topic Re: Looking for best solution for wireless connection in Wireless

Looking for best solution for wireless connection

Jayfaas — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 04:19:20 GMT

Hey all. I work in a warehouse and we have 18 APs all connected to an AIR-CT3504-K9 controller. We have one spot within our warehouse where we have some PCs that are between a modular office and the bathrooms. The ceiling is really high up (maybe 50-60ft) and around the area, we have 3 different AIR-AP2802E-B-K9 WAPs that all seem to overlap in this area. I dont know if its because the signal overlap there or if the signals are somehow getting blocked by being between these two structures. Our WLC is maxed out at 18 APs, and I am not sure if this is a license thing or what because I read that the 3504 can support up to 150 and I THOUGHT it said that was before extra licenses had to be purchased. I am not too familiar with the licensing aspect of it as I am fairly new to my IT position, but I wanted to come here and get some wisdom on what you think the best course of action is to get these computers the signal they need. Some of them pick up, and some wont at all. They can see the network, and connect, but no internet. Even walking away from that area, my laptop will connect if I step about 10-15 feet away from the computers, but once I go back close to them, its done. I thought maybe a repeater could work so we wouldnt have to add another license to the WLC, but I am not completely familiar with those either other than that they boost signal. What are your thoughts on:

1) Why the computers arent getting the signal enough to have internet connection but can still see the SSID?

2) What the best course of action would be for temporary deployment (there may be budget next year to upgrade the Wi-Fi setup).

The picture attached shows the area where there are 3 rows of computers, maybe 15-20 computers. The blue line is a guard rail leading out to the production floor where there are big machines. The two APs are attached to the bottom of the rafters on the roof which again is like 50-60ft I believe.

Re: Looking for best solution for wireless connection

Enes Simnica — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 06:51:56 GMT

gDay @Jayfaas and those are some good questions G! And u can tell that there is a mix of signal obstruction and overlap. Cause the metal walls, office structures, and bathroom areas are likely causing RF reflections or absorption, especially with APs mounted 50–60ft up, the signal just doesn’t reach client level well......

now to answer ur questions: 1. Why clients see SSID but no internet?: They’re probably getting a weak or unstable connection (low RSSI / high interference). The SSID shows up, but the link quality is too poor for actual data transfer.

2. Best short-term fix: Try tilting or lowering one of the nearby APs (even temporarily) to improve line of sight. U could also deploy a workgroup bridge or mesh extender AP closer to that area instead of a repeater, it’ll integrate better with ur WLC.

and as for licensing, YES the 3504 can handle up to 150 APs, but it depends on your installed license tier (like base vs. performance). Check via wlc gui - Management - Software Activation - Licenses to confirm.

this works for me always, and hope it helps u too....

-Enes

Re: Looking for best solution for wireless connection

Mark Elsen — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 09:29:23 GMT

- @Jayfaas Ref : https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/wireless/3504-wireless-controller/214106-licensing-on-3504-5520-and-8540-wireles.html#toc-hId-1787190494
The 3504 (also) uses RTU/honored based licensing, which means you can configure as the license
count as much as you want according to the number of access points.

Using a repeater, should not be done in a controller based environments, because the controller
optimizes cell coverage around access points automatically and it will disturb those algorithms

Best is to add access points and or together and place access points where needed only ,
based on a wireless site survey

Re: Looking for best solution for wireless connection

pieterh — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 16:09:09 GMT

warehouses allways are environments that need extra attention for wifi usage.
one of the things is the high ceiling, when the AP's are mounted near the ceiling
you should think you have the best coverage area, don't you ? -> you are wrong!

because the AP's on the ceiling detect each others signal, they throttle back in transmit power level, so the PC's on the ground receive less signal than desired. this needs to be carefully tuned ,
directional antennae may help to reduce overlap (AP's receive each others signal with less strength)
you are using AIR-AP2802E-B-K9 so you allready have external antennae -> which model ? omnidirectional I guess?

