Accelerate Your Enterprise Wi-Fi Network With NPM Tools

As businesses expand and add new employees, devices, and operations, enterprise IT teams must continually push their networks to keep up. Speed is no longer a luxury, but it is a necessity for staying ahead in an increasingly competitive market. This is especially true for enterprises which require reliable and high-performance Wi-Fi for their daily operations.

Network technology is constantly advancing, helping businesses cope with increasing demands. However, there is always a need to maximize efficiency before investing in additional and often costly network infrastructure. Employing Network Performance Monitoring (NPM) tools can help you identify potential choke points in your enterprise Wi-Fi throughput, allowing you to maintain productivity and speed.

Any network, regardless of its capacity, has limits to the amount of data transfer it can handle at any given time. Factors such as the number of active endpoints, the type and volume of data flow, and peak versus slow business hours constantly affect this metric. NPM diagnostic tools are designed to account for these ever-changing network dynamics. They can alert you to how, where, what, and when your enterprise Wi-Fi network is reaching maximum transmission rates or losing data along the way. With these performance insights, you can make key adjustments to minimize bottlenecks, reduce data loss, and optimize network performance.

Start by checking your hardware. A reliable enterprise Wi-Fi network depends on the infrastructure supporting it. Faulty hardware can often be the primary cause of network speed and reliability issues, and NPM tools can alert you to these problems and help you resolve the issue faster. NPM tools also monitor speed and reliability across your entire network, raising a red flag when and where throughput congestion consistently occurs. Recognizing and learning from these patterns can save time and effort when troubleshooting network issues.

To maintain the highest network speed for your enterprise, consider limiting or scheduling network application use. Many business operations and company equipment rely on specialized applications that run on the general network, bogging it down for everyone and everything on it. Assess these apps to determine if they need to run on the network and, if so, reschedule and restrict their use to off-peak hours when possible.

If limiting network application use is not possible, be sure your network is a robust one and provides the flexibility to grow. For example, Enterprise Business Wi-Fi by Astound, allows for incremental zone-by-zone expansion for virtually unlimited growth. This ensures the breadth of broadband you need to support day-to-day operations, while protecting against obsolescence tomorrow.

To create the best possible network experience for your employees and, more importantly, your clients, implement the following hardware placement and configuration best practices to avoid signal blockages and data slowdowns:

• • Locate access points as physically high up as possible
  • Areas with thick walls and lots of furniture require a stronger antenna array
  • Utilize heatmapping and signal mapping tools to identify signal interferences
  • Deploy an overlapping mesh network to provide the strongest signal
  • Prioritize the 5GHz channel for times of heaviest data use

Additionally, many access point hardware models allow you to set Quality of Service (QoS) parameters. These modifiable settings enable you to prioritize business-critical traffic during the day and limit bandwidth usage throughout specific parts of the network. Use the information from your NPM tools to make strategic QoS adjustments for your enterprise Wi-Fi network.

Another simple and cost-effective investigative tool is performing network speed tests regularly and at various times of the day. Even if your enterprise Wi-Fi network speed is sufficient, numerous small factors can impact throughput, and these can accumulate, leading to significant slowdowns. For example, identify why speed consistently lags from 3-4PM daily and look into possible solutions.

If you haven’t deployed NPM diagnostic tools for your enterprise Wi-Fi network yet, now is the time to get started. Knowledge is not only power in this case but also your biggest asset for increasing speed, enhancing reliability, and maintaining positive and profitable customer experiences.

Astound Business Solutions offers simple, affordable, and secure Wi-Fi options for businesses of all sizes, including enterprise clients. Our solutions support hundreds of devices and keep everyone connected wherever they work.

Learn more: Enterprise Wi-Fi Solutions from Astound Business.