Wireless networks share airtime and are exposed to the physical environment, so they produce more varied problems than wired networks, and the same symptom ('Wi-Fi is slow' or 'it keeps dropping') can have several causes. Most wireless complaints come down to radio frequency (RF) conditions, channel planning or configuration consistency. A Wi-Fi analyzer, a spectrum analyzer and survey tools are your main instruments, and the key measurements are signal strength (RSSI, in dBm), noise and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). A useful habit is to ask three questions: where does it happen, when does it happen, and to which devices?
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