Essential Tips for Optimizing Business WiFi Performance and Coverage

Business WiFi is a necessity in today’s competitive business climate. Your team is likely using a variety of devices, both stationary and mobile, to keep operations running smoothly. Good, consistent WiFi coverage is essential throughout your business to minimize downtime and ensure that everyone can do their job. 

Unfortunately, WiFi performance can run into problems from time to time. Drops in connectivity can happen if the network isn’t optimized. That’s why we encourage all of our WOW! Business customers to set their WiFi networks up properly and to conduct regular audits to ensure they are performing as intended. 

How Can You Optimize the Performance of a Wireless Network? 

Business WiFi is the backbone of your operations, so it makes sense to want to optimize your wireless network as much as possible. Here are a few things you can do to ensure your business WiFi setup is as good as it can be: 

Get the Right Wireless Equipment 

With new devices coming out every year, it can be tempting to try to stick with what you’ve got until it breaks. But when it comes to WiFi, it can be worthwhile to update your equipment regularly to take advantage of innovations that happen quite frequently. 

For example, the latest WiFi standard is 802.11ax, which is commonly referred to as WiFi 6 or WiFi 6E. Most of the devices businesses are using right now use 802.11ac or older versions, also known as WiFi 5. 

Unfortunately, WiFi 5 performs worse than WiFi 6—often much worse. WiFi 6 offers a 40% increase in maximum data rate over WiFi 5. It cuts down on latency by up to 75% over the older version and is much better at handling numerous users, which is a big deal for businesses. 

When you choose your WiFi equipment, it’s best to go with the current standard and to regularly review your equipment to stay current with whatever is best at the moment. 

We encourage you to speak to our specialists at WOW! Business to learn about the equipment we have available for our customers. Our company regularly updates equipment to make sure that users get the best possible experience from their business WiFi. 

Properly Position Access Points 

It’s normal for WiFi to work better in some areas of your business than others. Numerous things can inhibit the performance of a wireless network, including physical obstacles and interference from other devices. If you aren’t getting a good signal in the basement and your router is on the ground floor, it shouldn’t be that surprising. Fortunately, you can add access points to address such issues. 

It can take some trial and error to position access points for maximum advantage. Our technicians can help you with this process, so don’t hesitate to ask for assistance when setting up your wireless network. 

Manage Network Traffic and Security 

It’s possible to make some parts of your network private while keeping others public. This is a good idea if you have a lot of users because limiting access can keep the drain on your bandwidth down. That way, important business tasks are prioritized over guests watching videos in the waiting room. 

Network security is another important aspect of keeping your network optimized. Intruders in your network can quickly drag down its performance. For example, if someone next door is using your network to download data every day or to watch Netflix, it’s going to put a drain on your bandwidth and slow your network down. That’s why we advise all business clients to establish robust security protocols to protect their networks. 

Just using a password manager and taking advantage of randomized passwords for network access can go a long way toward keeping unwanted users off of your network. 

Regularly Audit and Address WiFi issues 

Just because your business internet is working great today does not mean it will work great a year from now. There are many reasons for this. Equipment can fail. Human mistakes can cause problems (like if someone accidentally unplugs an access point). There are always improvements to equipment in the form of firmware updates and new models with new technology. 

All of these things can and will happen eventually. It’s a good idea to stay ahead of them by conducting periodic WiFi network audits. Test your network thoroughly, fix problems, and stay abreast of new technologies and WiFi solutions. Or, have someone do it for you. Either way, this kind of due diligence will keep your network performing at its best. 

Contact WOW! Business Today to Learn More About Improving WiFi Performance 

Don't let poor Wi-Fi hold your business back. Contact us today to learn how our small business wireless solutions can optimize your network performance and coverage.