When I give the AP's to the cabling contractor I let them know how they are to be installed. Our AutoCAD drawings show if the AP is to be mounted on the wall or attached to the ceiling grid as well as any other information the installer might need (height from the floor, above the grid, etc.)
As they are installing the cabling I go by and check things out and move locations slightly if there are any obstacles in the way that we didn't know about in new construction. Our contractors are very good at letting us know something may be in the way of the specified AP location. Since our drawings are very complete, and we usually see the same techs onsite, I don't have to go over the installation process very often. Documentation is the key. It saves a lot of unnecessary site visits for small issues. Tom Parenti Johnson & Wales University -----Original Message----- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Case, Brandon J Sent: Thursday, December 18, 2008 9:08 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless Installation Process Thanks to everyone for the great replies. I was scratching my head over our wireless install process for a few days and figured this was a good place for some ideas. All those replies did lead me to a follow-up question though. For those of you that contract the AP installs out, either to another department or a contractor, is there some kind of training you require them to have been through? We contract the AP installs out to another department, but the issue we run into most often is that the people doing the work don't understand how to properly mount either the AP, the antenna, or both. We're beginning to go through a refresh cycle and would like to avoid the mistakes that happened last time (like antennas installed 3' above the ceiling between two HVAC units). Thanks again in advance. Brandon -----Original Message----- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Case, Brandon J Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 10:01 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless Installation Process I'm curious as to how you all out there handle the actual physical installation of APs in your environments. Do you handle that within the same team that manages the wireless network or is it a separate group that installs the equipment? How do you go about having the data jacks installed? Just as an estimation, approximately how long does it take to have an AP installed? For buildings that are still in the planning phase, do you design the AP locations into the building based on CAD drawings ahead of time? Or do you perform an on-site survey after the building is open and then proceed with installation? Any and all comments are appreciated. Thanks, -- Brandon Case, CCNA Network Engineer, ITaP Purdue University [email protected] Office: (765)49-67096 Mobile: (765)479-7597 Fax: (765)49-46620 ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
