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Forum Discussion
WAC720 Mounting Orientation
Are the built-in antenna for the WAC720 truly omnidirectional? If not, is there a recommended orientation to mount the WAC720 for best coverage "in that direction"? EG: If it's centrally located...
Are the built-in antenna for the WAC720 truly omnidirectional?
If not, is there a recommended orientation to mount the WAC720 for best coverage "in that direction"?
It is omnidirectional. The antenna radiation pattern is nearly spherical on the WAC720.
EG: If it's centrally located in a warehouse and mounted on a high ceiling with a piece of unistrut (with the LEDs facing the floor) is that better (or the same) being mounted on that same unistrut with the LED facing horizontally?
If the built-in antenna are more directional, should it be pointed at the largest group of users that are farthest away?If it is truly omnidirectional, it doesn't matter.
The mental image I have is the WAC720 at the center of its radio-wave sphere..
In the installation and deployment of the WAC720, you will need to consider the factors that can affect the WiFi performance as well as you minimize obstacles and avoid interference. Check the articles that might help:
What factors can affect my WiFi performance?
Improving wireless range: Overview
The recommended antenna for the WAC 720 -(NETGEAR Indoor Dual Band Omni Antenna (ANT2511AC) 3 dBi Indoor Dual band antenna ANT2511AC for 2.4 GHz and 5G band)- is out of stock everyplace; otherwise, I'd buy two of them for extended, omnidirectional, range.
Be informed that both the WAC720 and the ANT2511AC are already EoL (End of LIfe) which is the reason why it is out of stock.
Regards,
DaneA
NETGEAR Community Team
Most modern APs offer almost optimal omni-directional coverage, typically something more to the front than to the back due to the electronics, cooling surfaces, ...
An omni-directional external antenna requires some antenna gain - otherwise the reach would be lower than the almost ideal near-dot built-in antennas due to connector and cable loss. Higher-gain antennas are built on multi-stacked dipoles or directional dish-like antennas - delivering higher ranges at the price of much narrower vertical coverage (ellipsis) resp, smaller sectors. As such, there is no "magic" in antennas with higher gains - the available power is just distributed differently.
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