EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Eurotunnel provide Wi-Fi to drivers in two massive lorry parks (650 ha and 150 ha) on either side of the channel. Combined the parks are six times the size of Hyde Park and Eurotunnel needed a wireless survey tool to verify that their Wi-Fi met the design requirements. After trying some basic signal strength software they turned to Ekahau Site Survey to provide comprehensive coverage reports.
Using Ekahau Site Survey they can now quickly check Wi-Fi coverage and identify poorly covered areas with ease.
Eurotunnel, concessionaire of the cross Channel Fixed Link, is a rolling motorway used by 2.5 million cars and 1.5 million trucks every year. In 2015, over 20 million passengers crossed the Channel with Eurotunnel.
“Ekahau Site Survey has made it so much easier to check the Wi-Fi coverage of our lorry parks and prove that fast and reliable Wi-Fi has been provided to drivers.”
John Bird, Network Architect at Eurotunnel
CHALLENGES
John Bird, Network Architect at Eurotunnel was looking for a wireless survey tool that could verify Wi-Fi coverage in their lorry parks. Due to the nature of the site, vehicles were constantly moving around making it difficult to predict and deliver strong Wi-Fi coverage across the entire site.
John and his team needed a way to confirm the design requirements of the Wi-Fi had been met through a series of wireless site surveys. As the surveys needed to be conducted over a large outdoor space GPS integration would also be beneficial.
Initially they tried a basic handheld Wi-Fi signal strength testing tool. However this didn’t provide the team with enough information to effectively troubleshoot problem areas.
“Open Reality suggested the Ekahau Site Survey software to us and the free trial version looked very promising. It was going to do everything we needed and provide us with much more detailed reports,” said John.
THE SOLUTION
We recommend they looked at Ekahau Site Survey (ESS) as it performs hybrid site surveys, which means that one site survey walk-through is enough to collect it all: active survey (end-to-end or throughput), passive survey, and spectrum survey information. No pre-configuration is needed – just start surveying.
Its visual map-based analysis and real-time frequency monitor brings on-the-spot troubleshooting to a new level by combining spectrum and Wi-Fi data into one comprehensive, easy-to-read screen.
A network issues view summarises the Wi-Fi network condition; so it would show John and his team exactly where the network had failed and why.
What’s more ESS even has GPS enabled outdoor surveys, something the Eurotunnel team would really benefit from.
“Ekahau Site Survey is great – it’s now really quick and easy to check the Wi-Fi coverage of our site. The GPS functionality is a big help when surveying outdoor areas and although we initially needed some assistance setting it up the product support was really responsive and fixed the problem quickly,” summarised John.
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