Wireless Site Surveys

Stop guessing why the
Wi-Fi is bad. Measure it.

Adding more access points is the most expensive way to make a wireless problem worse. We measure what your RF environment is actually doing, then tell you what to change and what to leave alone. Fixed price, written report, no hardware agenda.

Sound familiar?

Calls drop when someone walks between rooms
Full signal bars, terrible speed
Scanners drop out halfway down an aisle
Works fine until the room fills up
Devices cling to a distant AP and refuse to move
It was fine until the fit-out changed
A fault nobody can reproduce on demand
Every one of these leaves a signature in the RF. A survey finds it.

Which Survey Do You Actually Need?

Four situations cover almost every enquiry we get. Pick the one that sounds like you and we will tell you what it involves.

Recommended

Predictive Design, then validate on site

There is nothing to measure yet, so we model it. Your floor plans are built into design software with real wall construction, ceiling heights, racking, glazing and attenuation zones applied, then we simulate access point placement, antenna choice, transmit power and channel plan until the design meets the criteria you need.

For anything unusual, heritage stone, tilt-up concrete, cool rooms or dense racking, we bring a live access point to site first and measure actual propagation through the real materials. That calibrates the model so the design reflects your building rather than a generic assumption.

What you walk away with
  • Marked-up plans with AP positions, models and mounting detail
  • Predicted coverage, data rate and roaming maps
  • Antenna selection and orientation per location
  • Cable drop schedule and bill of materials
  • A design your installer can quote and build from directly

Every Stage of the Wireless Lifecycle

Engage us for one piece or the whole lot. Each is quoted as a fixed price once scope is agreed.

1

Before It Is Built

Design work that happens while changes are still cheap.

Predictive Wireless Design

Floor plans modelled with real construction materials, obstructions and attenuation zones. We simulate AP placement, antenna type, transmit power and channel plan until the design meets your criteria, then hand over marked-up plans and a bill of materials.

Floor Plan Modelling AP Placement Antenna Selection BOM

On-Site Propagation Testing

A live access point taken to site to measure how signal really behaves through your walls, racking and ceilings. Used to calibrate the predictive model in buildings where assumptions are risky and rework is expensive.

Live Measurement Model Calibration Difficult Structures

Capacity & Density Planning

Coverage is the easy half. We size the design around device count, application mix and peak concurrency, so the network holds up when the room is full rather than only when it is empty.

Device Count Peak Load Cell Sizing
2

Once It Exists

Measuring what is actually in the air and on the wire.

Passive Site Survey

A full walk of the site capturing every frame without joining your network. Produces the true picture of coverage, signal to noise, co-channel interference, channel utilisation and neighbouring networks, per band, per floor.

RSSI SNR Interference Utilisation

Active & Throughput Survey

Associated testing that measures what a client device genuinely gets: achievable throughput, latency, jitter, packet loss, retry rate and authentication time, mapped across the site rather than sampled at one desk.

Throughput Latency Packet Loss Retries

Spectrum Analysis

Not everything in the band is Wi-Fi. We identify non Wi-Fi interference by type, duty cycle and physical location, including radar hits that push you off DFS channels without warning.

Non Wi-Fi Energy Duty Cycle DFS Source Location

Validation Survey

Post-installation measurement against the agreed design criteria, area by area, with documented variance. Written to be usable as evidence at practical completion or against a tender specification.

As-Built Compliance Sign-Off
3

When It Misbehaves

Fixing what is there and proving the fix worked.

Wireless Health Assessment

An independent review of a network you already own. Controller and AP configuration, channel and power plan, SSID and band strategy, security posture, firmware currency and airtime efficiency, combined with on-site RF data into a prioritised findings list.

Config Review Airtime Prioritised Findings

Fault Diagnosis

For problems that have already beaten everyone else. Frame level capture, association and authentication analysis, roaming decision tracing, and the discipline to follow the fault into the wired network when that is where it lives.

Packet Capture Roaming 802.1X Root Cause

Optimisation & Re-Survey

Tuning transmit power, channel width, minimum basic rates, legacy rate removal, SSID rationalisation, band steering and roaming thresholds. Then we survey again, so the improvement is demonstrated rather than claimed.

Power & Channel Rate Tuning Before & After

Questions Your Report Will Answer

We do not send you a folder of heat maps and wish you luck. The report answers the questions that led you to call in the first place, with the maps as the evidence behind each answer.

Where exactly does coverage fail?

