Being tethered to a desk, cubicle, or conference room is just no fun, and with the advent of wireless networks, no one has to be “siloed” anymore.    The newest 802.11n specifications also provide for greater range and security than ever before, so the old worries about hackers discovering vital data from the airwaves are not as prominent.

What IS a concern with wireless networking is coverage, and access point handoff for mobile devices.  With any wireless network, you will have some dead spots in a building. Rather than getting upset about it, simply plan for it.   Walk through your offices with test equipment from a reputable firm like Air Magnet, locate the dead spots, and make sure that tethered 10/100 Fast Ethernet connections are available in those areas.

A thorough magnetic review of your office space will also help you plan where to place access points, or areas where signals are received and rebroadcast.  It is best to purchase newer access points if you have employees who “roam” – like technicians, warehouse workers, or forklift operators.  Newer access points have longer ranges and can handoff the signal more quickly to a new access point once your employee travels outside the best range for the first access point.   Otherwise, the signal drops and an interruption in service is seen.  Advances in predictive technology, similar to that used in read channels for disc drives is applied in newer WiFi equipment.

802.11 as a standard also provides for something called “antenna diversity” – which simply means that several antennas are used and the signal picked up from the best placed one.  If you are WiFi-enabling mobile objects such as hospital beds, you have no way of predicting proper antenna placement.  Having more than one increases the probability that one of the antennas will have a clear, strong signal.  It’s like buying more than one lottery ticket, your odds of winning increase.

Make sure your antennas are placed in locations where they have no nearby EMI sources such as other wiring.  Place them correctly so the signal can rise above any metal shielding or other obstacles.

It goes without saying that a solid wired foundation is necessary before building a strong wireless network.   Your service provider should be good to his “SLA” or “service-level-agreement” and you should have at least cat 5e cabling connecting your WAN service to the wireless router and access points you have installed.  If you need to upgrade your internal wiring or would like expert help in planning your wireless network installation, call professional data installation experts for assistance.  The right professionals are more than willing to help plan, design, implement or upgrade a wonderful 802.11x network for your company.

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Wireless networks are fashionable for small businesses, and it is no wonder.  Having a good wireless network allows employees to work anywhere in the building without being tethered to their offices.   Customers and visitors can work in conference rooms, after being given guest access to the network.  And costly wire drops become unnecessary.

However, there are key tradeoffs to be considered – and more and more companies are opting for both a wired and a wireless network so that the benefits of both can be combined.

Wireless networks are subject to “dead” spots within any building. Although this can be minimized by careful placement of access points and the use of analysis tools such as those available from Air Magnet, dead spots are unavoidable in most structures.  The fastest bandwidth available with any wireless networking protocol today is 55 Mbps, as opposed to 100 Mbps for fast Ethernet wired networks (with Gigabit Ethernet networks offering up to 1,000 Mbps speeds).  And they are notoriously easier to hack into, although newer security protocols such as WPA-2 are being used to address this concern.

Wired networks limit freedom, but are tougher to hack into and very reliable.  Many companies provide workers the choice between the two options – if they need to work in a conference room, a wireless network is available to enable this.  If they need speed and reliability, a cable drop is available to plug into their laptops or PCs.   Added security connections can be had by using wired fiber optic Ethernet drops instead of copper Ethernet drops.

VoIP is also deployed only with wired connections today – as call quality with VoIP over 802.11 is not yet considered solid.  Enterprise VoIP desktop phones from all major manufacturers require that a copper Cat5, Cat5E or Cat6 Ethernet cable be connected.  ATAs or “analog telephone adapters” also require a hard wired connection.

When considering what to deploy for your company, if you have the resources, both a wired and wireless network is optimum.  If you have a smaller company and only want one or the other, deploying VoIP or voice-over-IP is a great cost saving step and requires the installation of static wiring to work properly.  This means a structured cabling network is your best choice.  The monthly cost savings realized from eliminating long distance toll charges and high land line charges will more than pay for the added expense of installing copper cabling over a short amount of time.

If you liked this article, tell all your friends about it. They’ll thank you for it. If you have a blog or website, you can link to it or even post it to your own site (don’t forget to mention http://www.intsysinst.com as the original source).