Setting Up a Robust Wi-Fi Network

These days, with bandwidth rising substantially, most businesses have to have a robust and secure wireless connection to support all the devices that are in need of connection. This opens up a lot of questions on how best to go about doing this. Today, we will discuss some of the very best practices you should consider when you are putting together your business’ Wi-Fi network. 

What is the Purpose of Your Wireless Network?

One of the most important things that needs to happen before you set up your business’ wireless network is to identify how you plan to use it. Your business might just be looking for a cost effective way to gain more coverage or give your customers or vendors a way to access the Internet while they are at your location; or they may want to create a more inclusive network for mobile devices. Regardless of what you want to build the network for it is important that you understand the demands that are going to be placed on the network before rolling it out. 

You will also want to consider auditing the hardware that you plan to connect to a wireless network as some older devices won’t support the newer Wi-Fi standards. It’s not a deal breaker, since routers can support older devices, but it is a consideration that makes things a little more complex to manage.

After you take measure of your business’ technology, you have to decide how far you want to extend your wireless network. Do you want it to extend the Wi-Fi past your business’ doors? Do you want to set it up where it’s only available to certain devices or people? Having a plan on what you want to do can go a long way toward keeping the whole process more simple. 

You Need the Right Bandwidth

One of the biggest considerations you will need to know will be how much bandwidth your organization needs. By taking time and projecting possible bandwidth you will be able to learn a couple critical details for your implementation. One is how much you will pay for the bandwidth and another is how your bandwidth will be spent. Once you know all the particulars, you can successfully calculate your business’ networking costs. 

Get the Right Hardware

Acquiring the hardware you’ll need is pretty straightforward, but you’ll need to get hardware that supports the wireless standard you plan on using. The most utilized standards for high-speed wireless transmission are 802.11a and 802.11g. 802.11b is also reliable but delivers slower Internet speeds.

Deployment

Ultimately, the placement of your hardware is the biggest consideration as far as setting up a reliable Wi-Fi connection. Some businesses will need multiple connections running from multiple routers. You will want to set your router up centrally and strategically. Additionally, a lot of businesses want to build their wireless network to include guest use, so you will also want to consider how available your wireless signal is in order to fulfill the next task. 

Plan and Implement Security

Your Wi-Fi hardware runs an operating system just like your computer and you will want to configure it to meet the needs of your business. There are security options that need to be consistently updated to keep unwanted threats out of your network. This is the part of the process where you could benefit greatly from the knowledge and experience of a certified technician. While you may understand that you need to update firewall permissions, assign user access, and much more, a professional will understand the specifics of it and can really work to keep your Wi-Fi network much more secure than it would otherwise be.

DIY Tips

The IT professionals at BNMC can help you design and manage a dynamic and robust wireless network, but if you feel like you can do it yourself, here are some things you should take note about:

• Set Your Router’s Password - Your router will come with a default admin password that can easily be found by searching online. You will need to change this password on setup. 
• Toggle off your Service Set Identifier (SSID) - Your SSID is what passers-by see when they check for Wi-Fi. Toggling this setting off will hide your availability. 
• Change default SSID - You’ll want to change your SSID name and password from the default settings on your router.
• Turn on MAC filtering - If you plan on implementing some access control, you will need to turn this setting on.

Your wireless network is important to your business, and it is relatively easy to manage, but a professional perspective is really good to have when you are dealing with your business’ computing networks. To get that professional perspective, give BNMC a call today to talk to one of our consultants at (978) 482-2020.