Measured signal strength across every surveyed area and band, showing precisely where the network meets the target and where it falls off, down to the individual room or aisle.

Evidence: signal strength maps

Why is it slow where the signal looks fine?

Strong signal sitting on a high noise floor still performs badly. Signal to noise and channel utilisation data separates a coverage problem from a noise or contention problem.

Evidence: SNR and utilisation maps

What speed will a device really get here?

Achievable physical rate plus measured throughput at points across the site, so the answer is a number from your building rather than a figure off a datasheet.

Evidence: data rate and throughput maps

Are my own access points fighting each other?

Co-channel and adjacent channel interference mapping showing where APs share airtime unnecessarily, which is one of the most common causes of a network that got worse after more APs were added.

Evidence: channel overlap maps

Why do calls drop when people walk?

Cell boundaries, which AP serves each area and how much overlap exists between them. Too little overlap breaks roaming, too much wastes airtime, and both look identical to a user.

Evidence: associated AP and overlap maps

Can this site support location tracking?

Coverage from the second and third strongest access point at every point, which is the requirement underneath any real time location or asset tracking application.

Evidence: secondary and tertiary coverage maps

Is something non Wi-Fi causing this?

Spectrum findings identifying interference by type, duty cycle and where in the building it originates, so it can be removed, relocated or designed around.

Evidence: spectrum analysis

What do I fix first, and what can wait?

A prioritised list in plain English with quick configuration wins separated from work that needs budget, so you can act on Monday without waiting for a capital approval.

Evidence: findings and recommendations

What exactly do I ask my installer to do?

Marked-up plans with positions, models, antennas, mounting method and cable drops, plus a materials schedule where required, so the job can go straight out to quote.

Evidence: AP layout plans and BOM

What the Numbers Mean

Signal strength is measured in dBm and it is a negative scale, so closer to zero is stronger. Here is roughly what each range supports in practice.

-30 to -50 dBmExcellent
-50 to -60 dBmVery Good
-60 to -67 dBmGood
-67 to -75 dBmMarginal
Below -75 dBmUnreliable
Stronger is not automatically better

Access points running at full power create oversized cells that overlap, share airtime and stop devices roaming. Turning power down is frequently the fix.

Signal alone proves nothing

A device can sit at -50 dBm and still crawl if the channel is congested or the noise floor is high. Signal to noise and utilisation matter just as much.

Measure where devices live

We survey at the height devices are actually used, with a representative adapter. Ceiling height readings on a high gain card flatter the result and mislead everyone.

Which is why the report always pairs signal strength with noise, utilisation, data rate and client behaviour rather than presenting a single colour map on its own.

Measured Against a Defined Standard

A survey means nothing without a target to measure against. We agree the criteria with you up front based on what the network has to carry, then report against it line by line. Typical starting points are below, adjusted to suit your devices and environment.

Application Primary Signal Signal to Noise Coverage Requirement
General data and browsing -67 dBm or better 20 dB or better Single AP coverage
Voice and video calling -65 dBm or better 25 dB or better Two APs with overlap for seamless roaming
High density areas -65 dBm or better 25 dB or better Capacity driven AP count, controlled cell size
Warehouse scanning and handhelds -65 dBm or better 25 dB or better Continuous coverage at device height, aisle by aisle
Location services and asset tracking -75 dBm or better 20 dB or better Three or more APs heard at every point
Outdoor and yard areas -70 dBm or better 20 dB or better Coverage across defined operational zones

Where a tender, standard or manufacturer specification sets its own criteria, we survey and report against that instead.

From First Call to Fixed

No open ended engagement and no surprise invoice. Most sites go from enquiry to delivered report inside a fortnight.

Day one

A conversation, not a sales call

What the site is, what is going wrong, what devices are on it and what the network has to support. Ten minutes usually tells us which survey type fits.

Within a few days

Scope and fixed price

Areas in scope, design criteria and deliverables confirmed in writing, with a fixed price. You know the cost and the output before anything starts.

On site

Capture

Plans modelled, or we attend and survey. Passive work is non-intrusive and runs while you operate. Out of hours and staged access is available where operations demand it.

Back at the desk

Analysis

Measured data is processed into maps, cross checked against the agreed criteria and correlated with the spectrum and configuration findings.

Usually within a week

Report delivered

Full written report, heat maps, marked-up plans and a prioritised recommendation list, written to be useful to an engineer and a decision maker at the same time.

