My passion for 802.11 started back in 2003 when we installed an 11b access point in our student house so we could share the blistering 512kbps adsl connection. Every other student house was running ethernet cables all over the place, which do not mix with drunk people! Plus we were cleverer than them.
In that same year I chose to write my university dissertation on the feasibility of providing free Wi-Fi access to commuters at a regional UK airport in order to increase passenger numbers. Enterprises weren’t even providing corporate Wi-Fi access back then, let alone free access to add value to their businesses, so I like to think I’m singlehandedly responsible for the commonplace of free Wi-Fi services that we all “enjoy” today (hah).
From university my career started at a small UK distributor of barcoding (AIDC) equipment as their in-house IT admin and pre-sales technical expert. The latter role had me selling, designing, installing and supporting small 802.11 networks in warehouse and manufacturing environments.
I then got my “big Wi-Fi break” when I moved into an implementation engineer position at a vendor of a small wireless voice client. My favourite part of the deployment cycle had me assessing customer WLAN’s to ensure they are capable of supporting robust voice communication with a focus on smooth roaming.
Both those roles have been vendor neutral focusing on good design and configuration more than any one vendors technology or features. To me the three most important factors to good WiFi are AP placement, Power Levels and Data Rates, which are all fundamental vendor neutral 802.11 settings.
Currently I work for one of the biggest Wi-Fi equipment vendors as a Technical Consultant, providing Professional Services to customers deploying large or complex enterprise networks. This includes Tier 1 retailers, the UK government and global sporting brands.
Throughout my career I’ve held many entry level wireless qualifications starting with Cisco’s CWLANFE back in 2005 to the CWAP in 2018 and CWSP in 2019. At the end of crazy pandemic year that was 2020 I was awarded my CWNE #417.
I’m always interested to hear from others in the field so feel free to use Twitter or LinkedIn to get in touch.