Wireless Tips
The following are some general wireless tips to help minimize the impact of interference within an environment.
Assign your network a unique SSID
Do not use anything that would be identifying like “Smith Family Network”. Choose something that you would easily identify when searching for available wireless networks.
Do not turn off the SSID broadcast
The SSID broadcast is intended to be on and turning it off can cause connectivity issues. The preferred method of securing a wireless network is to choose a strong form of encryption with a strong and varied encryption key.
Note: after setting up the SSID, encryption type and encryption key/passphrase, please make a note of them for future reference. You will need this information to connect your wireless computers to the wireless router/access point.
Change the channel
Most wireless access points and routers are defaulted to channel 6. If you have a site survey tool that will display the channels you can plan your channel selection around neighboring access points to minimize interference from them. If your site survey tool does not display the channel try using channels 1 or 11.
If using 802.11n you should be securing the network with WPA2 security.
Note: Due to
Please also make sure that the wireless hardware is not placed in any type of shelving or enclosures.
Avoid stacking hardware on top of each other to prevent overheating issues. Maintain enough free space around the hardware for good ventilation and airflow. There should also be plenty of free space around the antennas to allow the wireless signal to propagate.
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