Wireless Networks Causing Headaches For Businesses 187
ElvaWSJ writes "Wi-Fi was supposed to reduce complications, not create new ones. But in many offices Wi-Fi has been a headache. Like all radio signals, Wi-Fi is subject to interference. Its low power — less than even a typical cellphone — means that walls and cabinets can significantly reduce signal strength. Wi-Fi also creates networks that are more open than wired ones, raising security issues. And Wi-Fi has caused problems for virtual private networks. Some VPNs require a lot of processing power. If a wireless access point — at home, at the office, or on the road — isn't robust enough, a user often gets bumped off the connection."
Re:drivers (Score:4, Interesting)
Oddly enough, with D-Link cards I've noticed that the third party connection software (D-Link Connection Manager) often works better than the Windows wireless network manager.
Re:This caught my eye, lets try formatting ;) (Score:4, Interesting)
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Ok so your neighbor could set up a network which worked fine even for you whom, presumably, are further away from his source than you are from your own. Despite this its somehow the technologies fault? WiFi is fine, established, and mature this admins understanding of it is not.
and then there is this
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"Some wireless networking companies are taking steps to try to deal with customers' problems. One major issue is the stability of the wireless signal. Ruckus Wireless Inc., a wireless networking company based in Sunnyvale, Calif., tries to address that problem by providing wireless access points that have multiple antennas. That allows a Wi-Fi signal to have more than one pathway to an access point -- which can come in handy if something is in the way."
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Its called a cable folks, there are plenty of ways to rig antennas and get them in existing wap points. Thats not to say there is no value in what Ruckus is doing just that its not like we cant do that.
Some buildings just aren't "Wi-Fi compatible" (Score:3, Interesting)
I have issues at home with this. The roof of my house is made of aluminum (not that cheap corrugated stuff like on a barn, but interlocking strips). This wreaks absolute HAVOC on WiFi signals inside my house.
If I put an access point at one end of the house, I can't pick it up AT ALL from the other end. I'm not talking microscopic SNR, I'm talking ZERO SNR. It's like I don't even have an access point. I'm lucky to get a quarter of the rated bandwidth if I'm only one room away.
For a while I had a ridiculous setup consisting of an access point and two repeaters just to get the signal to the other end of the house. TWO REPEATERS. That's THREE HOPS to travel about 100 feet. And of course, the concommitant loss in data rate due to the repeater action. After a few weeks of that (and even that setup was flaky at best) I said "Fuck it" and dragged a CAT-5e cable across the house. The wife hates it but at least I can use the Internet.
I have no idea how exactly the metal roof is destroying the signal, whether it is causing severe multipath or simply absorbing it completely, but it does it quite effectively.
No, not duh (Score:4, Interesting)
Seriously, wtf.
Conference rooms (Score:4, Interesting)
Conference rooms are often populated by guests. I would not be surprised if your local security policy states that guests are not permitted to connect to the company network: having no easily-accessible jacks can be a decent physical security measure. Of course, this requires that guests not be left unattended, etc.
The placement of the credenza is either a calculated security move or a blunder of forehead-slapping magnitude, depending on your outlook.
Re:Well Then... (Score:3, Interesting)
The response was to remove all switches/hubs from conference rooms. When it was suggested that we just put up signs that say "Don't do that" that idea was shot down because then people would *know* how to bring the network down and could do it maliciously.
The whole thing made no sense to me, that a network could be *that* fragile, but the network team was reluctant to explain details, and the end result was never enough network ports in conference rooms.
Am I the only one (Score:2, Interesting)
This actually begs of a greater question within IT - that of the influx of semi-trained, unskilled workers. Ours is the only profession without a professional organization. We have no entrance exam, no licensing structure, no board review.
And DON'T tell me that Sylvan/Prometric certification in any sense means squat. I have no respect for a testing method wherein the correct answer is presented simply for the applicant to pick from. and YES I have them, many of them (MS, Novell, Solaris, Cisco) thus my disdain.
I think we as a profession need to adopt some form of 'guild' structure. 2-yrs as an apprentice followed by a board review WHERE YOU ACTUALLY PERFORM WORK(Think the CCIE practical exam where you configure otherwise blank routers) [Yeah I have that too]. 5-yrs as a journeyman where you expand and deepen your skill followed by another board review to obtain a Mastery level in a particular discipline.
The tradesmen have had this structure for hundreds of years. Lawyers, Doctors and Accountants all have an entrance exam.
Why do we in IT think we're different.
