Does your business struggle with poor Wi-Fi? Are your employees or colleagues always complaining about slow internet? Weak, unreliable Wi-Fi isn’t conducive to a productive and operational working environment. 

No one wants to be fielding Wi-Fi woes if you’re a busy London IT Director or Manager.

You might think that just adding an extra Access Point in might work. And maybe it does for a little while – But realistically, the underlying Wi-Fi issue remains and will resurface. 

Here at Geekabit, we see this problem a lot, especially in our London clients where office layouts, building materials and occupancy have changed significantly. 

But what it’s important to realise is that actually, it’s not always a hardware problem. Hence why another AP doesn’t fix the problem! Wi-Fi problems frequently come down to design problems. And that’s where a Wi-Fi Site Survey comes in. 

Signs You May Need a Wi-Fi Site Survey

There are a fair few telltale signs that there could be design problems with your business Wi-Fi network. These might include:

• Teams and Zoom calls breaking up
• Complaints concentrated in specific areas
• Users disconnecting when moving around the office
• Slow performance despite strong signal bars
• New access points added with little improvement
• Wi-Fi working at quiet times but struggles when the office is busy

These issues might have slowly grown with the business – Perhaps from a steady increase in employees and growing number of devices connected at one time. 

You may have also recently had an office refurbishment or reconfiguration, which could have shown up previously undetected dead spots or caused interference. 

A Wi-Fi Survey can help figure out where the problems are and what you can do to fix them. 

Why Throwing More Wi-Fi Equipment at the Problem Often Fails

As we mentioned above, many businesses think that deploying more hardware will fix any Wi-Fi issues. Sometimes these mask the underlying problem for a while, but unfortunately the issues will always come back. 

Some reasons why introducing more Wi-Fi hardware to a struggling network doesn’t always work:

• Too many access points can create interference
• Signal strength is only one part of the picture
• Channel planning is often overlooked
• Roaming settings may be incorrect

Modern Wi-Fi requires proper design, not guesswork. A Wi-Fi expert, like our engineers at Geekabit, can carry out a full Wi-Fi Site Survey so that networks are designed to suit the office.  

Unfortunately, we’ve seen organisations invest thousands of pounds in new Wi-Fi hardware, only to discover the issue was poor RF design rather than ageing equipment.

So before investing in new Wi-Fi hardware, consider carrying out a Wi-Fi Site Survey first, to check there are no underlying network design problems. 

What does a Professional Wi-Fi Survey show?

Wi-Fi Site Surveys are a key tool in analysing the performance of your network, helping to diagnose your Wi-Fi problems and measure our success fixing your Wi-Fi issues.

A Wi-Fi Site Survey from Geekabit will show:

• Gaps in coverage
• Co-channel interference
• Roaming issues
• Capacity bottlenecks
• Impact of building materials
• Channel utilisation
• Problems with Access Point placement 
• Future expansion requirements

A Wi-Fi site survey is the most effective way to design, troubleshoot, or optimise a wireless network for homes, offices, warehouses, schools, and commercial environments.

Our expert Wi-Fi engineers work out of London, Hampshire and Cardiff. An on-site survey always provides the most accurate results, however for circumstances where this is not possible, we also offer predictive Wi-Fi site surveys using industry-standard modelling software.

You can find out more here. 

Why London Offices Present Unique Challenges

Many of our clients are London-based. Offices in the capital often have specific challenges to overcome when it comes to managing their wireless network. 

London offices tend to consist of many potential network disruptors, including:

• Multi-floor buildings
• Dense neighbouring Wi-Fi networks
• Glass partitions
• Concrete cores
• Users who hot-desk (and flexible working)
• High user density in relatively small spaces

Whilst these do present challenges in London based offices, it is possible to overcome these Wi-Fi problems for your city-centre business network. 

When to Bring in a Wi-Fi Specialist

When there’s something strange, and the network’s not good – Who you gonna call?

It’s never too late to bring in an expert Wi-Fi engineer if your business network is struggling. But there are times you can proactively avoid network disruption by bringing in a Wi-Fi professional. If you’re a Facilities Manager or Office Manager, then your team will thank you for calling in the experts:

• Before an office move
• Before a refurbishment

By consulting a Wi-Fi expert before an office move or refurbishment, you can get ahead and plan using a Wi-Fi Site Survey to lead your hardware placement to meet the needs of the business. This helps to avoid the potential problems that stem from user crowding, dead spots and interference. 

Other times it might be time to call the cavalry and get the Wi-Fi experts in is when users are complaining about the Wi-Fi without there being an obvious cause. 

You might have tried to fix the problem yourself, but are facing failed attempts. There’s no shame in calling in a Wi-Fi professional – It’s literally our job to find the problem with your business Wi-Fi and fix it. Sometimes internal teams need a bit of independent expertise. 

Who you gonna call? You can call Geekabit and speak to one of our friendly Wi-Fi engineers.

Time to Ask for Wi-Fi Help?

If your business has already invested time and money into resolving Wi-Fi issues without success, an independent Wi-Fi Site Survey can quickly identify the real cause. 

When the obvious fixes haven’t worked, call in the experts. If you’re Head of IT or Infrastructure then you’ll know how vital it is to get this right.

Geekabit works with businesses across Central London, Canary Wharf and the City, providing specialist Wi-Fi expertise, expert wireless analysis and practical recommendations that IT teams can trust.