Hello everyone! I just happened to get two Aruba AP-515 access points for my home network. Before mounting them on the ceiling, I decided to test the coverage. I simply placed them face-up on the floor in each room and started testing the speed.
The results were disappointing. The old ISP router in the same rooms provided a more stable link, while the Aruba’s speed fluctuated constantly. Is it because they’re located on the floor? Or do enterprise-grade routers require some kind of complex magic trick to maximize the power of the out-of-the-box transmitters? I don’t want to drill holes in the walls and ceiling if they perform worse than consumer-grade routers.
Dude, you put the ceiling domes face-up on the floor and you’re surprised? The AP-515 antennas have a hemispherical beam that points downward and to the sides. You’re literally flooding the basement or the neighbors below with signal, but at ear level you’re getting a mess of reflections. At least elevate them onto a cabinet or temporarily stick them to the wall. And turn off automatic channel selection; at home, corporate software without calibration often goes crazy and chokes the signal.
@No_Chart Oh, that’s tough, thanks. I’ll try taping them to the stepladders; renovations are underway. But how do I know exactly where to move them? The house is two stories high, the floors are wooden, but the walls are thick. I’m afraid I’ll miss the installation point and end up with blind spots on the second floor.
Step ladders are a thing, we call it AP-on-a-stick. But don’t waste your time running around with a Speedtest, it’ll just kill you. Do a proper radio reconnaissance (survey).Take any laptop and make a heat map. Use NetSpot ; the Home version is more than enough for you. Upload your house plan, place one Aruba on a stepladder, and walk around the rooms with your laptop, clicking on the map to see where you stand.It will automatically draw how the signal penetrates your walls and where the RSSI drops below -67 dBm. Move the stepladder to another location and take a second cast of the coverage. In a couple of hours, you’ll understand the coverage grid down to the millimeter and avoid drilling unnecessary holes.
@AdLittle2259 Got it, thanks! I’ll try this Netspot, I’m really tired of jumping around with my phone. If my wife doesn’t kick me out of the house with these stepladders, I’ll take measurements this weekend.
Listen, author, are you even sure you need two enterprise-class access points in this house? They’re incredibly powerful. There’s a huge chance they’ll just interfere with each other and choke the network.
After you’ve completed your survey, be sure to check the heatmap. Just don’t just look at the standard signal level (Signal Level), but switch the display to Co-Channel Interference or SIR (Signal-to-Interference Ratio).
@GardenGuardian44 Oh, I didn’t even think about that. I thought the more points and the stronger the signal, the better the internet, but it turns out they can fight each other.