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Cisco Aironet Series 2700/3700 Access Points Deployment Guide
Cisco Aironet Series 3700 Access Point
Figure 74
Top Covers Removed from AP and Module to Show How Antennas are Mounted
Figure 75
Coverage is Optimized for Ceiling Placement and Radiates Omni-Directionally
If the AP is not mounted on the ceiling but rather on a wall, this may be acceptable for smaller
deployments such as hotspots, kiosks, transportation or smaller coverage areas. But, in an enterprise
deployment it could cause excessive roams because the signal (think of the diagram above turned on its
side) can radiate on the floor above and below rather than downward in a uniform 360 pattern.
If the module is installed in an AP 3600e (with external antennas), the 802.11ac module will still behave
as described in
Figure 75
and if the dipole antennas are used, the AP will continue to provide an
omni-directional coverage pattern. If a patch or other directional or high gain antenna is used, it can
create a condition where you have two different coverage patterns. Because both the 5 GHz module radio
and the internal 5 GHz 802.11n radio work together as one “blended” radio, it is best to keep cells
uniform by using dipoles or by verifying if coverage is acceptable for your intended application.
