Best Of

@TestingTester
If I can get location data in the US/Canada where streetview/google earth is prevalent I will cruise around on the local streets and see what's around there.

Some of the notable ones I've seen:

-A firebox and several network switches were installed a room or two over from a CT scanner. The spinning magnet (or other ancillary equipment) was enough to induce voltage and slowly kill the network gear over the course of a few months. The medical center had to re-cable everything on the other side of the room and shield the wall more thoroughly.

-A customer who had Wi-Fi that went down around 10am daily but only on weekdays. The building was across the street from a police station and the daily speed radar checks on the squad cars (despite being a different frequency) were enough to knock the APs offline since it was pointed about directly at them.

-A small office that had their wireless firebox sitting directly on top of a microwave oven. Wi-Fi didn't work during lunch hours.

-An AP inside a commercial kitchen between two very large range hoods "so the customers would not have to see the AP." (APs can easily be hidden above drop ceilings if needed, but it's usually best to have them below the steel grid to minimize interference..)

-Whenever an airport terminal is involved, the fact that wireless works at all with all the RF flying around is amazing.

Since Wi-Fi works on what is technically unlicensed medical bands, it has to pause if any interference is detected. That's one of the many things that could be happening when Wi-Fi drops are occurring.

Wi-Fi 6's ODFMA adds an extra layer of complexity because you're using a subcarrier to differentiate traffic on the same frequency. It's better because it allows you to pick out your signal from the noise, but it also potentially means more noise. Very few devices even support Wi-Fi 6 at the moment, so you're still dealing with 802.11 a, b, g, n, ac, ac wave 2, and all of the random draft standards that vendors pushed product out on.

Regardless, the complexity is why we generally suggest that customers do wireless site surveys prior to, and after deploying APs. There's tons of free tools to do it (I believe Enahau* still offers a free version of their survey software,) and metageek's inSSIDer* is really good for visualizing interference.

*As a WatchGuard representative I don't officially endorse any of that software, use whatever works best for you.

Thanks XXUP for adding information and you're correct, few of my customers need that type of management. That's why I still don't understand why WG decided to leave customers like me out. I guess there weren't enough of us.