Wi-Fi Diagnostics User Guide

About

Diagnose Wi-Fi connection issues affecting systems throughout your enterprise.

Value Proposition

This feature provides detailed insights into network performance, addressing common WiFi challenges faced in office environments. Many customers are aware of these issues, while others may not realize them. By using our solution, you can monitor saturation levels and identify whether the infrastructure is overworked or not optimally deployed.

The dashboard is particularly useful for first- and second-line support teams when assisting remote workers. It shows what devices users are connected to and how they are using the network, helping diagnose problems as they arise. For example, if an issue like poor wireless performance is reported, the dashboard can pinpoint the root cause, suggesting that the user move closer to an access point or switch to a wired connection.

Often, complaints such as sluggish performance on platforms like Microsoft Teams are related to remote work conditions, where multiple bandwidth-intensive applications are in use. This tool provides valuable data, showing how the endpoints are experiencing the network, rather than just how the infrastructure expects to receive data. It delivers actionable insights to users or departments, while also feeding reverse information back to the infrastructure team to help optimize performance.

Systems

This grid lists the systems, users, and full name of the user. The Status is whether they are online (green) or offline (gray). Use the search bar to find information on a specific system.

  • Select a system from this grid to fill in the rest of the dashboard.

NOTE: Only Online systems will generate information.

Active Wi-Fi Sensors

This grid lists the sensors that are currently active for the selected system from the Systems grid. It is possible that no sensors are active.

Date Range Filter

Select the Date Range that will populate the rest of the data for this dashboard.

Wi-Fi Network Connection History (Selected Date Range)

This grid lists the connect and disconnect time, the Adapter Name, the SSID (Service Set Identifier) Receive, and Transmit Rates and other information related to Wi-Fi Network Connection for the selected date range.

Note: If there is a missing Disconnect Time, it is because the Wi-Fi connection for the selected system is still active.

Visible Networks (Selected Date Range)

This grid lists the SSI available, visible Wi-Fi networks that were available at the time of connection during the selected date range. The Band, Channel, Max Signal Quality, and other factors that affect the strength of signal that impact the digital experience for the user. If there are more systems sharing the same signal, the signal they are receiving is diminished by each additional system.

Explanation of Band and Channels

Typically, in the U.S., 2400 Hz (2.4 GHz) band has 11 channels, and the 5000 Hz band has 45 channels. The 2400 Hz band is used for broader coverage at slower speed where a 5000 Hz (5 GHz) band has faster speeds at a shorter distance.

Channels that have interference from other devices are considered to be “crowded.”1

Adapter Filter

Select a wireless network adapter to populate the graphs below for the selected system. The adapter will change dynamically based on what adapter is available for that system. Typically, there is only one.

Adapter Bandwidth (Selected Adapter and Date Range) This graph displays the current bandwidth of the adapter. The bandwidth in Mbit/s (Megabits per second) reflects the speed of the internet connection.

Wi-Fi Signal Quality (Selected Adapter and Date Range)

This graph displays the Wi-Fi Signal Quality and the Wi-Fi Channel based on the selected adapter and date range. The Wi-Fi Channel is often consistent and is determined by the router’s hardware. If the channel changes, it is because the router has found a different, more efficient channel on its own when set to “auto,” or it is manually changed by the user.

The Wi-Fi Signal Quality is based on a 0-100% scale, 100 being the best.

Network Performance (Selected Adapter and Date Range) This graph shows the Network Performance by Network Utilization, or network traffic, the router is using and the MB (Megabyte) rate for the selected time frame Connection Band (Selected Adapter and Date Range)

This graph shows the connection band for the selected router.

Reference

1 Albano, Samantha. “WIFI Channels Explained.” Minim, the Residential Managed Wi-Fi and IoT Security Platform, 9 July 2018, https://www.minim.com/blog/wifi-channelsexplained#:~:text=A%20WiFi%20channel%20is%20the,GHz%20band%20has%2045%20channels.