The challenge of building a high-density Wi-Fi network

Joanie Wexler over at Network World recently mused the challenges inherent to setting up a Wi-Fi access point for a high-density network. While cramming more radios to increase the aggregate bandwidth sounds like a logical solution, the fact is that the 2.4GHz environment is a widely used frequency with only three non-overlapping channels available for use. As such, interference is a major concern in any high-density Wi-Fi deployment.

Devin Akin, who is the CTO at Wi-Fi training and certification company CWNP, highlighted the importance of tuning the AP power levels so they're "just right." Akin noted that just because wireless clients cannot successfully receive or transmit data via a certain AP does not mean that it could not sense the RF--the result is that they refrain from transmitting.

I teach on certain days of the week at a modern campus with over 10,000 students. Every student has a laptop equipped with Internet access via the campus-wide Wi-Fi network,which consists of APs from a single vendor. As it is, I am aware that the campus grappled with initial problems of rolling out such a high-density deployment.

The takeaway here: Rolling out a high-density Wi-Fi network is much more complex than an Ethernet-only deployment.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at Network World

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