you can use free tools as a start, but as @Mark Elsen allready mentioned preferrably based on a professional site-survey

last I want to mention the client behavior.
it is the client that select which accesspoint to use! sometimes it choses the "wrong" AP.
start by updating client-drivers, and tuning client wifi settings may also improve the situation.

the positioning of the client is very important.
example is an environment with laptops using an external monitor placed behind the laptop
you have no idea how much the monitor blocks the signal to the laptop!
this also counts when the laptop is used with the lid closed because it also uses external keyboard/mouse!
-> position the computer with the antenna's in view of the AP. or use a WiFi adapter with external antenna (maybe even on a pole!)

Re: Looking for best solution for wireless connection

Saikat Nandy — Fri, 07 Nov 2025 12:49:52 GMT

Ideal mounting height for 2802E APs is approximately 12 to 15 feet from the floor..usually seen in enterprise deployment. Here your APs are installed at 50-60 feet height - which is of course gonna cause issues for your computers. To tackle this one option is to use high gain directional antenna or most suitable option use 2 more APs neaby to those computers. You have ample license available to be used.

Re: Looking for best solution for wireless connection

Jayfaas — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 16:49:59 GMT

got to mention that there is another AP right inside that office with the "12 foot ceilings". The AP is on the right side by the affected computers. I updated the layout attached to show. Every 10 days or so we also have to reboot the APs because they will no longer provide Wi-Fi signal to those areas. Rebooting seems to be a temporary fix. Any idea how to track that down and fix that? As far as the original affected computers, we discussed maybe only setting a separate network on one of the APs and connecting all those computers to that specific AP so they dont try to bounce around. I understand this puts a limit on connection if that AP goes down, but it is just an idea at the moment. I think we may need to also see if we can attach a pole to one of the rafters that might allow us to install the AP lower, like a camera mount.

Re: Looking for best solution for wireless connection

pieterh — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 20:12:39 GMT

>>> Every 10 days or so we also have to reboot the APs because they will no longer provide Wi-Fi signal to those areas. <<<
+
>>> AIR-AP2802E-B-K9 <<<

how did you check the "no longer provide Wi-Fi..."
there is a chance Wi-Fi signal is still present, but the AP utilizes radio-channels, that your client devices cannot receive!
operational channel may have been changed by the controller's RRM (Radio Resource Management)
and a reboot of the AP's may change it again

you are using AIR-AP2802E-B-K9

Puerto Rico	-B	Indoor	AIR-AP2802E

United States of America	-B	Indoor	AIR-AP2802E

=> first check if your AIR-CT3504-K9 is configured properly and country matches the -B model
next check if the allowed channels and your equipment match
third check with help of tools which frequency is transmitted at the location
both normal and when "no longer provide wi-fi"
my favorite first check is using a free tool like aruba wireless utilities on the mobile phone

=> but my best my guess is that your 2802's are at the end of there practical lifetime.
this introduction of this model is already some time ago
Cisco Aironet 2800 Series Access Points
First Published: June 01, 2016
electronics do tend to degenerate over time, and the radio's clearly have problems

=> check purchase date, and if possible replace by one that is proven to operate normaly

Re: Looking for best solution for wireless connection

Jayfaas — Wed, 14 Jan 2026 01:33:49 GMT

Thank you all for the detailed responses. You are right in that I am not sure if its no Wi-Fi or just different channels. I know that when it seems to “go down”, we get the IT tickets and texts from people in the surrounding areas complaining that they dont have Wi-Fi on their PCs, laptops, tablets, and IP phones. When I check the AP, the 2.4Ghz band is usually in the 60-70% range for channel utilization, so I assumed that was the issue. Is it common that they would change channels to ones that couldnt be picked up by the devices mentioned above?

