The Evolution of Wireless in the Workplace

As wireless in the workplace has evolved over the years from a handful of hotspots in a typical office to today’s total coverage needs, many organizations have failed to redesign and keep up with current demands and expectations. There are a couple of key reasons a redesign should be considered.  First the quantity of devices connecting to the wireless network has multiplied and second, the migration of newer devices to the 5ghz band.  Originally the 2.4ghz band was the easy choice due to the fact that it has superior range and also 2.4ghz devices were genarally less expensive than those that use the 5ghz band.  The fact that there are only 3 non-overlapping channels was not a problem due to the relatively small number of devices that were connecting.  Now with the thousands of wifi enabled devices the 2.4ghz band has become overcrowded.  The 5ghz band utilizing 24 non-overlapping channels and is much less suseptable to non wifi interference. Manufacturers of wifi enabled devices who do not want their customers to experience poor performance with their product have begun producing their product utilizing the less crowded 5ghz band.  Amoung the hurdles organizations are running into to accomadate these newer devices by adding addional 5ghz radios is repositioning their existing AP’s.  Signal on the 5ghz band does not have the same coverage as the 2.4ghz band therefore more AP’s closer together are generally needed.  Additionally, with the higher data rates of the new standards, additional wiring and switch port count needs to be considered.

Questions to ask yourself about you existing wifi network?

Does your wireless network suffer from slow performance?

Do wifi users at your company report poor reliability?

Are you having trouble keeping up with the rapid changes in the wireless world?

Is your current wireless network complex and difficult to administer?

What to do next?

If you answered yes to any of the questions listed above and/or would like a hand determining a solution towards a future looking wireless plan please contact your Focus account manager and ask about our wireless offerings here at Focus.

Thanks for reading!

Mark Waruszyla

Sr. Network Engineer