With the internet becoming an almost inevitable necessity at the modern day work place, Wi-Fi has equally become essential considering the growing use of wireless devices. Whether it’s the mobile phone, the laptop or IP cameras and phone IP telephone systems, a steady wireless network is important to guarantee a steady connection to the internet for better working experience. With these facts in mind, it’s vital to choose your office Wi-Fi with great care.
Points To Consider When Choosing Your Office Wi-Fi
Look At the Office Layout before Designing
The office layout plan is the first thing you need to look at when designing your wireless network. This is because most wireless access points have some limitations when it comes to distance. If the area is too large, you need to calculate how far your access point of choice can broadcast just to make sure everyone who needs to connect can get the signal.
Look At the Kind of Walls Used Within the Area
The other factor to consider will be the types of walls within the office area. Wi-Fi does not broadcast through solid walls and this may restrict your signal to shorter distances than the chosen access point can actually cover. Offices that have partitions with solid blocked walls can be a big challenge. If the partitions are done using glass, it is often easier because the signal can easily seep through the glass walls.
Consider the Expected Users and Their Accessibility Rights
The need for a guest Wi-Fi is another vital element to look at. Most if not all of the software managed access points have a provision to include the standard SSID as well as an additional guest SSID both running from the same software. Guest SSIDs will always be useful since they give the network administrator an option to separate the guest users from the main cooperate network. This ensures that the risk of unauthorized access to mainstream shared resources such as printers and data bases is prohibited for such users.
What Are The Main Advantages Of Using Software Controlled Access Points?
You can configure more than 1 SSID. There are numerous pros to using these types of access points. These will range from the fact that you can have more than one SSID configured on the same network to the fact that they will offer seamless hand-off while moving across the office from one access point to the next. Since all the access points are usually reading from the software, your devices do not have to log off and search for a new SSID as you move across the office space.
Manage your connected devices form one point (DHCP Server management)
You also get an opportunity to avoid having so many DHCP servers within the same network. Stand-alone access points sometimes can be difficult to manage especially if they start leasing addresses on your network. Troubleshooting problems within a software managed wireless network is also easier considering that the software will often pick out all available devices. In normal circumstances, the software can even give you a quick status analysis giving you a quick head start when looking for a fault within the network.
Major Concerns When Dealing With Software Managed Access Points
Perhaps one of the most common concerns when dealing with software managed access points include the fact that they do not come cheap and secondly; they are not straight forward plug and play from the box such as most common access points that stand on their own. It is however worth noting that in spite of the cost of the devices and their need for higher skilled technical expertise for setup and management, they are a better option since they will ensure your network is steady and better managed.
