Site Survey in a hotel

[onou_onou]

I will put a Ruckus solution, in a big hotel. They have a problem in their Wireless solution already implemented. Wireless network is not available in a big number of rooms. First I have to do a good site suvey, as you know, a hotel have big Walls etc .. I want a device on how to do the survey, which tool ? and should I have the hotel map ??
An other question please, is there a certain Access point dedicated for hotels ??
Many thanks !!

Sorry for my english ..

[bill_burns_6069]

Simon: Do you have issues in a "3D" (multi-floor) environment?
How do those surveys look?

Or... Do you assume that the APs you're using won't provide useful signal above/below the ceiling and floors, and do multiple "2D" surveys?

[bih_der_goh_606]

I believe you put the AP 7055 inside hotel room right ? Just wanted to check with you, is outside of the room able to cover ? i mean just in front of the room - corridors. I assume u put the AP in the middle of the room.

[bill_burns_6069]

I don't know what it's like but here's a:
Ruckus "Basic Wi-Fi Site Survey" course.
https://training.ruckuswireless.com/e...

I believe that course is free.
Other training is available at that site.
I don't know what the terms are.

[eizens_putnins]

If you are doing a big project you need commercial Site Survey tool. 2 best are Ekahau and Airmagnet, there are a couple of similar from smaller manufacturers (only a bit cheaper, and not so good). Both Ekahau and Airmagnet will do a job well. With Pro versions you can make both planning / modeling and survey. You need compatible laptop with 2-5 WLAN adapters and software, must cost about 3-5 kEur. You also want to get support (upgrades for survey tools are nice to have).
Both Airmagnet and Ekahau allow make 3D modeling and analyses of coverage. Site survey provides data on all received signals (including APs on different floors.
7055 and 7025 are EOS now, there is a new model which has much better features (Beamflex antenna, AC support).
Still, for most hotels with not so heavy walls standard APs are more economical (number of AP is 2-3 times less, so total price is much lower).  Hotels with metal walls or really heavy walls are obvious exception -- there is no alternative there, but they are not so common..

[eizens_putnins]

By the way, if you need to make just your first survey, you can download Ekahay Site Survey evaluation, and it will work for 15 days same way as licensed version. You just need laptop with supported Wi-Fi adapter, and there is just one (but important) limitation.
 You even can create and save report for survey with trial version. What you can't do without license -- is to save survey data. So you want to make report after surveying every part of the building, and save it. It isn't as good as having full survey data, but it is quit a lot to get for free.
And, yes, you need building plan for survey. It is enough to use photo of evacuation plan, which is presented in every public building, and you need to calibrate it with length and width. Building size you can measure using Google Earth, or just measure before survey. In the worst case very rough plan made in Paint will do as far as size is correct and you made survey properly.