Troubleshooting wireless connection problem / site survey?
- by johnnyb10
I just started in the IT department of a small company (200 users) and it's clear that one of the main problems that is driving everyone crazy is the spotty nature of the wireless connectivity throughout the office, particularly in certain conference rooms. This is a huge problem because the connection often drops during important presentations to clients.
I was hired to help ease the load on the existing IT admin, who has done a great job, but is overloaded with many other tasks to deal with. So I would like to try to help out with this wireless issue. I am looking for advice on the best way to solve this problem--a realistic troubleshooting methodology that does not require me to spend any money. So far, I've experimented with Ekahau Heat Mapper, which is free and helps create a site survey. But I'm not exactly sure what I'm looking for or if there are other programs/tools/methods I should try as well. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
[Some background: The wireless setup consists of an HP ProCurve Mobility MSM (710?) controller that controls 10 access points throughout the building. There are three virtual wireless networks configured on the controller: one seems to be a default that cannot be changed, one is for internal employees and authenticates via Active Directory, and the third is a guest network for visitors. When I use HeatMapper, these show up as three different SSIDs, with different MAC addresses, all on the same channel. At first I thought maybe this would cause interference, but this seems to be the way the controller works;apparently, it automatically configures the channels to avoid interference from the other APs on the network.]
