Unfortunately when deploying wireless LANs, we have to abide by the laws of physics. Wireless signals propagating through the air lose strength while encountering natural and manmade obstacles. It would be nice if RF signals would propagate without an bounds, but that simply doesn't occur on Earth.

Unforeseen RF transmission impairments, such as cordless phones that use the 2.4GHz band, can cause frustration when deploying wireless LANs. In order to maintain happy users, it's a good idea to perform an RF site survey before installing access points. The survey can uncover problems such as RF interference and multipath propagation, two troubles that you should tackle before moving to far forward.

As I've been discussing lately, radio frequency (RF) interference causes lower throughput in wireless LANs (WLANs). It's important that you learn as much as possible about what causes interference and what to do to minimize its impacts in order to maximize performance. Here we'll focus on the interference generated by 2.4GHz cordless phones.

Potential sources of interference include cordless phones, microwave ovens, and Bluetooth-enabled devices. The presence of these types of devices can degrade the performance of an 802.11 wireless LAN.