We have several general recommendations for mounting Meraki APs. However, keep in mind that your deployment is unique and you should always approach it as such by getting a professional site survey performed to help determine the required number and location of APs for your unique deployment. Aspects such as expected client density, expected traffic types, and analytics requirements should all be considered and discussed prior to your deployment to ensure the hardware and configurations chosen will meet the needs of your deployment.

To ensure the greatest level of flexibility across deployments, the following different types of external antenna are available, depending on the selected model of AP, each with its own characteristics and intended use cases:

• Omni-directional antenna: Best for deployments that require 360-degree coverage around the AP or wireless mesh networks

• Sector antenna: Provides a targeted coverage area; best for building mounted APs, mesh bridges, or other deployments where targeted coverage is ideal

• Patch antenna: Provides a large, semi-targeted coverage area; ideal for large spaces like fields or warehouses

• Stadium patch antenna: Designed for high-density deployments with large numbers of APs and clients such as event centers or stadiums

When mounting in an indoor space such as a classroom, the maximum height of the AP should be no more than 15 to 18 feet for APs using integrated/internal antennas, to allow for proper signal propagation across the space.

When mounting outdoor APs, or indoor APs in a space with a high ceiling such as a lecture hall or auditorium, we recommend using models of APs that support the addition of external antennas to better serve the space. Your Meraki sales representative can help you determine the best model(s) of AP to use based on your specific deployment and requirements.

Pro Tip

When using external antennas with indoor APs, the APs will auto-detect the connected antenna type. However, outdoor models of AP using external antennas need to have the antenna type configured from the drop-down menu on the AP details page, as shown in Figure 8-4.

Figure 8-4 Antenna Selection Drop-Down Menu for an Access Point in the Dashboard

AP Adjacency and Overlap

In the early days of Wi-Fi, it was common to design for maximum coverage and minimum density, where the least possible number of access points were deployed to ensure that a client could see and connect to the wireless network. Since most client devices were still connected to Ethernet, Wi-Fi was not as mission critical as it is today. As Wi-Fi technology evolved and mobile devices became much more prevalent, a greater importance was placed on Wi-Fi. More networks are moving to a wireless-first or even a wireless-only model, where most if not all clients are wireless and only access points, printers, phones, and other non-user devices are connected to switches. Modern wireless networks need to be designed to handle the density and performance requirements of modern users.

AP adjacency and overlap is best determined with a site survey. Identifying some key requirements beforehand can help establish the measurements that need to be considered during the survey. Client capabilities, for example, play a large part in design. A common design is to tune the transmit (TX) power of the access points to the least capable client device. If the TX power is set too high, client devices may experience issues with connectivity, roaming, and performance. Reducing the TX power means the access points need to be closer to each other to maintain good adjacency. This is important for seamless roaming, where client devices that need to move through the space maintain a consistent, good experience as they move about.

Noise and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) are important factors, as well. Use a spectrum analyzer to determine the noise floor, which is the amount of “noise,” or background interference, that can be heard by wireless devices. Once you determine the noise floor, you can determine AP adjacency by analyzing the APs after they’ve been placed on the map in the survey tool. For example, if neighboring APs receive signal from each other at –65 dBm and the noise floor is –95 dBm, then the effective SNR is 30 dB, which is really good for applications like voice and video, as well as roaming, as clients will have a higher SNR.

SNR has a direct impact on a client device’s performance. A higher SNR value means that the client has a better signal, which translates to higher data rates and better throughput. Conversely, a lower SNR means that the client has moved away from the access point and has lower data rates and less throughput. By ensuring good AP adjacency, as the client moves away from the AP, it gets closer to the neighboring AP and can easily roam to it.

Pro Tip

Meraki APs list all nearby neighboring APs from the same Dashboard network that they can see, as well as the incoming signal strength of those APs.