Common Causes of Dormitory WiFi Complaints
Question
The network team at a university, which has on-campus residences, recently expanded the WiFi offerings to the dormitories.
Each dormitory houses approximately 75 students, who each have multiple wireless devices.
The WLAN utilizes an intelligent wireless controller for configuration and management.
While the WiFi in academic buildings continues to receive few to no complaints, dormitory complaints are on the rise.
Which of the following is MOST likely causing the complaints?
A.
Frequency mismatch B.
Crosstalk C.
Interference D.
Channel overlap.
B.
Explanations
The network team at a university, which has on-campus residences, recently expanded the WiFi offerings to the dormitories.
Each dormitory houses approximately 75 students, who each have multiple wireless devices.
The WLAN utilizes an intelligent wireless controller for configuration and management.
While the WiFi in academic buildings continues to receive few to no complaints, dormitory complaints are on the rise.
Which of the following is MOST likely causing the complaints?
A.
Frequency mismatch
B.
Crosstalk
C.
Interference
D.
Channel overlap.
B.
The most likely cause of the complaints in the dormitories is channel overlap, which occurs when multiple wireless access points (APs) broadcast on the same channel and interfere with each other.
In this scenario, there are likely multiple APs installed in each dormitory to support the large number of wireless devices used by students. However, if all of the APs are set to use the same channel, they will interfere with each other and cause slow or unstable connections for the students.
This issue can be resolved by configuring the APs to use different channels that do not overlap with each other, which will allow them to operate simultaneously without interfering with each other's signals. The intelligent wireless controller used for configuration and management should be able to assist with this task.
Frequency mismatch, crosstalk, and interference are less likely causes of the complaints. Frequency mismatch occurs when wireless devices are configured to use different frequencies and cannot communicate with each other, but this would affect all areas of the campus, not just the dormitories.
Crosstalk occurs when signals from one communication channel bleed into another, which could occur if there were physical cable connections between dormitories, but is unlikely for a wireless network.
Interference can occur if there are other wireless networks or devices using the same frequency bands as the university's WiFi network, but this would also affect all areas of the campus, not just the dormitories.
