Reliable WiFi is critical for every company. We all know this. Disregarding the state of the WiFi network would be tantamount to deciding you wanted your business to fail.
No one wants this.
That is why there is an entire industry around helping enterprises maintain reliable, optimized WiFi. A key part of this selection process is choosing the best WiFi testing equipment.
Essential WiFi Testing Tools for IT Professionals
– Site survey and planning tools
– Network analysis and troubleshooting tools
– Performance testing and monitoring tools
Practical WiFi Testing Scenarios
– Network analysis and troubleshooting
Choosing the Right WiFi Testing Equipment
- Assess your needs.
- Establish your budget.
- Review staff expertise.
- Consider time to deployment.
- Determine integration with existing systems.
- Plan for growth.
The Benefits of WiFi and Network Automation
Working with the right tools and solutions leads to an environment that supports employee productivity and customer satisfaction. There are a number of different types of tools, and they can be grouped into the following categories:
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Site survey and planning tools
Site surveys are essential for getting WiFi networks off on the right foot. They ensure that every site gets the best network designed to meet its users’ needs and minimize its unique interference challenges.
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Network analysis and troubleshooting tools
Troubleshooting tools are often the first that come to mind when the topic of WiFi testing is introduced. These tools are critical for keeping networks reliable and optimized.
For the best ROI, enterprises should look for analysis and troubleshooting tools that are proactive and automated.
- Proactive: IT professionals don’t have to wait for users to report issues, but can solve problems before productivity is impacted.
- Automated: IT can focus on other responsibilities, trusting that needed network analysis and insights will be captured and delivered throughout the day.
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Performance testing and monitoring tools
Regular performance testing is necessary to ensure networks remain optimized. While there are tools that support manual testing, we recommend scheduled, automated testing.
With automation, tests can be scheduled to run as often as needed – anywhere from every 10 minutes to once a day. This consistent oversight reduces the chance of a network problem going undetected, and frees up IT for other tasks.
Maintaining secure networks is as important as maintaining reliable connectivity. Any security vulnerabilities or threats must be identified in real-time so that resolutions can be implemented immediately.
Within these categories, these are some of the specific tests that we recommend running on a consistent basis.
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Network analysis and troubleshooting
- Testing WiFi signal strength
This involves testing signal-to-noise ratio and identifying any interference. Understanding signal strength accurately is important as it has a significant impact on connectivity and performance.
This requires ongoing testing. Enterprises need to know their current capacity and network performance, how performance has been impacted as capacity has grown, and planned future capacity changes.
Make sure the network design supports seamless handoff between access points (APs) so that users never experience dropped signals or interrupted performance.
Every network has interference challenges. These can be both from elements within and outside of the network. Identifying and monitoring any sources of interference is necessary in order to create a network that isn’t affected by these factors.
So many issues are blamed on WiFi speed, and the truth is that speed isn’t always the culprit. This makes testing it regularly very important. If it isn’t up to par, IT needs to know. If it is, IT also needs to know so the true root cause of a problem can be identified.
When testing speed, it’s important to look at both upload and download speeds. Each one will be impacted by latency, throughput, and jitter.
WiFi networks should have low latency because latency is the average time it takes data to travel between the sender and the receiver. Latency testing is also known as a ping test.
While latency measures average time for data transmission, jitter is a measurement of the variability in data transmission. For example, latency might be low, but jitter can cause periodic issues with transmission. This is especially noticeable during video streaming.
WiFi throughput is the measurement of how much data can move through a network in a given time period. Companies want high throughput.
Client device testing helps identify performance issues on a device-specific level. This helps IT know exactly what end users are experiencing and why. This gives teams the insight they need to improve the digital experience.
For this scenario, we recommend telemetry solutions. Telemetry is the automatic collection and transmission of data from remote or otherwise inaccessible sources to systems in other locations for analysis. Since IT can’t follow users around, taking nonstop notes on device performance, telemetry is the answer to in-depth insights.
- Video conferencing testing
Video conferencing is often part of daily operations in many enterprises. It’s important to measure key, end-to-end metrics on a regular basis to ensure WiFi networks are capable of supporting video conferencing tools.
An intrusion detection system will detect issues such as intrusion attempts and possible attacks, unauthorized access, and misconfigurations in a network.
A vulnerability scan can identify problems such as weak network encryption and unauthorized APs connected to the enterprise network.
Now that we’ve discussed what types of tools there are and common WiFi testing scenarios, how do you choose the best tool for your enterprise?
Do you have some security testing tools but not troubleshooting tools? Do you have WiFi testing tools for every scenario but they aren’t working as desired? Do you want to find an all-in-one solution?
Consider both the acquisition cost, the cost of any required training, and any maintenance costs.
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Review staff expertise.
Does your IT team already have the knowledge and skills required to use any given tool? Will there be training required? If so, how much and for how many professionals?
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Consider time to deployment.
How long does it take from the time of adoption to the time of deployment? If a solution bills itself as “plug and play,” can you actually expect results/analytics in minutes?
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Determine integration with existing systems.
Look for tools that can integrate easily with existing IT systems. Tools and solutions should be vendor agnostic so that they will continue supporting business continuity no matter what IT changes are made in the future.
Select tools and solutions that will scale with your company. Otherwise, any ROI will be short-lived.
Network automation is a process by which software automatically detects, notifies IT of, and mitigates wired and WiFi network problems. It is a superset of WiFi automation, which primarily focuses on improving the WiFi network.
When it comes to WiFi testing, both solutions deliver significant advantages. Depending on the device, these AI-powered technologies provide:
- Real-time monitoring and analysis of networks
- Automatic delivery of digital experience metrics
- Proactive notification of network issues in real-time
- Root cause identification
- Scheduled network testing
- Remote, automated troubleshooting
- Scalability for enterprises of any size
They are all-in-one solutions, delivering the testing expertise needed so that enterprises can promise and deliver reliable, optimal work environments. They remove the mysteries from networks and give back needed time to IT professionals.
If you’re interested in a network automation solution that will save you money thanks to:
- 90% faster Mean-Time-to-Resolution
- 70% fewer network issues
- 80% fewer remote site visits
ask us today about a demo or free trial of the Wireless Intelligence Platform™ (WIP).
You may also be interested in learning about WIP’s integrations with Cisco and Intel:
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