Wifi survey - how much

[catch21]

I guess a sensible and constructive way to move forward is to understand how much your wifi equipment is likely to cost and work out what the consultancy charge is on top of that as a percentage.

 

I agree, 10% is not unreasonable for busy management. 25% is probably not unreasonable for nervous management.

[localzuk]

The cost for consultancy doesn't suddenly drop because you're buying cheaper or less gear. It still costs the company money to send someone out to do a survey. Sure, if it only takes them half a day, maybe you'd be charged a half-day's rates but the rate would still be the same.

 

You're just refusing to say what you think a day's consultancy charge should be to be an acceptable amount.

[bossman]

@loculzuk:

 

Paid 11k for our wireless which included site survey and POE injectors plus cabling and licensing, excellent service from a company called LAN3,

 

Oh! wireless system is Aerohive BTW, would highly recommend

[ConradJones]

Dinner ladies?????? Really, how many dinner ladies do you know that knows what a vlan is? what a certificate is ? what tcp/ip is ? Seriously ???

 

Wireless BT Box at home ? With instructions ? Connect to phone line. Done. Maybe.

[witch]

This is walking around with an "AP on a stick" (the actual AP you are using in the building) and surveying coverage in each location. This measures RF interference in each location and signal propagation. Each locations' survey is merged for an overall view of the floorplan.

 

Post-installation passive survey's are a MUST, in order to validate the design. If you do not have credentials to the SSID being surveyed you are simply going obtain a measurement of RSSI/SNR values. If you have access to authenticate to the SSID, you can also do load/bandwidth testing.

 

Without a validation survey, your installation is pointless.

 

 

Sorry, mate, but two suppliers of wifi did EXACTLY that sort of survey, free, and their final costs were commensurate with other companies who just wandered about with a laptop..

[elsiegee40]

Dinner ladies?????? Really, how many dinner ladies do you know that knows what a vlan is? what a certificate is ? what tcp/ip is ? Seriously ???

 

Wireless BT Box at home ? With instructions ? Connect to phone line. Done. Maybe.

 

Oy! I did my time as a dinner lady @ConradJones. It's amazing what us IT professionals will do to earn a few pennies when the children are very small and returning to proper work isn't an option

[DrCheese]

To be honest, we didn't pay for a survey before we did it. We installed the APs in the places we needed them and then spaced the rest out as best we could.

 

I've since done my own survey using my macbook and FREE Wireless WiFi Site Survey Software for MAC OS X and have worked out the poor coverage area's. We've budgeted some money for more APs this summer to fill in the gaps I found & boost capacity in high use area's.

[Destinova]

Sorry, mate, but two suppliers of wifi did EXACTLY that sort of survey, free, and their final costs were commensurate with other companies who just wandered about with a laptop..

 

And you should expect any wifi consultant/company that is doing your installation will provide you with both a pre and post-installation survey. A validation survey should be a requirement of your RFP.

 

You paid for the survey, it just isn't a line item on your invoice.

 

What you don't pay now in having a proper survey done, you will pay later in having to troubleshoot coverage holes, co-channel interference, and RF propagation issues that only a proper survey will point out to you.

 

Will a consultant come in and *just* do a survey for free? No.

Will you get a survey "free" (in big air quotes) as part of a wireless installation contract. Yes, but the costs are built in, so it really isn't "free".

Edited May 27, 2013 by Destinova

[localzuk]

Will a consultant come in and *just* do a survey for free? No.

Will you get a survey "free" (in big air quotes) as part of a wireless installation contract. Yes, but the costs are built in, so it really isn't "free".

 

Exactly this. Plus, those who have had different suppliers come in and do a survey as part of a quote gathering exercise, the company is absorbing the cost but pass it on as part of the cost of installation if you choose them, and on to other customers if you don't.

[witch]

Exactly this. Plus, those who have had different suppliers come in and do a survey as part of a quote gathering exercise, the company is absorbing the cost but pass it on as part of the cost of installation if you choose them, and on to other customers if you don't.

Yes, but as I said, the two companies which came in and did a "proper" survey were no more expensive than the ones that didn't

[localzuk]

Yes, but as I said, the two companies which came in and did a "proper" survey were no more expensive than the ones that didn't

 

Not seeing what you're trying to imply? The one who didn't do a proper survey didn't do a proper job, so in effect were not giving you the same service... Its kinda irrelevant to the point being made here - nothing is free.

[witch]

My point is that I was not charged anything like the price the OP is talking about and yet I got a proper service- the final cost was no more than a company who did NOT do the survey - therefore you could say that actually the surveys I got WERE effectively free. I do understand that a consultancy needs to charge but given that a commercial business can do the same survey and not load it onto the customer, I feel that said consultancy are overcharging for their service, particularly given the numbers talked about.

[catch21]

...consultancy are overcharging for their service, particularly given the numbers talked about.

 

...and whilst I acknowledge this is quoted out of context, contains the message precisely.

[sparky2488]

Yes it is, its utterly ridiculous for deciding where to put a few access points.

 

I know it's an old post, but I'm bored and trawling the forum for interesting discussions.....

 

I've carried out surveys all over the UK and Europe mainly within warehousing but loads of schools and offices. Depending on the quality of the network you need, if a simple room by room network is needed then go for it, stick em on the wall and as long as you get the channel allocation correct they will work (of sorts), but if you need to guarantee full coverage for VOIP or Lone Worker support systems then a survey will save you a lot of time and heartache. I subcontracted to companies using a software system called BlueSky, written initially for industry but was used all over, this combined with a Spectrum Analyzer on the laptop, a powered trolley and a handheld terminal to take readings we could guarantee 100% coverage even into stairwells and areas a worker may crawl for maintenance, to do this a surveyor simply doesn't walk around with his finger in the air, knowledge of wall construction would determine AP placement. Also an A band survey will give you better penetration in thick walls, but less distance of signal, a B/G gives you distance but poor penetration. You have mentioned £750 a day as a figure, I know £500 was the norm back when I did it, so not an excessive charge. Regardless of whether they charge you or not you will be paying for the surveyors time at some point, as others have said surveyors travel/time on site/hotels etc paid for so it will have to come from somewhere.

Edited July 18, 2013 by sparky2488

[Floydus]

I had a company charge £500 per day and they estimated the number of days beforehand and were spot on. We ended up going with their Aerohive solution and they credited us back the two days for the survey. Only fair really as they said their results could be given to any company for them to price from. We were very happy though :-)