Nelson recommends one every 60 to 80 feet for optimum voice coverage. “VoIP is extremely sensitive to latency and contention for the medium, so you need lots of APs for VoIP over Wi-Fi,” he says. Reducing the number of access points for Wi-Fi using leaky coax results in a given AP covering a wider scope, so the number of users each AP supports increases, he explains. Jeff Nelson, systems consultant at network integrator Netversant, however, warns against it. It would seem that, given the blanket coverage required to run VoIP over Wi-Fi, leaky coax might be a good way to fill in the coverage holes in out-of-the-way places. Leaky coax is often used to amplify signals around curves in tunnels for cellular voice signals, for example, where traditional antennas can’t bend, such as in sports stadiums. While normal coaxial cables use outer conductor shields to minimize RF leakage, the outer conductor of leaky coax contains openings to let a controlled amount of RF signal leak out into the air.
Leaky-line coax technology allows a single run of coax to function as a long, winding “antenna” that repeats signal coverage, albeit with no gain. You might be wondering if you can also use it to propagate Wi-Fi signals for improved coverage.Įxperts answer with a reluctant “yes.” Some recommend it only in cases where you want to extend basic data-connectivity coverage, for example, but say “no” when you are attempting to improve coverage to support VoIP over Wi-Fi and other mission-critical WLAN applications. Many companies have successfully used leaky coax as a distributed antenna system, or DAS, for boosting cellular voice signals throughout their organizations.
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