Business WiFi That Actually Works: How to Fix Dead Zones and Dropouts in Commercial Buildings (Southeast Michigan)
If your WiFi works in one part of the building but drops in others, you’re not alone. We see this constantly in Southeast Michigan—especially in facilities with additions over time, mixed construction materials, and lots of devices competing for airtime.
Whether you’re in Ann Arbor, Detroit, Ypsilanti, Brighton, Novi, Saline, or West Bloomfield, unreliable WiFi creates the same business problems:
Calls and meetings cut out
POS systems lag or disconnect
Cloud apps slow down
Guests complain
Staff wastes time “reconnecting”
Here’s what typically causes WiFi issues in commercial buildings—and how to fix them the right way.
1) “More Bars” Doesn’t Mean Better WiFi
A device can show strong signal and still perform poorly. Why? Because WiFi performance depends on more than signal strength:
Interference from neighboring networks/devices
Channel congestion (too many devices on the same channel)
Airtime saturation (too many clients per access point)
Bad roaming (devices stick to far-away APs)
This is why throwing in a bigger router almost never solves business WiFi.
2) The Most Common Causes of Dead Zones in Southeast Michigan Buildings
Dense materials
Concrete, brick, metal studs, and low-E glass block or reflect WiFi. Warehouses and medical buildings are especially brutal environments.
Ceiling and layout realities
Drop ceilings can hide HVAC, ductwork, and metal obstructions that wreck signal.
“One access point per wing” design
This is the classic setup that looks fine on paper and fails in real life once people show up with phones, laptops, printers, scanners, and IoT devices.
3) Access Point Placement Matters More Than Brand
Commercial WiFi should be designed around how your building is used:
Where people actually work or gather
High-density zones (conference rooms, break areas, lobbies)
Areas with roaming devices (warehouses, tablets, scanners)
Outdoor coverage needs (lots, patios, loading docks)
A professional install uses placement and configuration—not luck—to eliminate dead zones.
4) Backhaul and Cabling: The Hidden Reason WiFi “Feels Slow”
Even if the wireless side is perfect, WiFi will feel broken if the wired infrastructure isn’t.
Common issues:
Old cabling runs that are damaged or poorly terminated
Switches that can’t provide enough PoE power for access points
Network loops or misconfigured switching
Underpowered uplinks between closets
Overloaded ISP connection with no traffic prioritization
This is where structured cabling and network design become just as important as the access points.
5) Guest WiFi Should Never Touch Business Devices
One of the biggest mistakes we see: guest WiFi sharing the same network as business systems.
Best practice:
Separate guest network (VLAN/segmentation)
Bandwidth limits for guests
Security rules to prevent access to internal devices
This protects POS systems, computers, printers, and sensitive devices from “accidental access.”
6) A Simple WiFi Reality Check You Can Run Today
If you want to test whether you have a design issue:
Walk your building while on a video call (or WiFi call)
Note the exact spots it drops or gets choppy
Test the same path at a different time of day
Check if problems spike during busy hours
If performance changes based on time/day, it’s usually congestion/interference—not just signal.
Want WiFi That Doesn’t Become a Daily Problem?
Tier One Technologies designs and installs commercial network infrastructure built for real-world use—so your WiFi supports your business instead of slowing it down. If your building has dead zones, dropouts, or “slow but we don’t know why” performance, the fix is usually a proper site survey, placement plan, and clean network configuration.
➡️ Schedule a free site assessment today and we’ll review your layout, coverage pain points, and the most practical path to stable business WiFi.