Setting up Office Wireless Network? Do Not Make these Mistakes

With the ever increasing growth of technology the mobile devices are today becoming an essential asset of the workplaces. They have almost become synonyms to the coffee vending machines in the offices. This also calls for a swift and much reliable wireless network as well. But setting up one is not as simple as it sounds. In fact for the first timers, putting together a robust Wi-Fi network that is capable enough to support your business can turn out to be a pretty daunting task.

Mentioned below are common pitfalls which you can certainly avoid while setting up your office wireless network.

Suitable Placement of Wi-Fi access points

The physical setting of your Wi-Fi access point plays a very crucial role. Perhaps the simplest way to locate the possible location of your Wi-Fi access is to visualize the wireless signals emerging from the access points in a straight line. Avoid the parts of your office that are blocked by three or more obstructions to avoid experiencing weak or non-existent office network signals.

Under Provisioning Your Wi-Fi Network 

Do not commit the mistake of relying solely on one access point for your office IT setup, regardless of the network load. The ubiquity of tablets, laptops and above all the smart phones in the workplace highlights the probability of having dozens of wireless devices connected even with 10-12 employees. Therefore installing multiple access points certainly minimizes the risk of productivity killing bottlenecks.

Overloading the Wireless Router

Though it’s perfect to start off your network with entry level wireless routers, but as the office IT setup grows variety of consumer grade routers get overloaded because of addition of high-throughput appliances such as NAS or the IP cameras. Therefore setting up of a standalone network switch and a wireless access point can offer you the solution.

Do Not Get Drifted with the Speeds shown on the Box

There is a guaranteed scope of getting overwhelmed by the 350Mbps and 400Mbps speeds promised by 802.11n wireless routers for your office network setup. But you need to remember that these are all theoretical readings which do not really stand accountable in the actual conditions.

Changing Your Router’s Default Channel 

It is very important for you to change the default channel on your device when you set it up. It’s pretty much easy as there are only three non-overlapping channels namely one, six and eleven. Certain Wi-Fi access channels offer the information about the channels they are currently using plus they also display the signal strengths of each. These routers offer significant help for altering such settings.

Ignoring the 5GHz Band

You need to ensure that your 5GHz radio is enabled in case your router is offering simultaneous dual band. This allows offloading of laptops supporting 5GHz by freezing up the 2.4GHz band for the other devices including tablets and smart phones.