Compare
Edge Connector software agent vs. dedicated sensor hardware — deployment cost, outage resilience, MSP fit, and customer reporting compared side by side.
| Feature | TekFidelityIQ | 7SIGNAL |
|---|---|---|
| Deployment model | Software agent (Edge Connector) on any small device | Dedicated hardware sensors at each location |
| Hardware required | $100–$200 mini-PC per site | $300–$800+ per sensor × 8–15 sensors per site |
| Monitoring during WAN outage | ✓ Buffers locally, full sync on recovery | ✗ Loses cloud visibility when WAN is down |
| LTE/5G out-of-band support | ✓ Native out-of-band monitoring | Limited |
| Customer-facing portal | ✓ Built-in, per-site health scores + reports | NOC-facing primarily, requires custom work |
| RF measurement accuracy | AP-side telemetry (sufficient for 80% of issues) | Dedicated sensor measurement from client perspective |
| Multi-site MSP fit | ✓ Purpose-built multi-tenant architecture | Better suited to single large facilities |
| Monthly health reports | ✓ Automated PDF included | Requires custom reporting work |
Choose 7SIGNAL if: you need the most precise per-location RF measurement from the client's perspective, you're managing a single large campus or healthcare facility, and sensor hardware cost is not the primary constraint. 7SIGNAL's dedicated sensors give you data that AP-telemetry tools genuinely can't match for non-Wi-Fi interference detection and precise coverage mapping.
Choose TekFidelityIQ if: you manage multiple sites or multiple customers, the cost to scale matters, you need monitoring that survives internet outages, and a customer-facing health report is a standard part of your service offering. TekFidelityIQ's Edge Connector model keeps costs linear with site count and gives you a complete outage timeline instead of a data gap.