Ensuring Reliable Connectivity Across the Entire Coverage Area

Users expect seamless, stable Wi-Fi not just near the Access Point (AP), but across the entire coverage area: homes, offices, factories, and campuses.

But in real-world environments, client devices often face:

• • Weak signals at the edges of coverage zones.
  • Variable performance on 2.4 GHz vs. 5 GHz.
  • Increased latency and jitter in boundary areas.
  • Unexpected disconnects during roaming or mobility.

The Challenge

A client device may pass functional testing yet fail in real deployments if it:

• • Drops connections at coverage boundaries.
  • Fails to adapt data rates for stable connectivity.
  • Delivers poor throughput or inconsistent performance in weak-signal zones.

These issues ultimately result in degraded user experience and reduced trust in the device’s real-world reliability.

WiCheck: Bringing Real-World Range Testing to the Lab

Alethea’s WiCheck enables systematic Wi-Fi client range measurement by emulating real-world conditions while tracking key performance metrics.

With WiCheck, teams can:

• • Test client connectivity on 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 6Ghz under varying distance conditions.
  • Measure throughput (upload/download), signal strength (RSSI), latency, and jitter as range increases.
  • Evaluate rate adaptation efficiency to avoid disconnects at the edge.
  • Confirm consistent QoE across the entire coverage zone.

Range Test Insights

The Range Test evaluates how far a Wi-Fi Client DUT can operate from an access point (AP) before losing connectivity and the ability to send/receive data.

This evaluation is crucial in assessing real-world performance and user experience.

Results – Smart Home Clients @ 5 GHz

• • • Smart home client-A: Achieved a stable connection up to 99 meters.
    • Smart home client-B: Achieved a stable connection up to 62 meters.

Value of Range Measurement for Smart Home Client OEMs

1. Comparative benchmarking: The differentiation in performance between devices enables manufacturers to benchmark against competitors or successive product versions. These insights help identify areas for improvement in radio design, antenna tuning, or software optimization.

2. Deployment planning: Range measurement data supports better deployment planning by identifying suitable operating scenarios for each device. It ensures reliable performance within recommended ranges and assists system integrators in selecting devices that can handle environments with thick walls or complex layouts.

3. Quality assurance: Range KPIs play a vital role in quality assurance strategies. They provide actionable insights for investigating and resolving connection drops at specific distances or in homes with varying construction materials, thereby improving overall product reliability and customer satisfaction.

Real-World Testing Scenarios

• • Enterprise Wi-Fi – Ensure employees stay connected in every corner of an office or campus.
  • Home networks – Validate client experience across multi-room or multi-floor environments.
  • Industrial IoT – Confirm reliability for sensors and devices at far ends of factory floors.

Key WiCheck Capabilities

• • Multi-band testing across 2.4/5/6 GHz.
  • Systematic range simulation with detailed performance logging.
  • Automated analysis of throughput, RSSI, latency, jitter at boundary conditions.
  • Flexible test setups: RF Isolated or OTA environments.
  • Reproducible, automated workflows for regression and CI/CD validation.

Why It Matters

• • Ensures consistent client device connectivity at the defined range from the Access Point.
  • Assure consistent QoE for users everywhere.
  • Reduce post-deployment troubleshooting costs.
  • Ensures readiness of client devices for demanding Wi-Fi 7 environments and multi-band deployments.

Ready to Validate Range Performance?

WiCheck makes Wi-Fi client range testing practical, repeatable, and field-realistic — so you can ship with confidence.