After delivery

Debrief and next steps

We walk your team or your contractor through the findings so they get acted on rather than filed. Implementation and a follow-up re-survey are available if you want them.

Buildings That Break Wi-Fi

Every building type fails in its own particular way. These are the ones we see most, and what makes each one difficult.

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Warehousing & Logistics

Racking that changes with stock levels, metal everywhere, height, and handhelds that never stop moving.

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Heritage Buildings

Thick stone and brick, no cable pathways, and strict limits on where anything can be mounted.

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Corporate Offices

Multi-floor roaming, glass partitions, dense meeting rooms and wall to wall video calls.

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Hospitality & Venues

Guest Wi-Fi, EFTPOS, back of house and crowd density that changes hour by hour.

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Healthcare & Aged Care

Clinical devices, nurse call and staff duress systems that cannot tolerate a dropout.

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Education

High density classrooms, one to one device programs and load that spikes on the bell.

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Industrial & OT

Machinery noise across the band, segregation requirements and unforgiving uptime expectations.

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Large Venues

Concourses, suites, media areas and bowls where capacity matters far more than coverage.

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Outdoor & Yards

Point to point links, weather, seasonal foliage and coverage across open operational areas.

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Construction & Infrastructure

Temporary coverage, tunnels and structures where the environment changes week to week.

Wireless Is Not a Sideline Here

Plenty of providers will sell you access points. Far fewer can tell you where they go and prove it afterwards.

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Nothing to Sell You

We are not tied to a hardware brand, so the findings do not bend toward whatever we would rather quote. If the gear you own is fit for purpose, the report says exactly that.

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We Build These Networks Too

The recommendations come from people who install, commission and support wireless for a living, so they account for cable routes, mounting reality, budget and how the site actually operates day to day.

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Findings You Can Read

Technical depth where an engineer needs it, and a summary a decision maker can act on without a translator. A report nobody understands is a report nobody uses.

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Fixed Price, Defined Scope

Scope, criteria and deliverables agreed in writing before we start, at a fixed price. No hourly meter running and no expanding engagement.

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Hard Environments Welcome

Heritage stone, tilt-up concrete, live warehouses, tunnels and high density venues. The awkward sites are the interesting ones and they are where a survey pays for itself fastest.

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Documentation That Lasts

Written to a professional engineering standard and suitable for tender responses, compliance evidence, practical completion and handover to whoever manages the site after you.

Frequently Asked

It depends on floor area, number of levels, survey type and access requirements. Every survey is quoted as a fixed price once the scope is agreed, so you know the number before we start. Send through your site details and we will come back with a figure.

No. A passive survey is completely non-intrusive and runs while you work normally. Active testing associates to the network but changes nothing on it. For sensitive or busy areas we survey out of hours or in stages to suit you.

On-site time depends on area, complexity and access. A single floor office is often a few hours. Multi-level, industrial or campus sites take longer. Analysis and the written report usually follow within a week of the site visit.

Floor plans in any usable format, site access with an escort where required, credentials for a test SSID if active testing is in scope, and a short brief on the symptoms and the devices in use. If drawings do not exist we can work from what you have or measure up on site.

Yes, and it is a large part of what we do. We assess any vendor's wireless network. You are welcome to engage us purely for the independent findings and hand them to your existing provider to implement.

Not at all. The report stands on its own and is written so any competent installer can act on it. If you would rather we carried out the remediation and re-surveyed to prove the result, we will quote that separately.

New builds and fit-outs start with a predictive design because there is nothing on site to measure. Existing sites with problems need an on-site survey, because the cause is usually something a model cannot predict. Many projects use both: design it, build it, then validate it.

We are based in Adelaide with a presence in Melbourne and work nationally. Regional and interstate sites are fine, and travel is scoped into the quote up front so there are no surprises later.

Limited Offer

Not convinced a survey is worth it? Have one on us.

We are offering a complimentary wireless survey to qualifying small offices, including a full heat map report and a summary of findings. One per business, new clients only.

See the Free Survey Offer

Request a Wireless Survey

Tell us about the site and what is going wrong. We will come back with a recommended survey type, exactly what it delivers, and a fixed price.

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Location Adelaide, SA & Melbourne, VIC

Survey Enquiry

The more detail you give us, the more accurate the quote.

✅ Thanks, we have got it. We will be in touch shortly to talk through your site.
⚠️ Something went wrong. Please email us at wireless@802.com.au