Business Wi-Fi design and installation

We start with the floor plan and a walk-through. Walls, glass, elevator shafts, metal racking and even full shelves of paper change how radio signals travel, so a design that works on paper often fails in a real building.

For new spaces we produce a predictive design from the plans; for existing spaces or difficult environments we measure on site. Either way, the survey answers where access points go, how they are mounted and powered, and where cabling has to run.

• Who and what connects: staff laptops, phones, scanners, printers, cameras, guests.
• Where people work and meet: desks, boardrooms, training rooms, outdoor areas, warehouse aisles.
• Applications that are sensitive to drops: voice and video calls, handheld scanners, point-of-sale.
• Interference from neighbouring networks in multi-tenant buildings.

Coverage means a usable signal everywhere it is needed. Capacity means enough airtime for everyone in that space at once. A boardroom with twenty people on a video call needs more capacity than a hallway, even if both have "full bars".

We design for capacity where people gather, place access points to limit overlap and co-channel interference, choose channel widths that suit dense environments, and use the 5 GHz and 6 GHz bands where client devices support them. Warehouses get access points and antennas suited to high ceilings and racking.

The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security's guest Wi-Fi guidance (ITSAP.80.023) recommends guest networks that are separate from your primary network, using VLANs to create separated networks for staff, devices and guests. It notes guest networks are common targets because they are often poorly secured.

• Guest network uses WPA2 or WPA3 with a password that changes periodically, or a captive portal with terms of use.
• Bandwidth limits on guest traffic so visitors cannot slow down the business.
• Staff personal phones go on the guest network, not the staff network.

The Cyber Centre's guidance on protecting your organization while using Wi-Fi (ITSAP.80.009) describes WPA3 as currently the strongest encryption between wireless access points and devices, and recommends equipment that supports it.

With 802.1X and certificates, a departing employee's access ends when their device is retired, and there is no office Wi-Fi password to leak. A shared password, by contrast, has to be changed every time someone leaves who knew it.

1. 01

   Cabling and power

   Access points are cabled back to switches that supply Power over Ethernet; we coordinate drops with the structured cabling plan.

2. 02

   Mounting

   Ceiling or wall mounting at the surveyed locations, with outdoor-rated or high-ceiling hardware where needed.

3. 03

   Configuration

   SSIDs, VLANs, firewall rules, authentication, and firmware updated before go-live.

4. 04

   Validation

   Walk-test coverage and roaming, and test real applications (a video call across the floor, a scanner in the back aisle).

5. 05

   Handover

   Floor plan with access point locations, configuration backup, and admin credentials stored in your password vault.

After installation, we monitor the wireless system from a central management console: access point health, client counts, interference, failed authentications and firmware status. Problems like a failing access point or a rogue network appearing in your space show up before users call.

We review the network when your space changes: a renovation, new tenants next door, a move to more video calling or a new warehouse layout. Wi-Fi is part of our managed network service from our offices in Vaughan, Toronto and Vancouver.