Multi-property aged care WiFi: survey, design options, live verification.

Assess, model, validate, across a Victorian aged care portfolio.

Royal Freemasons operate seven residential aged care properties across metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria, providing care for over 1,200 older Victorians. Like most operators, the wireless networks at those properties had grown property-by-property, sized for guest WiFi and admin use, never tested against the requirements of clinical voice or location services. The question Liveport was engaged to answer was simple: can what’s already in the ceiling carry the next decade of clinical workflow, or does it need to change?

Phase 1, Survey existing networks

Liveport conducted active Ekahau surveys at the in-scope properties, measuring real-world AP coverage rather than relying on vendor predicted heatmaps. Spectrum analysis flagged 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz interference. Channel plans were reviewed against ACMA allocation and DFS behaviour. The survey identified dead zones, capacity bottlenecks, and security weaknesses, and crucially, baselined the existing roaming behaviour. For an aged care environment, roaming matters: a resident with a duress pendant or a nurse on a VoWiFi handset cannot have a dropped call between two access points.

Phase 2, Two design options, costed transparently

Rather than push a single recommendation, Liveport scoped two design options against the same coverage baseline so Royal Freemasons could decide based on cost, not assumption. Option A, VoWiFi-grade, met clinical voice and nurse-call requirements at a lower access point density. Option B, RTLS-ready, added the three-AP overlap geometry needed for indoor positioning, fast-roaming validation, and the placement discipline that makes RTLS accuracy possible. Each option was costed with a full hardware Bill of Materials, install scope, and ongoing support estimates. The operator chose with full information about what each design delivered and what it cost.

Phase 3, Live post-install verification

Most networks get signed off on a vendor’s word. Royal Freemasons commissioned Liveport to return after the install and confirm it. Active Ekahau walk-through. AP-by-AP performance against design spec. Roaming validated under realistic clinical mobility patterns. Any deviations between design and installation documented for remediation. The final report sat with Royal Freemasons, usable for compliance, accreditation and capital planning, and gave them the evidence that what they paid for was what they got.

Liveport doesn’t sell the AP fleet to Royal Freemasons. We don’t take commission on the install. We get paid to find what the vendor missed, give the operator real options, and verify that what they paid for is what they got. Same engineering discipline regardless of the brand on the box.

, Liveport engineering principle