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1. 🇳🇴 Thor — backup account (thorthenorseman@octodon.social)'s status on Monday, 15-Oct-2018 10:51:05 EDT 🇳🇴 Thor — backup account

   There are a couple of things that make a WiFi simulator somewhat less useful than hoped: I'm only getting results that match real life if I start taking into account things like whether a wall is solid or hollow concrete, and the fact is: Floor plans don't contain details like that. In fact, for old houses, nobody's around to tell you what materials were used at all. You can knock a wall and make a guess about the facade, but that's it.

   1. 🇳🇴 Thor — backup account (thorthenorseman@octodon.social)'s status on Monday, 15-Oct-2018 10:58:14 EDT 🇳🇴 Thor — backup account

      in reply to

      For example, my simulator tells me that no signal could possibly penetrate what looks like a concrete wall on the floor plan, yet my measurements told me that there was coverage. The only way I can match the coverage pattern I saw in that room is if that wall is half as thick as it is on the drawing, suggesting that it's probably constructed from hollow blocks. That, or it's a wood frame with drywall on it, but in that case, the coverage should've been much better than it was.

      1. 🇳🇴 Thor — backup account (thorthenorseman@octodon.social)'s status on Monday, 15-Oct-2018 11:07:03 EDT 🇳🇴 Thor — backup account

         in reply to

         To ever simulate WiFi in a building with reasonable accuracy, I'd have to become an expert on comtemporary and historical building materials. This one building I'm deploying a WiFi network in is from the 1920s. Who even knows what materials and techniques they used then? Also, trends can change over the course of a decade, and not everyone will follow suit at the same pace. Also, later work has been done on it, so it gets rather complex.

         1. 🇳🇴 Thor — backup account (thorthenorseman@octodon.social)'s status on Monday, 15-Oct-2018 11:10:28 EDT 🇳🇴 Thor — backup account

            in reply to

            I'm thinking that I'd have to use some kind of measurement apparatus to detect actual signal propagation through each wall in the building, but as far as I know, the only way of doing that is to place a transmitter and a receiver on either side of said walls, and at that point, you might as well just do what I did initially: Experiment with WiFi AP placement until you get a good signal in every important spot.

            1. 🇳🇴 Thor — backup account (thorthenorseman@octodon.social)'s status on Monday, 15-Oct-2018 11:14:14 EDT 🇳🇴 Thor — backup account

               in reply to

               My method so far has been to start in the center of the space that needs coverage, and if there are dead spots, try to figure out why and revise the placement until there's decent coverage everywhere, and if that doesn't work, try with two access points, etc. It takes a while to do that, and it's more art than science, but it does work. I just wish floor plans contained more metadata.