Wireless Access

I'm sure that many of you reading this are familiar with the problem of cabling contractors wishing to install APs on walls instead of ceilings. One solution to this is to install the AP on an Oberon type right angle bracket, but sometimes there is a significant push back based on aesthetic concerns - the thing does not look good enough.

The AP-335 Series AP data sheet (for example) suggests the AP is optimised for horizontal mounting, but I'd be interested to know what kind of performance difference one might notice if the AP was mounted vertically. Would the difference be significant, or noticable even? 

It'd be good to have something solid to go back to the contractors with rather than just "it'd be gainst the manufacturer's recommendation", and it'd also be good to be able to know when making such a compromise would be acceptable. 

From the AP-335 datasheet:

"Built-in antennas are optimized for horizontal ceiling mounted orientation of the AP. The downtilt angle for maximum gain is roughly 30 degrees."

Imagine the antenna pattern of any of our campus access points with integrated antennas to look like a "fat cone" where the top of the cone is at the AP, and the surface of the cone represents the direction with the peak gain.

By mounting the AP to the wall, you're basically putting that cone on its side.

While the coverage pattern looks quite different in both scenarios, there are pros and cons in terms of coverage for both. While designed/optimized for ceiling mount, the antenna patterns can be used for vertical mounting as well, but horizontal range may be reduced, and the coverage area will not be omni. You'll see significant bleeding into other floors as well.

Thanks for the responses. 

I'm not to worries about coverage - i acknowledge that the pattern will be different. I was thinking more in terms of polarisation of the antenna being optimised for one orientation rather than another. 

I guess any variation based on this would just present as lower RSSI to the client equipment?