GldenJoe,   I couldn't agree with you more.  A properly designed system should be planned to deliver -67 at all locations on a given primary AP, and -70 on a second AP if possible.   Then when the install is done, a walk is performed using some kind of laptop tool that shows the realtime signal strength so that there is confidence in the final solution.     I was just called in to do a troubleshoot on a distribution center with two "floors", though the second floor was open steel grating at about 9'.   In the section where they were having real problems, steel shelving was literally shoulder width apart, floor to ceiling.  They had a small number of new Meraki APs that they had replaced their "old" AP's with.  The employees claimed that the old system was perfect, and the new AP's were regularly dropping connections.   My recommendation was to allow for 802.11b speeds in this area.  802.11ac is great, but sometimes there is more to the story than throughput, and those higher speeds require SNRs that some installations just can't deliver without saturating the space with extremely low power APs.   Just my thoughts. ... View more

GldenJoe, I haven't used Ekahau...just checked it out and way to rich for my bosses checkbook.     I respectfully disagree on the 12MBps idea.  On a given channel, on a given AP, in a given area...for warehouses and other areas where handheld scanners are the primary client, low speeds aren't an issue in my opinion.  There literally aren't any high bandwidth devices in use in these spaces.  If they can maintain a solid 1 or 2 MBps link, the users will be completely satisfied.  Even android doesn't send/receive much data when it scans a barcode and refreshes a relatively small screen which isn't graphics intensive. ... View more

I have read the responses and I am surprised and confused by the fact that nobody has raised the issue of having all the AP's on channel 6.  This is almost guaranteed to cause co-channel interference, and using single channel schemes hasn't as far as I know, been done in ages.  Maybe I'm mistaken, since nobody else has mentioned it.   When I've done warehouse designs, we used directional (120 degree max) antennas at the ends of every other aisle, though those were wider aisles than what you have.       If you think about how csma/ca works...each time a wifi device is thinking about broadcasting anything, they wait, they listen, and if there aren't any RTS/CTS conversations already in progress, then they will send their own RTS packet.  Since everyone is on the same channel, every access point and client has to wait for every other ap and node to finish their RTS/CTS and then conversation.  If you install directional antennas, this reduces the access points and nodes not in that direction from "seeing" the neighboring conversations.   Combining that with spreading the APs across 1---6---11 reduces the amount of channel utilization.   There was another poster that recommended raising the minimum speed to encourage AP's to drop lower speed connections.  This is absolutely true in the standard office, but my experience is exactly the opposite in warehouses in my experience.   First, the devices typically in use in warehouses are very low bandwidth needs (symbol scanners, etc).  When they get into an area where the signals are "blocked" and SNRs are low, they drop off completely.  Now, in your case, you are actually overloaded on AP's so they probably won't experience a low SNR (other than the co-channel interference) this is probably less of an issue.     Now, for AP placement...I would suggest, at the least, change to directional antennas on every other aisle.  A 120 degree directional antenna will bleed enough to the sides to cover the neighboring aisle closer to the AP, but most of the signal will be directed down the aisle.      My suggestion would be to try this in a few aisles and adjust as needed then replicate across the warehouse.  You might have to get creative in the center aisle.  It's already not working, go ahead and experiment with different ideas.   Another consideration is that you can also run into this co-channel problem with 5GHz if you use channel bonding.   Lastly, though the software is stupid expensive, buy airmagnet or something similar and get actual results, not the estimated/extrapolated results you might get from the meraki heatmap.   At the very least, get inSSIDer from Metageek...this will show you the actual realtime    Good luck. ... View more