Almost every office has one: the conference room where video calls freeze, the back office where laptops drop off the network, the corner desk where nobody wants to sit. The usual reaction is to buy a Wi-Fi extender or a mesh kit and plug it in somewhere in between. Sometimes that helps a little. On a busy business floor, it rarely fixes the problem. In most offices, a Wi-Fi dead zone is really a cabling problem: there is no wired access point close enough to the people who need it.
How office Wi-Fi is supposed to work
In a business network, Wi-Fi comes from access points, usually mounted on the ceiling. Each access point has its own network cable running back to a switch in the network closet. That cable carries the data, and usually the power too, through Power over Ethernet. The access point's only wireless job is talking to the laptops and phones near it. Everything else travels over the cable.
When you need better coverage in an area, you add an access point there and run a cable to it. That is the design most business Wi-Fi systems are built around.
Why extenders and wireless mesh fall short
An extender or a wireless mesh unit does not have a cable back to the network. It has to receive data from the main access point over the air and then send it again to your devices. That second trip has a real cost.
- Each wireless hop can cut the speed sharply. A Wi-Fi radio cannot send and receive on the same channel at the same time, so passing data along wirelessly uses airtime twice. Cisco Meraki's documentation for its own mesh networks says meshing can reduce throughput by approximately 50% for each repeater a connection passes through, and advises keeping hops to a minimum.
- The extender is only as good as its own signal. To be useful, an extender has to sit where the main signal is still strong. Put it in the dead zone and it is repeating a weak signal. Put it where the signal is good and it may not reach the dead zone.
- More devices share the same air. On a busy floor with many laptops and phones, extra wireless traffic between units crowds the airtime everyone shares.
- Consumer gear is built for homes. Many extenders and mesh kits are designed for a few people in a house, not dozens of employees, a guest network and separate networks for cameras or payment devices.
The giveaway: if the Wi-Fi signal looks strong but everything is slow, or the problem gets worse when the office is full, the issue is often too few access points, or access points connected wirelessly instead of by cable.
What wired access points fix
With a cable to each access point, every access point has a full-speed connection back to the network, no matter where it sits. That changes what is possible:
- Placement follows the people. Access points can go where the users are, such as conference rooms, open work areas and break rooms, instead of where the signal happens to reach.
- Lower power, less interference. Several access points at moderate power usually work better than one or two at high power, because each one covers a smaller area with fewer devices competing.
- One cable carries power too. With Power over Ethernet, the access point does not need an outlet on the ceiling.
- Room to grow. If you upgrade access points later, a good cable already in place means the swap is quick.
Common reasons the cable is not there
- The office was wired for desks, not Wi-Fi. Older buildings often have plenty of wall jacks and no cables to the ceiling.
- The layout changed. Walls went up, a storage room became offices, or a team moved into a space that was never planned for them.
- One access point was expected to cover everything. A single access point in a closet or at one end of the office rarely reaches every corner through walls, glass and metal shelving.
- The access point is in the closet. Network closets are often in the worst place for Wi-Fi, surrounded by walls and far from people.
What adding access point drops involves
- Find where coverage is weak and why. A walk-through, ideally with a Wi-Fi survey tool, shows where the signal is poor and where people actually need it.
- Choose locations. Access points usually go on the ceiling, near the center of the area they serve and clear of large metal objects.
- Run the cable. Each access point gets its own cable back to a switch. The whole connection, including patch cords, needs to stay within 100 meters, which is rarely a problem in a typical office but matters in large spaces and warehouses.
- Choose the cable category. Cat6 serves many current access points well. Cat6A gives more headroom for faster access points in the future, and access point runs are often where it pays off.
- Check the switch. The switch needs a free port and enough Power over Ethernet capacity for the new access points.
- Test and label. Each new run should be tested and labeled at both ends.
When wireless mesh is reasonable
Wireless links between units can make sense where running a cable is truly impractical, such as a detached building across a parking lot or a historic space where ceilings cannot be opened. Even then, the best result usually comes from keeping wireless hops to one and wiring everything that can be wired. Many mesh and business access point systems also support wired connections between units, which gives you the convenience of the system without the wireless speed penalty.
If your office has a spot where the Wi-Fi never works right, there is a good chance a cable in the right place will fix it. You can read more about the access point drops and office cabling we install on our computer network cabling page.