Three Wi-Fi “Best-Practices” for Small Business

Small business Wi-Fi networks often fall into a “set-it-and-forget-it” mode. In the beginning, lots of research, attention, and care are given, especially during selection and setup. But once all the settings, usernames, and passwords are established, and everyone is cruising online, then the focus quickly turns back to managing daily business. After that, so long as the system remains up and running, it’s generally taken for granted. There are always bigger fish to fry.

As time goes by, the company expands. More employees, workstations, and devices are added, demanding more slices of the bandwidth pie. Processes become more complex, reliability grows in importance, and there are greater amounts of private information that need protection day and night. Plus, Wi-Fi technology has likely advanced. And yet, chances are you’ve allowed yourself the “comfort” of becoming complacent with a now sluggish network — one that’s overtaxed, unreliable, and more vulnerable than ever to cyberattacks.

The time has finally come to deploy a new small business Wi-Fi solution. So here are three sure-fire, best-practice tips to help make your next network a more rapid, reliable, and secure one for all.

What You’ll Learn

• How to correctly size your network
• Ways to make it more dependable
• What to do to strengthen security

To start off on the right foot, the first thing you’ll want to estimate correctly is network speed and capacity — not just what you need today, but what you’ll grow into tomorrow. High-speed internet for small business comes in all types and sizes, but here are a few capacity recommendations that can help you make the right choice.

• • 110 Mbps for up to 10 users or devices
  • 250 Mbps for 10 to 25 users or devices
  • 500 Mbps for 25 to 50 users or devices
  • 1 Gig for 50 to 100 users
  • 1.2 Gig for more than 100 users or devices

Every business is different, and traffic loads vary depending on multiple factors, but the tips above provide an effective rule of thumb for how to approach sizing.

Read more insights on how to properly plan Wi-Fi speed and capacity.

 

Of course, the more throughput your business demands from its network, the more prone to bottlenecks, delays, and shutdowns you become, all of which stymies productivity and compromises customer satisfaction. In this respect, redundancy in networking is an important safeguard for keeping critical business processes and customer transactions up and running smoothly and reliably. This way, you can avoid hearing, “The network is down!” and wondering what else went down with it. Such redundancy contingencies might include:

• • Multiple Spanning Trees (MST) — allowing for better network load balancing
  • Ring Networking — connecting nodes in a loop for built-in backup processing
  • Diverse Trunking — adding secondary backup paths between switching centers
  • Multiple-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) — directing where and how data travels

Read more for a deeper exploration of redundancy measures.

The first step toward a more secure network is identifying risks and vulnerabilities in your business, then learning which security tactics work best to protect what threats. Even small businesses can benefit from conducting an enterprise-level network security assessment, to help you identify, assess, mitigate and prevent potential vulnerabilities. But at the very least, go ahead and implement these DIY security steps to better protect your Wi-Fi network:

• • Strengthening your network password
  • Implementing a limited guest network for visitors
  • Utilizing your provider’s Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) encryption over the more commonly used Wired Equivalency Privacy (WEP) setting
  • Shielding your network entirely within your own Virtual Private Network (VPN)

To learn more about how best to secure your small business Wi-Fi network, click here to read more.

With these best-practice building blocks in place, you can deploy a small business Wi-Fi network that delivers big results for your team and your customers — rapidly, reliably, and securely.

Astound Business Solutions offers simple, affordable, and secure Wi-Fi options for businesses of all sizes — supporting hundreds of devices and keeping everyone connected wherever they work.

Learn more: Custom Wi-Fi from Astound Business Solutions