Coverage area of a meraki access point?

[Jeremy789]

Hello first time post but I really need help finding some information.

     Would someone be able to provide me with a better understanding of what the "Expected coverage area would be of a unit such as an MR74 using the standard stick antenna's.  For example, if we have the unit mounted flat on a high ceiling, how far out horizantally and how far vertically will each set of antenna's reach. In addition, if we get the replacement directional antenna's how much does that improve that signal?  I have looked around but i cant get a clear picture of what we can expect. We are a manufacturing environment and we have several different Meraki units installed throughout our companies locations. But we seem to have issues with reception constantly. Looking at the physical capabilities before we get to far with our virtual configuration settings. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this! And thank you for providing any information you can!  

[Ryan_Miles]

A MR74 with dipole omni antennas should be wall or mast mounted so the antennas are perpendicular to the floor. Dipole omnis produce a donut coverage cell. If you mount them parallel to the floor you're turning this donut on its side. That almost never is what you'd want for proper coverage to the devices at floor level.

How high are the APs mounted? Anything over ~25' you should look to use panel antennas instead of omnis. But, at a minimum you should first address the mounting orientation of the APs if they're as you described. 

As for distance or coverage. That's a huge it depends answer based on transmit power of the radio, obstructions to the signal, and capabilities of the clients connected. I have customers using these outdoor with clear line of sight and you can get reliable high speed connectivity at many hundreds of feet. If there are obstructions outdoor or indoor the impact can vary by a huge amount.

[Jeremy789]

Excellent Reply Ryan. Thank you and I did actually find that exact Donut image yesterday after posting this.  A question regarding this Donut pattern, (this seems silly to ask, but.... Does the direction of the dipole antenna's have any bearing to the signal strength?  Meaning if wall mounted I put the 5ghz pointing down will the 2.4 not be as strong as it is facing up?  Or are the signals inter-mingling. 

We have this unit ceiling mounted as we are waiting on the panel antennas to arrive. 

If you don’t mind I would like to inquire further regarding performance and reach of the Panel antenna's..... 

1. What does their pattern look like? I assume it looks like a cone pattern, starting narrow, directed at a target, and then dispersed wider as it projects further out?
2. What is the width of that signal at distance? What I mean is if we have a unit mounted on a 30' ceiling and it’s antennas are pointing out over the floor (assume a wide open area no obstructions just for understanding) how wide is that band at say 50’?
3. Is too much power a bad thing? We recently were told to bump up our signal strength to 15-30
4. Similar to my question earlier, Does the mounting of the panel antenna’s have an impact on strength and reach of each channel? Meaning if I put the 2.4 ghz panel facing north, the 5 ghz will have better strength to the South and the 2.4 will be weaker? I hope that makes sense.

[GIdenJoe]

I'll add a few small tidbits too.
- Signals on different frequencies do not intermingle.  Actually on the same frequency they don't intermingle either in mid air.  Only when a receiving antenna gets different signals in the same frequency space at the same time they usually interfere each other.

- A site survey software like Ekahau can easily predict the distance if you use a square or circular map showing distances.  I made one a while back but it's on my work laptop.  Maybe I'll post a screenshot of that later.

- It is more important to have your antennas perpendicular to the ground.  If the antennas are upside down or not usually won't make a big difference in dipole antennas.  AP's with internal antennas will have a big difference.

- Using a focussed antenna is a better way to improve the distance of your signal because it helps in send AND receive.  So your signal travels farther in a single direction on a directional antenna but also the antenna is more sensitive to upstream signals from clients.  However if you try to improve your distance by cranking up the power you'll probably run into situations where your client upstream signal will have trouble reaching the access point since the client is usually lower powered than the access point.