Wi-Fi Analyzer and Wi-Fi Site Survey - CompTIA A+ 220-1101 – 4.19

Video Description

Let’s have a look at Wi-Fi Analyzers and how to conduct a Wi-Fi Site Survey. Download PowerPoint: https://itfreetraining.com/handouts/ap11/4d20.pptx Wi-Fi Analyzer A Wi-Fi Analyzer scans for Wi-Fi networks. It can be a specialized device or software running on a laptop or a mobile device. For example, you could use a Wi-Fi Analyzer on your mobile device to detect other networks in your area. A Wi-Fi Analyzer scans for Wi-Fi networks and tells you things such as what other Wi-Fi networks are in range, signal strengths and how congested the Wi-Fi network is. Given this information, you will be able to make decisions about what you can do to improve your Wi-Fi network. Wireless Site Survey In order to find out where the problems on your wireless network are, you may want to conduct or pay someone to do a wireless site survey. A wireless site survey identifies signal strengths and coverage. This will help you identify dead spots or areas of network congestion. Wireless site surveys are often done to create a baseline. This is normally done during typical network usage. Don’t make the mistake of doing these outside hours when no one is using the network. You want the baseline to tell you how the network is performing when loaded and what problems there may be. The wireless site survey is often used to make changes or upgrades. For example, doing a wireless site survey can identify dead spots on the network. By conducting a site survey, you can show your boss where the dead spots are and hopefully get an access point added to that area of the network. Wi-Fi Signal Strength Wi-Fi signal strength is measured in decibel-milliwatts or dBm. This is a unit of measurement expressing the power of a signal relative to a specific reference point of 1 milliwatt. It can be difficult to understand how this value is calculated, so if you are not concerned about how it is measured, know that signal strengths are measured from zero to negative 100 dBm. When working with Wi-Fi signals, the following will guide you on how strong the signal is. Understanding the calculation behind dBm is not crucial if you are comfortable interpreting the information visually through the graph. This way, you can still gain valuable insights about signal strength without delving into the technical details. Understanding how dBm is calculated is not necessary. You don’t need to know it, so don’t worry about spending time trying to understand it, unless you are interested. As a signal travels, encountering obstacles or covering longer distances, the signal is weakened. When measuring signal strength, zero is considered a signal strength of one milliwatt. In the real world, you won’t get a signal strength of zero. Thus, all signal measures have one subtracted from them, and this is why we get negative values. The dBm is calculated using a logarithmic function. Lower negative values mean more signal loss. So, put simply, you measure the signal strength by subtracting one milliwatt from your reading. A logarithmic function is used to make the result more meaningful and easier to understand. You may be wondering if is it possible to get a signal strength greater than zero? This should never happen with standard consumer Wi-Fi equipment. Wireless communication is heavily regulated, including how strong the signal can be. Thus, standard consumer equipment will not go above zero. Signal-to-Noise Ratio While the official study guide mentions Signal-to-Noise Ratio or SNR, I doubt you will be tested on it in the exam. SNR reflects the strength of the signal compared with the level of background noise. Imagine watching TV with annoying background chatter. The louder the chatter, the harder it is to hear the TV. If you want to listen to the TV, you can reduce the chatter or turn up the TV. Similarly, a strong signal can easily overcome minor noise, but a weak signal is easily disrupted by even moderate interference. SNR tells us how noise is affecting your signal. To measure signal-to-noise ratio, you require a hardware Wi-Fi analyzer. Software analyzers do not generally have this feature and if they do, the software will generally estimate it rather than measure it directly. If you don’t want to buy a hardware Wi-Fi analyzer, there are plenty of software ones that are available. Description too long for YouTube. Please see the following link for the rest of the description. https://itfreetraining.com/ap11/4d20 References “The Official CompTIA A+ Core Study Guide (Exam 220-1101)” pages 152 to 153 “Mike Myers All in One A+ Certification Exam Guide 220-1101 & 220-1102” page 1086 “Picture: Wi-Fi Symbol” https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/WIFI_icon.svg Credits Trainer: Austin Mason http://ITFreeTraining.com Voice Talent: HP Lewis http://hplewis.com Quality Assurance: Brett Batson http://www.pbb-proofreading.uk