The Wi-Fi systems we survey, design and install
We are not a reseller for any of these. We survey the building first and specify the platform the measurements point at — which is a different job from selling you whatever we hold stock of.
Why we don't lead with a brand
Ask most Wi-Fi companies what they install and you get one answer, because that is the box in the van. Ask them why, and the answer is about margin or a partner tier rather than about your building.
The honest position is that the platform is the last decision, not the first. A 4,000 m² distribution centre with a scanner fleet, a 90-desk office with wall-to-wall glass, and a Grade II hotel with 1 m stone walls need different antenna behaviour, different mounting, different densities and different budgets. Choosing the kit before measuring the building is choosing the answer before reading the question.
So we run the wireless site survey first — modelled, measured on site, or both. The survey produces an access point count, positions, mounting types, channel plan and power levels. Only then does the platform question become answerable — and it usually answers itself.
What follows is an honest account of the three families we install most, including the cases where each is the wrong choice. If a page tells you a platform is right for everything, it is a sales page.
The three families, in one paragraph each
Cisco Meraki
Cloud-managed, subscription-licensed, and unusually good at showing a multi-site estate on one screen. Suits organisations with several buildings, an IT function that values reporting, and a budget that can absorb per-access-point licensing for the life of the network. Weak point: the licensing is not optional, and an expired licence stops the access point working. Meraki surveys and design.
Ubiquiti UniFi
Far cheaper per access point, no recurring licence, and a controller you host yourself. Genuinely capable in the right building. Suits single sites and cost-sensitive fit-outs where the density is moderate and the device fleet is ordinary laptops and phones. Weak point: it is chosen far more often than it is designed for, and it is the platform we are most often called in to rescue. UniFi surveys and design.
Ruckus, Aruba and Cambium
Where the RF itself is the problem — a high-bay warehouse, a venue at density, a marina or a yard — adaptive antenna technology and enterprise policy control earn their cost. Suits difficult buildings and sites where roaming has to be reliable rather than merely present. Ruckus, Aruba and Cambium surveys.
Cisco Meraki
Cloud-managed, licence-based, strong estate visibility
Surveys and design for Cisco MerakiUbiquiti UniFi
Low cost per access point, self-hosted controller
Surveys and design for Ubiquiti UniFiRuckus, Aruba & Cambium
Adaptive antennas, enterprise policy, outdoor
Surveys and design for Ruckus, Aruba & CambiumWhat a survey adds that the platform cannot
Every one of these platforms markets some form of automatic radio management: it will pick channels, adjust power, and adapt to interference. All of it is real, and none of it is a substitute for a survey, for one structural reason.
Automatic RF management can only work with the access points it has, in the positions you put them. It can turn a badly placed access point down. It cannot move it, add one where there is a hole, get one out of a metal-clad plant room, or tell you that the reason the far aisle fails is a microwave link on the roof of the building opposite. Those are physical answers, and they come from a physical survey.
The second reason is capacity. Auto-RF optimises coverage; it has no idea how many devices you intend to put in the room, what they are, or what they will do. Coverage and capacity are different problems and the survey separates them.
The third is that the automation is only as good as its inputs. A survey gives you a measured channel plan, a measured noise floor and a measured density model to configure it from — instead of letting it discover your building the hard way, live, in front of your staff.
What we do, whichever platform you end up with
- Wireless site survey — predictive from drawings, on site with a real access point on a tripod, or both. How the surveys differ
- RF design — access point count, positions on a scaled plan, mounting type, antenna selection, channel plan and power. More on design
- Structured cabling — containment, Cat6A or fibre to each position, tested and certified in house. More on cabling
- Installation and commissioning — our own engineers, including work at height. More on installation
- Validation survey — we re-measure against the design and hand you the evidence. More on validation
- Migration — moving from one platform to another without a weekend of downtime, including running both in parallel while devices are moved across
SEGwifi is an independent Wi-Fi surveyor, designer and installer. Product names are the trade marks of their respective owners and are used here only to describe the equipment we survey, design and install. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting as an agent for any of them.
Common questions
Will you just recommend whichever one you make most on?
The survey report states the requirement — coverage thresholds, capacity per area, roaming behaviour, mounting constraints — before any product is named. If two platforms both meet it, we will say so and price both. You are also free to take the survey and buy the kit elsewhere; the report is written to be tendered.
We already have a preferred vendor. Is that a problem?
No, and it is common — many organisations have a standard for good reasons, including spares, support contracts and staff familiarity. We will survey and design to your standard and tell you plainly if the building will not support it well, along with what that would cost to mitigate.
Can you survey a system you did not install?
Yes. Most of our troubleshooting work is on networks somebody else put in. We measure what is there, identify the cause, and tell you whether it can be fixed by configuration and repositioning or whether it genuinely needs more hardware.
Do you hold partner accreditations with these vendors?
We present these platforms as equipment we work with, not as partner accreditations. Where SEGwifi holds a formal partner status it will be stated explicitly on the about page with the tier named — and not before.
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.