Re: Looking for best solution for wireless connection

pieterh — Wed, 14 Jan 2026 11:22:23 GMT

be aware the MS-Windows OS periodically performs a reachability test to Microsoft servers
(i believe access to connectivitycheck.microsoft.com, verify using Wireshark)
if this test fails it result in the message "no internet" but this is not completely true

when failed the client does not check again until a timer expires.
(value of the timer unknown, cannot find it at this time even at Microsoft support site, but at least some minutes)
this can occur even when Wi-Fi has no problems at all !!!

Re: Looking for best solution for wireless connection

Jayfaas — Wed, 21 Jan 2026 14:10:12 GMT

We have a spare unit that I would like to swap out with the one that has been having all the issues. The thing is, our controller is maxed out and I would like to make sure I get the image from the AP we are going to remove saved and uploaded to the replacement before we swap them out on the controller. Any links to guides for this? I will say that I can make room for a spare slot because we do have an AP with the radios turned off because it is in an area that will be used for future expansion, but is not currently being used. I just want to make sure I get this added to the WLC the right way with the right image and settings. Ive looked up and seen a few ways to do this, but I wanted to come here and make sure I do it the right way since it's my first time adding one of these to the controller.

Re: Looking for best solution for wireless connection

Leo Laohoo — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 02:32:57 GMT

Depending on how complicated the configuration(s) of the WLAN network, I would even consider loading one (or two) of the 2800 with Mobility Express and get rid of the 3504. That will get eliminate the AP quantity limitation.

Re: Looking for best solution for wireless connection

Jayfaas — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 14:38:27 GMT

I want to revisit this topic if I can. Are there any other settings that I may be able to use to adjust to get more direct stable signal at that area? Or is there any sort of monitoring I can set up within the controller to see when the signal is dropping out and if its at a consistent time or whats causing it? I suppose it could also be the devices connecting to it, but mostly they are laptops and Cisco CP-8820 VoIP phones. Some days are fine, sometimes we can go a week or two with no problems, but then there is an issue and I will reboot the AP, and sometimes it can have an issue within another 20 minutes. Are there any good free apps (PC or iOS) that you could recommend to do a heatmap analysis, or are they all going to cost?

Re: Looking for best solution for wireless connection

pieterh — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 15:44:16 GMT

there are a lot of free tools to produce a heatmap, using "wifi site survey free"" as search term
but those free tools all depend on the internal radio+antenna of a laptop or mobile device
a physical inspection of the environment is a mandatory activity in this process
here a mobile app (sorry Cisco!)
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.arubanetworks.arubautilities&hl=en_SG&pli=1

to produce consistent measurements, you need dedicated electronics -> it is going to cost.
also be aware, for a good site-survey you need experience! and the purchase may not return the costs

for years I have used Ekahau heatmapper. there used to be a free version, with had a limit of 25 survey points max. on a map
but this does not seem to be available anymore, but google mentions a 30-day trial version
here a link to Ekahau's solution https://www.ekahau.com/products/ekahau-connect/analyzer/

or netscout https://www.netally.com/products/aircheckg3/

Re: Looking for best solution for wireless connection

Jayfaas — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 21:00:53 GMT

Is there a way to schedule upgrades so it doesnt push out to all the APs at once? I still cant wrap my head around the idea that in order to do a firmware upgrade, you have to put it on the controller and it will just push them out without even having the chance to test one first.

Re: Looking for best solution for wireless connection

Leo Laohoo — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 21:05:30 GMT

With the 9800, it can be possible by using Site Tags.

Re: Looking for best solution for wireless connection

Mark Elsen — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 06:47:24 GMT

- @Jayfaas A controller + access point upgrade is considered a 'single entity' ; why not ask then
I want tot test it on the controller first. (?)

Re: Looking for best solution for wireless connection

pieterh — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 15:33:08 GMT

in addition to Leo's answer: you can create a "test" site tag and assign this to a single access point in your office
you can even create a test WLAN for this site
so you can test the behavior of this access point with client devices you have at your disposal