Support
By their very nature, wireless networks are complex and
susceptible to interference and potential service-impacting factors that wired
networks avoid. A carefully designed WLAN, and the use of the latest intelligent
WLAN equipment, will help avoid these problems. However, you will undoubtedly
encounter specific wireless-related issues during the support of your
solution.
It is important that you develop a clear technical support framework. Your
technical support staff should be trained in common wireless-related problems,
and a tiered support structure is recommended, as
follows:
-
Tier 1 (or helpdesk support) should be familiar with common
WLAN problems and issues.
-
Tier 2 is usually a support team that handles more complex
problems escalated by the helpdesk; this tier is often made up of IT engineers
or analysts who were personally involved in the deployment or who have been
specifically trained in wireless networking issues.
-
Tier 3 support may be a senior team of wireless or networking
experts, or it may denote an escalation path to the actual solutions provider or
equipment manufacturer.
Regardless of the possible installation of management hardware
or software, your support framework should be in place before you commence
deployment. As mentioned elsewhere in this chapter, the initial adoption phase
will be the most support intensive, and you will undoubtedly see a spike in the
number of support calls and cases during this time. Your support staff, whether
you have a tiered framework or not, should be prepared for this and ready to
assist your users.
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