Environmental change create better connectivity

I have been having a number of problems with one installation that I need to share with you all. I have a MeshAP that is sitting on the 7th floor of a balcony. The unit is wired to a Macintosh and has been working flawlessly for the last 3 years. In the last 9 months the problems started to occur. Connectivity was not solid and I lost connections constantly for hours at a time. There were a number of problems that occurred. First someone PC that had a virus tried to constantly connect to the network. Second a 2.4 Ghz telephone system would constantly try to run interference.

The result was that I change the equipment, antennas, radio card etc many times with the same problem. Finally I figure it was the environment. Across the street was a new high rise apartment building was being built. It was finally completed about a month a go and the problems have not escalated any further. I change the antenna location from one location to another. What the result was is a firm and constant signal. The inference went away and that the connection was once again rock solid. I tested the old equipment and it too is now rock solid in the new position.

I won’t believe it. There is no reason for this to occur however, when see the reflection of many large building the antenna position was probably located where a lot of echo and noise was occurring. Imagine throughing a bunch of pebbles into a pond and seeing where all the ripples will converge. I believe that the reflection create these super crest that interfered with antenna. Simply moving the antenna away from this wall or a reflecting service improves the quality of service.

I also have seen a better connection between mesh nodes as a result. I will reposition most of the problem MeshAP to see if this can give a better connection.