Selecting the best WiFi platform for a Residential Care Facility

Reliable WiFi coverage is no longer a luxury for any Residential Aged Care setting - staff need access to information anywhere, anytime from any device while residents expect to have access to streaming media services, video calls and email securely delivered to their room, the lounge and the garden seating!  Meeting such encompassing universal expectations in manner that respects the capital investment and operational expenditure environment that most care organisations must operate is an enormous challenge and one that we are asked to navigate on a regular basis.

Rather than run through the process for developing a business case for a WiFi upgrade (I'll leave that for another rainy day), I am going to focus on comparative analysis of a number of popular WiFi solutions our team recently completed and wrap this up into a selection matrix to provide simplified approach to selecting a vendor solution.

Firstly, this comparative analysis is limited to equipment that supports WiFi 6 (802.11ax), seamless device roaming and handover between Access Points, multiple SSID presentations, dynamic VLAN assignment, security features such as 802.1x and is readily available within the Australian marketplace.

The four devices to be assessed and measured (in vendor alphabetical order) are:

• Cisco Catalyst 9120AX
• Fortinet FortiAP 431F
• Ruckus R650
• Ubiquiti U6 Pro

Wireless Access Point Key Features

The key hardware specifications of each device can be summarised into the following table:

Comparative Analysis Process

While every wireless installation is different, there are a number of requirements that are consistent and these are the areas on which the team focussed their efforts.  Using our trusty Ekahau survey equipment and a nearby facility with a relatively common corridor, resident room and common area layout (with an operating Microwave oven), we measured signal strength, throughput and latency using a number of common devices (apart from the Ekahau) including a Windows 10 laptop, Samsung S23 mobile phone, Apple iPhone 14, an iPad and a MacBook Pro.

Rather than present tables of numbers, the below summarises the results allowing meaningful assessment and generation of simple recommendations (which ultimately is our goal).

Cisco Catalyst 9120AX

The Catalyst 9120AX required the deployment and configuration of a Wireless LAN controller (a task in itself!) and includes advanced features like Cisco CleanAir for interference mitigation, dual 5 GHz radios for high-density performance, and IoT integration through BLE and Zigbee.

It displayed excellent performance within the expected coverage areas with very little decrease in data throughput irrespective of the number of devices competing for bandwidth.  Some challenges will exist in deploying large numbers of these Access Points due to the power requirements (may require disabling some features to fit under the PoE budget of all but the highest power switches), but once operational was provided excellent performance, device handover and coverage.

Fortinet FortiAP 431F

Rather than deploying a dedicated controller, we linked the FortiAP devices with a Fortigate 100F firewall to provide configuration and management services - this is certainly a bonus for any site that has existing Fortigate appliances (physical or virtual) in place.

The coverage provided by the installed AP's was not as comprehensive as either the Cisco or Ruckus devices, but was quite close.  Some degradation in throughput was observed when "noise" was introduced into the test area, however, this was minor and would be unlikely to be noticed in most WiFi use cases.

Ruckus R650

The Ruckus R650's were paired with a virtual smartzone controller (running offsite in AWS) and apart from some initial hiccups in the configuration, were very easy to pair and deploy the configuration to.  Testing nastiness such as repeated removal and re-insertion of the ethernet cabling did not affect the devices which recycled rapidly fully loss of PoE.

Coverage from these devices was exceptional! The adaptive BeamFlex+ cleverness built into these devices gives them a decided edge over the Ubiquiti and FortiAP devices when dealing with obstructions such as structural pillars, nib walls and firedoors/smoke barriers.

Ubiquiti U6 Pro

Love the simplicity of the management interface, but it did leave the team a little frustrated at times with certain features being hidden away and not immediately obvious in how to access them.  As the only device not having a 2.5Gbps ethernet interface, this AP is the least capable of maxing out the 802.11ax theoretical bandwidth limit, but did OK as long as you were standing very adjacent to it.

The coverage from these devices was somewhat below average - degradation of signal strength was quite noticeable when compared with the other devices.  Throughput degradation was also noticeable with interference sources in the between the AP and testing device - at some stages connectivity was actually lost and packets were dropped.

Conclusion

In simple terms, there was no clear winner of the comparison - each device will suit a particular role well.  The below table summarises our recommendations based on the testing undertaken and our experience in deploying (and fixing!) WiFi deployments in a number of Residential Care Facilities.

Other Considerations

Scalability & Density Needs: For future-proofing, APs like the Ruckus R650 or Cisco Catalyst 9120AX are recommended due to their ability to handle higher device densities and IoT demands.
Budget Constraints: Ubiquiti offers a cost-effective solution but may require denser AP placement to match the coverage of enterprise-grade options.
Security & Analytics Requirements: Facilities requiring enhanced network security should consider Fortinet, while those needing advanced analytics should opt for Cisco.