Tech Tips

Why the Physical Layer matters

We are in the networking age of multi-gigabit wireless connections. Lightning-fast WiFi technologies move data from one place to another, routing business-critical traffic at speeds never imagined. There is, however, a critical component to the system that network engineers of today often overlook: the physical layer.

Wireless connections are carrying an unprecedented traffic load from one device to another. Overloaded radio frequencies will show themselves in the form of packet retries, CRC errors, and other common WiFi problems. Watch for these on both the 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz bands. They could very well be caused by channels that cannot handle the load of today’s wireless network environment.

Author Bio –
Product Manager – Wireless

Julio Petrovitch is a product manager at NetAlly, plus a certified CWNA/CWAP/CWDP/CWSP. He’s worked with network design, testing and validation for almost 20 years. Throughout his career he has had the opportunity to work with multiple networking technologies, including POTS, DSL, Copper/Fiber Ethernet, WiFi, and Bluetooth/BLE.