a user’s point of view, any issue with connecting to the Internet is an issue with the WiFi. Users turn to each other and complain that the WiFi is down again, and that’s what they expect IT to fix. But anyone working in IT knows that the WiFi is only one part of a …