Wireless I.T. ?

missjanaya

Is there a such thing as this? What sort of certifications relate to this. I have got the basic infrastructure certifications from MTA and now I am looking to find a path toward a career in this field. Any advice is welcome thanks.

BerkshireHerd

Cisco has a certification track for Wireless.

CCNA Wireless - IT Certifications and Career Paths - Cisco Systems

RouteMyPacket

missjanaya wrote: »

Is there a such thing as this? What sort of certifications relate to this. I have got the basic infrastructure certifications from MTA and now I am looking to find a path toward a career in this field. Any advice is welcome thanks.

There are various Wireless tracks, Cisco and other vendors. If you ask me not enough people focus on wireless but for those who do truly know wireless there is a ton of work out there because I dare say a good 75% of Engineers know nothing about wireless outside of basic controller setup and AP's joining controller. There is soooooo much more to it. You should have the same performance wireless as you do wired in a proper design/config.

Cisco Live had an amazing WLAN design and the throughput and performance was awesome.

xenodamus

Sure - wireless networking is everywhere, and so are the network administrators/engineers who keep it functioning optimally. In an enterprise, wireless is usually maintained by the same guys who handle routing, switching, firewalls, etc. Unless you get into a very large environment - then it could be possible to specialize in wireless alone. You could also work for a cellular provider (AT&T/Verizon/CSpire/etc), although the skills for that industry will be slightly different.

A solid foundation in networking is a good place to start. I'd suggest the following:
- CCENT
- CCNA:Routing/Switching
- CCNA:Wireless
- CWNA

The CWNA is vendor neutral and will teach you a LOT of the theory behind wireless. I never picked up the cert, but did read a book on the topic when I was asked to start backing up our wireless admin. It was great material and taught me a lot.

missjanaya

What about a track toward cell phones technology or mobile?

Plantwiz

@missjanya,

What are you searching for? Your profile lists you are a network technician by trade, what type of networks are you currently supporting? What type of devices and how many users?

I am curious because of several of your posts I have read, but also with this question regarding "wireless IT", it seems pretty rare these days to support any sort of network users and not also support phones, VOIP, portable devices, tablets, and workstations and servers.

RouteMyPacket

xenodamus wrote: »

Sure - wireless networking is everywhere, and so are the network administrators/engineers who keep it functioning optimally.

I disagree, I have never walked into an Enterprise and the Wireless solution being "optimal". I do tend to see clueless engineers placing more and more AP's in an area which does nothing but make it worse. I have even seen two AP's taped together.

Wireless is all about RF, and RF is something most don't even know about let alone understand proper survey and placements. With that said I am not a wireless engineer but I have worked around some Sr. Wireless engineers and it was through them I came to realize that I know nothing about true wireless.

emerald_octane

Wireless isn't too tough if you know the basics and where to find info about the hardware. The Cisco Aironets and WLC architecture is well documented and respond well to a variety of different issues (roaming, Apple TVs etc).

User expectations are a whole other matter. I've had software engineers (who know nothing of wireless or networking) tell me that I should place an omnidirectional antenna directly over their heads for optimal speed rather than off to the side where the signal would be best (omnidirectional antenna beamwidth looks essentially like a doughnut).

xenodamus

RouteMyPacket wrote: »

I disagree, I have never walked into an Enterprise and the Wireless solution being "optimal". I do tend to see clueless engineers placing more and more AP's in an area which does nothing but make it worse. I have even seen two AP's taped together.

Ha...this is true. Adding more AP's was the standard solution to wireless complaints in our environment for some time (475 bed hospital with 400+ AP's). A wireless survey revealed they were causing as many problems as they were resolving, though.

+1 to the comment about RF, though. This is why I would highly recommend a CWNA text. Reading that helped me see how little I actually know about wireless. "You don't know what you don't know"....ya know?

missjanaya

Plantwiz wrote: »

@missjanya,

What are you searching for? Your profile lists you are a network technician by trade, what type of networks are you currently supporting? What type of devices and how many users?

I am curious because of several of your posts I have read, but also with this question regarding "wireless IT", it seems pretty rare these days to support any sort of network users and not also support phones, VOIP, portable devices, tablets, and workstations and servers.

I am a Network Tech by title my work is more close to desktop support. I am hoping to learn more about mobile device technology possibly device refurbishment is this a track in IT or is it more standard to go the CCNA to get into wireless devices.

Plantwiz

Small device refurbishment? Well, phone carriers will handle their own internally. Small shops service out-of-warranty apple devices and such. Larger service businesses may apply for Apple technician status and gain warranty repairs, but you need to have a certain dollar amount of sales to qualify and maintain this status. Usually, each vendor maintains their own certification, but if you service out of warranty product, you simply charge a rate or service fee.

Fixit.com or such has a ton of resources on the howto fix numerous items...sounds like what you are searching for, but as for a specific certification, aside from vendor specific ones, I have not seen anything around. A typical A+ will show you are proficient in the general sense, but nothing more.

NinjaBoy

RouteMyPacket wrote: »

I disagree, I have never walked into an Enterprise and the Wireless solution being "optimal". I do tend to see clueless engineers placing more and more AP's in an area which does nothing but make it worse.

It depends, but putting more WAPs in but reducing the signal strength of them solves the issue of bandwidth per device over a period of area. Depending on the kit and setup (centrally managed solutions vs standalone units) you can also create a wireless mesh, so your wireless has redundancy (if an access point goes down or loses network connectivity, the other WAPs will compensate)

Leaving the WAPs on full power while adding more WAPs causes more problems, if not correctly configured.

RouteMyPacket wrote: »

I have even seen two AP's taped together.

Ok that is bad, lol