A WiFi survey measures how your wireless network actually behaves in your building, room by room, and compares it with what your people and devices need. We walk the site with AirMagnet Survey Pro, map the signal, noise and interference, and give you a clear list of what to fix, move or add.
Most WiFi complaints sound the same: dead spots, dropped video calls, scanners that lose their connection in one aisle, or a network that works at 8 a.m. and falls over by 10. The cause is rarely obvious from a desk. A survey replaces guesswork with measurements, so money goes into the changes that will make a difference.
What we look at
Before we take a single reading, we ask why you need the network and what it has to support. Our survey checklist covers five areas:
- Objectives. How many users, how densely they gather, which applications they run (voice, video, scanners, point of sale, building systems) and how much bandwidth each needs.
- Installation. Existing cabling, ceiling type and height, where access points can be mounted, and the space and power available in IDF and MDF rooms.
- Security. How users authenticate, including RADIUS and Active Directory integration, and the physical security of network equipment.
- Extras. Guest WiFi, RFID and asset tracking, and other services that will share the wireless network.
- Radio environment. Metal structures, racking, concrete and glass, neighbouring networks, sources of interference and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) across the floor.
How it works
- Discovery. We talk with you about why the survey is needed, who uses the space, which devices matter most and what problems people report. We collect floor plans and any existing network drawings.
- Survey planning. We decide which type of survey fits the question: a passive survey to see what every access point is putting out, an active survey to measure real connection performance, or both. We agree on the areas to cover and the design targets to measure against.
- On-site measurements. A surveyor walks the floor with AirMagnet Survey Pro, taking readings along planned routes. We note mounting conditions, ceiling types, cabling and anything in the building that affects radio signals.
- Analysis. We turn the readings into heat maps for signal strength, SNR, channel overlap and other measures, and compare them with your requirements.
- Report and walk-through. We present the findings in plain language, explain the heat maps and agree on next steps with you.
What to have ready before the visit
- Current floor plans, ideally to scale, for every area to be surveyed, plus any existing access point layout or network drawings.
- A short list of the complaints people report, with locations and times of day if you have them.
- The devices that matter most (laptops, phones, handheld scanners, tablets, wireless phones) and, where possible, one or two to test with.
- Access arrangements for secure rooms, ceiling spaces, telecom rooms and any areas with escort or safety requirements.
- A contact who can tell us about the controller, network names (SSIDs) and authentication setup.
A typical survey
Consider a three-storey office where staff on the second floor report that video calls freeze and laptops drop off the network in the afternoon. The first floor works well and the building's access points look evenly spread on the drawings.
In discovery we learn that the second floor was recently reconfigured with a large meeting area, and that most staff now take calls from their desks. The passive survey shows strong signal almost everywhere, so weak coverage is not the cause. It does show several access points on the same channels, visible to each other through an open floor, and a neighbouring tenant's network competing on the same channels. The active survey shows connections holding but throughput dropping and retries rising where the meeting area fills up.
The report recommends a revised channel plan, lower transmit power on some access points, one additional access point to serve the meeting area, and a check of the controller's band-steering settings. Once the changes are made, a short verification survey on the same routes confirms the improvement against the original readings.
That pattern is common: what people describe as a coverage problem turns out to be a capacity or interference problem, and the fix costs far less than replacing equipment.
What you get
- Heat maps of each surveyed area showing coverage, SNR, channel use and interference.
- A written summary of findings, ranked by how much each issue affects your users.
- Specific recommendations: access points to add, move, re-channel or re-power, cabling changes, and settings to review.
- Notes on security, guest access and any extra services covered in the checklist.
- A baseline you can compare against after changes are made, or when the building or its use changes.
If you want us to carry the work through, the survey feeds straight into WiFi design and build, and we can verify the result with a post-installation survey.
Who it's for
- Property and facility managers dealing with repeated WiFi complaints from tenants or staff.
- Warehouses, plants and industrial sites where scanners, vehicles and tracking tags rely on the wireless network.
- Offices, schools, healthcare facilities and hotels planning a refresh or a move.
- Contractors and IT teams who need independent measurements before signing off a new installation.
We work from offices in Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto.
Learn more before you book
If you are new to surveys, start with What is a WiFi site survey?, then read Predictive vs on-site WiFi surveys to see which approach fits your project. WiFi heat maps explained will help you read the report when it arrives.
Common questions
Do we need to shut the network down during the survey?
No. A passive survey listens to the network as it runs, and an active survey connects to it like any other device. We plan the routes so that we do not interrupt people at work, and we coordinate access to secure areas with you in advance.
Can a survey help if we already know where the dead spots are?
Yes. Knowing where people complain is a starting point, but the cause may be co-channel interference, a misconfigured access point or a capacity problem rather than weak signal. A survey shows which, so the fix addresses the real problem.
How long does a survey take?
It depends on the floor area, the number of floors, the type of survey and how easily we can move through the space. We scope the routes with you during planning so you know what to expect before we arrive.
Will you tell us which equipment to buy?
We will tell you what the network needs in terms of access point count, placement, bands and features. If you want a full design and installation, we can provide that as a separate step.