Just my $0.02
Dennis Dumont
Re:Well Then... (Score:3, Interesting)
Result - every permanent terminal (ie in the ICT rooms, PCs which drive the virtual whiteboards etc) is hardwired, and each classroom has its own AP to allow for portable devices. Some rooms like the art classrooms - which are frequently subject to 30(ish) tablet PCs in use at once, will have two. The whole thing is held together by a swine of a network architecture, which involves routers all over the place. It's going to be great fun
The original smartass now isn't let near the plans.
Some experiences.... (Score:2, Interesting)
First generation was "Thick" access points individually managed.
Second generation was the first generation of "Thin" access points.
Third generation is "Thin" access points using CAP-WAP tunneling to a central management platform.
For the First & Second generations we had consultants in to do surveys and radio measurements, we spent days roaming the site with radio gear and plans working out the best locations for the AP.
That turned out the be as much use as a chocolate teapot.
With the third generation (which is a forklift upgrade for the 1st & 2nd generation) we've gone with the scientific approach of "suck it and see". We ordered about 10% more access points than we had existing and when we've finished the install we'll go back round with our survey gear and fill in the dead spots.
Things I've learned from trying to get this right:-
- Architects hate you
- They want the APs to be hidden, this is bad m'kay. Our second generation install we let the architects dictate where the APs could go. We've landed up with them 30' above the floor above a false ceiling. To maintain these we now have to close the building and get a cherry picker (which we're not allowed to use - it has to be a member of the facilities team)
- Outdoor coverage is a bitch.
- Lightning arresters, which are mandatory, cause significant loss as does "low loss" cable. Omni direction antennae are prety useless as generally you've got to mount them near a wall which nukes your signal. Directional ones are much better, but require more access points to get the same coverage.
- Things you wouldn't expect to impact the signal can bite you in the arse.
- UV filter glass (40db loss!), magnetic whiteboards, glass wall partitions. Out door it's even worse - forget it if you've got trees out there, oh and fog - fog kills the signal pretty dead.
- Never try to survey a building that's not there.
- This may seem obvious, but a lot of our installation had to be done from plans, so we had to estimate signal propagation - this doesn't work. Especially when the users of the building decided that what they really want is a nice metal mesh put into the walls, that really helps the signal.
On the plus side - the 3rd generation ap & management station are making our life much easier. We can actually see where clients are now, and the APs know about each other and manage their radio intelligently (and it seems to work!)Re:WiFi and business do not mix. (Score:3, Interesting)
Nearly all of the wireless handheld devices used in warehouses have moved to 802.11. And it made life a whole lot easier when they did, no more proprietary protocols like we had in the 900 band.
If they seem more reliable, it's because they tend to be low data rate devices. At least I've never seen a forklift driver browsing multimedia web sites on their 3"x4" screens. The lower data rate allows them to fall back to slower speeds to overcome a poor signal without annoying the user.
BTW, if connectivity is important in a warehouse? With leaner inventories and management's desire for real-time information, I don't see how a modern warehouse could function without wireless devices.
Re:Um... (Score:4, Interesting)
A few years ago, I was tasked with setting up the network in a new building. There was already wiring in the building. Unfortunately, it was all CAT-3 (even the data lines). I was the only person on staff in the IT department so I asked if we could hire an outside consultant to help with the task of running new network lines that would be adequate for our company needs. My request was rejected and I was instructed to install WiFi for the entire company to run on (about 50 people, including sub-tenants, which shared the LAN for Internet access). I advised my company of the pitfalls involved with running a WiFi-only LAN; however, I was told I needed to "come into the 21st century". Not feeling as though it was reason enough to quit on the spot, I did as I was told and installed the wireless network. With the exception of my workstation and all of the servers, everybody connected to the LAN through a wireless access point. Within the first few hours of operation, I had already gotten a number of complaints about systems loosing connectivity to the servers. This became the norm as my days soon involved at least one reset of the access point at some point in the day. This lasted about a year and a half before my direct manager was walking over to my desk to ask me if I could reset the access point. To her surprise, I was sitting there working and still connected to the LAN. She asked me how that was possible and I explained to her that I was on a wired connection. The next thing I knew, I was installing CAT-5e throughout the entire building. In the end, it cost a lot of money in lost productivity, as well as the wireless hardware that barely gets used. Reasons like this are why I abandoned the system administrator world a few years ago in favor of becoming a software engineer. I have never looked back.
Re:Bullshit (Score:3, Interesting)
I can think of at least two Canadian-based solutions that would resolve the issue of intermittent connection loss without even letting your apps be aware of the issue.