Office WiFi Coverage Guide: How Many Access Points Do You Need?
Plan office WiFi coverage with confidence. Square metre calculations, AP placement rules and signal targets for Australian businesses.
Patchy office WiFi coverage kills productivity faster than almost any other IT problem. The room with the dead spot becomes the room nobody books. The corner where Zoom drops becomes the corner everyone avoids. The good news: with thoughtful WiFi access point planning, even an awkward floor plan can be made fully gigabit-fast — and the rules of thumb are simpler than most IT vendors will tell you. This guide gives you a square-metre formula, AP placement principles, and signal-strength targets so you can confidently plan, scope or audit your office wireless network.
The 1-minute answer: how many APs do I need?
For a typical Australian open-plan office with plasterboard walls, plan on:
- 1 access point per 100-150 sqm (or 1 per 25 desks)
- Minimum 2 APs for any office (single AP = no failover)
- Add an extra AP per 30 concurrent video-call users
- Subtract coverage area in heavy partition / brick / glass-walled spaces
Quick coverage table by office size
| Office size | Open plan APs | Partitioned APs | Switch ports needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to 100 sqm (10-15 desks) | 1-2 | 2-3 | 8-port PoE |
| 100-300 sqm (15-40 desks) | 2-3 | 3-5 | 8-port PoE |
| 300-600 sqm (40-80 desks) | 3-5 | 5-8 | 16/24-port PoE |
| 600-1,000 sqm (80-130 desks) | 5-8 | 8-12 | 24-port PoE |
| 1,000-2,000 sqm (130-260 desks) | 8-14 | 12-20 | 48-port PoE or stack |
| 2,000+ sqm | 14+ | 20+ | Multi-switch + controller |
The factors that change the AP count
1. Wall and partition material
Plasterboard absorbs ~3 dB. Brick or concrete absorbs 8-15 dB. Mirrored glass and metal partitions are killers — sometimes worse than concrete. Walk through the office: every brick wall or full-height partition usually means an extra AP.
2. Device density per AP
A modern Wi-Fi 6 / 6E AP can technically handle 200+ associated clients, but real-world performance peaks at 30-60 active devices per AP. Count phones, laptops, tablets, printers, IoT devices and guest BYOD. Open offices full of hot-desking now average 3-4 devices per person.
3. Ceiling height
Standard 2.7 m office ceilings work great. Above 4 m (warehouses, retail, atriums), coverage falls off and you'll need wall mounts or directional APs angled downward.
4. Application mix
Email and web work fine on -70 dBm signal. Video calls, VoIP and 4K screen sharing need -65 dBm or better. CAD, video editing or large file transfers benefit from -60 dBm and 5/6 GHz priority.
How to plan AP placement
Start with a floor plan
Print or import a scaled floor plan. Mark walls (annotate material), windows, electrical risers, comms cabinets and any equipment you can't drill above (fish tanks, server racks, alarm sensors).
Place APs in a triangle / hex pattern
Avoid lining APs up in a row. Stagger them in a triangle pattern across the ceiling so each device always has 2 APs in range — this is what enables seamless roaming.
Mount on the ceiling, not the wall
Ceiling mounting gives you a 360° downward radiation pattern, which is what most office APs are designed for. Wall mounts work for corridors and warehouses but waste 50% of the antenna pattern in offices.
Power over Ethernet (PoE) is mandatory
Always feed APs from a PoE+ (802.3at) or PoE++ (802.3bt for Wi-Fi 6E/7) switch. This eliminates power outlets near the ceiling, simplifies installation, and lets you remotely reboot APs from the switch.
Signal strength targets
| Signal (dBm) | Quality | Suitable for |
|---|---|---|
| -30 to -50 | Excellent | Multi-gig file transfer, 4K video |
| -51 to -65 | Very good | Video calls, VoIP, normal office work |
| -66 to -70 | Good | Web browsing, email, basic video |
| -71 to -80 | Marginal | Email and basic browsing only |
| Below -80 | Poor / dropping | Likely to disconnect |
Worked example: 600 sqm Sydney office
30 staff, mixed open-plan and 6 partitioned meeting rooms, plasterboard walls, 2.7 m ceilings, heavy daily Zoom usage:
- Coverage: 600 / 130 = 4-5 APs
- Add 1 AP for the boardroom (heavy video) → 5-6 APs
- Add 1 AP for the kitchen / breakout zone
- Total: 6-7 Wi-Fi 6/6E APs
- 24-port PoE+ switch with VLAN support
- Cloud-managed controller (Ubiquiti, Aruba, Meraki) for one-pane management
Common WiFi planning mistakes
- One mega-AP for the whole office — 5 GHz doesn't travel that far, no failover
- Putting all APs in the comms cabinet — they need to be where the people are
- Ignoring 6 GHz on Wi-Fi 6E hardware — clients want clean spectrum
- Mismatched SSIDs across APs — breaks roaming, causes call drops
- Auto-channel left on default — almost always picks worse channels than manual planning
- No site survey after install — assume you have coverage instead of measuring it
Validate with a quick site survey
After installation, walk every desk, meeting room and breakout zone with a tool like NetSpot, Ekahau Survey or even WiFi Analyser on Android. Confirm signal strength is stronger than -65 dBm everywhere staff actually work. Plug any holes with a single extra AP — far cheaper than chasing complaints for the next 12 months.
Time to plan your network properly
Tech Kingdom carries Australia's most popular business-grade APs, PoE switches and mesh systems from Ubiquiti, TP-Link Omada, Cisco and Aruba. Browse our business networking and Wi-Fi range for tested, in-stock hardware ready to ship same day. Need help sizing? Send us your floor plan and our team will scope an AP count, switch and controller package that fits your office and budget.
