Our coverage guarantee
Plenty of firms promise guaranteed coverage. Very few will tell you what they mean by it. A guarantee is only worth the threshold it's measured against and the remedy behind it — so here are both.
Why most coverage guarantees mean nothing
"100% guaranteed coverage" is one of the most common claims in this industry and one of the least useful. Coverage at what signal level? Measured where — at a metre, at floor level, behind the racking or in the middle of the aisle? For which devices, given that a scanner needs considerably more signal than a laptop? Under what load? And what actually happens if it isn't achieved?
Without answers, it is a slogan. Worse, it is unfalsifiable: any network produces some signal almost everywhere, so a sufficiently generous threshold makes any installation a success.
A guarantee is only meaningful if three things are true. It states a measurable threshold. It is measured by a survey after installation. And it carries a remedy that costs us something if we miss.
What we guarantee
Where we survey, design and install the network, we guarantee that the completed installation meets the design targets set out in your survey report — and we prove it with a post-installation validation survey whose results are handed to you.
The standard we design and validate to
Our surveys and designs work to a minimum of −67 dBm signal strength with a signal-to-noise ratio of 25 dB or better across the designated coverage area. That is the level generally accepted as necessary for reliable voice and data, and it is the threshold every coverage plot in our reports is drawn against.
Where a site runs less tolerant devices — handheld scanners, voice handsets, AGVs — the design target is tighter again, and the report carries a separate plot per device class rather than one generous figure for the whole building. The threshold is always stated on the plot, so there is nothing to interpret.
After installation we survey the completed network again and compare it against that design. You get the comparison, not a summary of it.
What the commercial terms still need to state
- The signal threshold designed and validated to, expressed per device class where the site runs a mixed fleet
- The signal-to-noise ratio required alongside it, because signal strength alone does not predict a usable connection
- Where and how it is measured — height, method, and whether in aisles, behind racking, or both
- The percentage of each designated area that must meet it, and which areas are designated
- Load conditions under which it applies
- What is excluded, and why — stated openly rather than buried
- The remedy if validation falls short, and the period it applies for
What sits outside any honest guarantee
Any guarantee that claims to cover everything is not being straight with you. These are the things no supplier can reasonably guarantee, and we'd rather say so up front than argue about it later:
- Changes to the building after handover. New racking, a mezzanine, a partition layout or a change of use alters the radio environment the design was built for.
- Interference from outside your control. A neighbouring business installing access points at full power on your channels degrades your network, and no design can prevent it — though a good design mitigates it, and our managed service catches it.
- Devices below specification. Coverage designed for your stated device fleet can't guarantee a device with a weaker radio that arrives later.
- Load beyond the design. A network designed for four hundred devices is not guaranteed for a thousand.
- Configuration changed by others. If transmit power and channel plan are altered after handover, the validated result no longer applies.
- Faults that aren't the radio. Uplink capacity, switching, DHCP, DNS and firewalls affect the user experience and sit outside a coverage guarantee — though we'll help you find them.
Every one of those is manageable. Most are covered by a support agreement or an annual health check. None of them are covered by pretending they don't exist.
Common questions
Does the guarantee apply if somebody else installs the design?
No, and that's not us being difficult. We can only stand behind the coverage if we control the installation — mounting positions, cable performance and commissioning all determine whether the design is achieved. We'll still validate somebody else's installation and report factually on it.
What happens if the validation survey fails?
We fix it. That's the whole point of publishing thresholds and measuring against them: the obligation is ours, not yours, and the evidence is in your hands rather than ours.
Is the validation survey extra?
Not where we survey, design and install — it's part of the job and the report is handed over at completion. Standalone validation of another contractor's work is quoted separately.
Can you guarantee outdoor coverage?
Yes, to defined thresholds over defined areas. Outdoor coverage is designed and guaranteed separately from indoor because the propagation, mounting and weather constraints are different.
Does the guarantee cover speed?
Coverage and signal quality, not internet speed. Your throughput depends on your internet connection, your switching and your applications as much as the radio — a Wi-Fi network can be perfect and the experience still poor because the uplink is saturated. We'll tell you if that's what we find.
Let's find out what your Wi-Fi is actually doing.
Book a survey and you get measured data, a design you can build to, and a number you can budget against — not an opinion.