Avatar of jdana
jdana
Flag for United States of America asked on

Looking for assessment of wireless access points that are good and bad in a busy wireless environment.

In the period of 18 months performance of our Unifi wireless network has gone from stellar to flat-out miserable. We've debugged and tweaked the network extensively in the last month with some positive results. Our office is in the heart of Downtown Denver. I suspect that the issue is "wireless overcrowding" in the physical zone around the office. My Unifi control panel has picked up a total of  "rogue" 162 access points and 52 Ubiquiti access points in the last 6 months.

My question - What brands of access points are good at handling this wireless overcrowding and which brands are bad at it?
Wireless HardwareWireless NetworkingNetworking

Avatar of undefined
Last Comment
Gerwin Jansen

8/22/2022 - Mon
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Craig Beck

THIS SOLUTION ONLY AVAILABLE TO MEMBERS.
View this solution by signing up for a free trial.
Members can start a 7-Day free trial and enjoy unlimited access to the platform.
See Pricing Options
Start Free Trial
GET A PERSONALIZED SOLUTION
Ask your own question & get feedback from real experts
Find out why thousands trust the EE community with their toughest problems.
Dr. Klahn

craigbeck's comments above are correct.  Both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands are overcrowded and becoming more so as more and more devices add WiFi features.  It's my opinion that in less than 10 years both bands will be unusable in major cities due to overcrowding unless more bands or more (and it will have to be many more) channels are allocated.

Increasing power, in my opinion, is a losing proposition.  You briefly get improved response.  Then everyone else adds power boosters to overcome your increased power.  The situation ends up where it began with no net gain for anyone and a major loss for those users who can't afford to boost power levels.

The only real solutions in view, I think, are (a) wired or (b) optical (fiber or IR wall-bounce) networking, both of which run flat-out all the time without interference.
Gerwin Jansen

If you have that many other access points 'visible' and your office has a lot of windows, you may consider applying EMF shielding window film. Relatively easy to apply (the non-adhesive type), downside is that it will also reduce cell phone reception inside.
This is the best money I have ever spent. I cannot not tell you how many times these folks have saved my bacon. I learn so much from the contributors.
rwheeler23