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Wireless Networks Causing Headaches For Businesses
ElvaWSJ writes "Wi-Fi was supposed to reduce complications, not create new ones. But in many offices Wi-Fi has been a headache. Like all radio signals, Wi-Fi is subject to interference. Its low power — less than even a typical cellphone — means that walls and cabinets can significantly reduce signal strength. Wi-Fi also creates networks that are more open than wired ones, raising security issues. And Wi-Fi has caused problems for virtual private networks. Some VPNs require a lot of processing power. If a wireless access point — at home, at the office, or on the road — isn't robust enough, a user often gets bumped off the connection."
Oddly enough, with D-Link cards I've noticed that the third party connection software (D-Link Connection Manager) often works better than the Windows wireless network manager.
We all know what to do, but we don't know how to get re-elected once we have done it
"Things got so bad that Mr. Friemann sometimes had employees piggyback on a neighboring business's wireless connection that was more stable -- without the other business's consent or knowledge."
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Ok so your neighbor could set up a network which worked fine even for you whom, presumably, are further away from his source than you are from your own. Despite this its somehow the technologies fault? WiFi is fine, established, and mature this admins understanding of it is not.
and then there is this
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"Some wireless networking companies are taking steps to try to deal with customers' problems. One major issue is the stability of the wireless signal. Ruckus Wireless Inc., a wireless networking company based in Sunnyvale, Calif., tries to address that problem by providing wireless access points that have multiple antennas. That allows a Wi-Fi signal to have more than one pathway to an access point -- which can come in handy if something is in the way."
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Its called a cable folks, there are plenty of ways to rig antennas and get them in existing wap points. Thats not to say there is no value in what Ruckus is doing just that its not like we cant do that.
That's not the actual worst thing. I can handle all the "access from anywhere", that was what it's designed to do. The worst thing is when the access point sometimes decides to reset (I have a Linksys AP) and it reverts back to it's original, OPEN SETTINGS. I go to work one day and I notice that the AP changed its ssid back to "linksys", giving free access to everyone within the radius for the past week.
Seriously, wtf.
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The gods know how many office conference rooms I have walked into where there are two power/data/phone outlets on the far ends of the room behind heavy credenzas, instead of in the middle of the room accessible from the table top.
:-)
Conference rooms are often populated by guests. I would not be surprised if your local security policy states that guests are not permitted to connect to the company network: having no easily-accessible jacks can be a decent physical security measure. Of course, this requires that guests not be left unattended, etc.
The placement of the credenza is either a calculated security move or a blunder of forehead-slapping magnitude, depending on your outlook.
I want to drag this out as long as possible. Bring me my protractor.
A while back, I thought this was general knowledge. What I found is that people get caught up in all the hype and think only of the positives. If you try to persuade them otherwise, you're ostracized.
A few years ago, I was tasked with setting up the network in a new building. There was already wiring in the building. Unfortunately, it was all CAT-3 (even the data lines). I was the only person on staff in the IT department so I asked if we could hire an outside consultant to help with the task of running new network lines that would be adequate for our company needs. My request was rejected and I was instructed to install WiFi for the entire company to run on (about 50 people, including sub-tenants, which shared the LAN for Internet access). I advised my company of the pitfalls involved with running a WiFi-only LAN; however, I was told I needed to "come into the 21st century". Not feeling as though it was reason enough to quit on the spot, I did as I was told and installed the wireless network. With the exception of my workstation and all of the servers, everybody connected to the LAN through a wireless access point. Within the first few hours of operation, I had already gotten a number of complaints about systems loosing connectivity to the servers. This became the norm as my days soon involved at least one reset of the access point at some point in the day. This lasted about a year and a half before my direct manager was walking over to my desk to ask me if I could reset the access point. To her surprise, I was sitting there working and still connected to the LAN. She asked me how that was possible and I explained to her that I was on a wired connection. The next thing I knew, I was installing CAT-5e throughout the entire building. In the end, it cost a lot of money in lost productivity, as well as the wireless hardware that barely gets used. Reasons like this are why I abandoned the system administrator world a few years ago in favor of becoming a software engineer. I have never looked back.
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