Best Wi-Fi for offices

Selecting the best Wi-Fi setup for your office is important. Every business relies on a proper Wi-Fi setup to make sure you have the most efficient workflow and increase productivity. There is nothing more annoying that not having great connectivity in your office.

In this guide, I'll walk you through the process of identifying the optimal Wi-Fi solution specific to your office needs.

Let's get in!

Table of Contents

• 1. Assessing office needs
  • Understanding requirements
  • Site survey
• 2. Choosing the right technology
  • Wi-Fi standards
  • Hardware selection
  • Network design
• 3. Installation and setup
  • Professional Installation
  • Configuring access points
• 4. Network management
  • Centralized management software
  • Regular maintenance
• 5. Improve network security
• 6. Monitoring and optimization
  • Real-time monitoring
  • Feedback Mechanism
• 7. Future-proofing Your Network
  • Scalability
  • Adopting new technologies
• Final thoughts

1. Assessing office needs

First of all start by assessing your needs and requirements.

Understanding requirements

Begin by assessing the specific needs of your office:

• User count: Estimate the total number of devices that will need to connect at the same time (including employees’ laptops, smartphones etc.)
• Office layout: Consider the physical layout of your office. Take into account the number of floors, walls, and potential interference sources like elevators.
• Application usage: Determine the types of applications that are used and require optimal performance (like cloud services, video conferencing, large file transfers).

Site survey

Once you have an understanding of your needs, conduct a site survey. This will help you to identify the best locations for access points. It's an important part in designing a network that provides the best coverage.

2. Choosing the right technology

Wi-Fi standards

Select hardware that supports the latest Wi-Fi standards, such as Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax). My personal preference goes out to UniFi, which offers great speed performance in dense environments. Also, with the UniFi Controller you can manage your network performance in a single dashboard.

Hardware selection

• Access Points: Choose the best APs that can handle a high number of connections and provide great coverage.
• Network controllers: Decide whether a physical or cloud-based controller suits your needs for managing the network settings and monitoring network health. If you want the best performance, without the hassle I'd always opt for a managed cloud controller, like UniHosted.

Network design

Plan a network design that includes:

• Redundant connectivity: Implement fail-safe measures like dual WAN connections and backup APs to maintain network uptime.
• Scalable architecture: Make sure that the network can scale easily as the number of users or office space increases. This is really important to set yourself up for growth.

3. Installation and setup

Professional Installation

Please consider professional installation to optimize AP placement and network configuration. This can have a big impact on performance.

Configuring access points

• Multiple SSIDs: Set up different SSIDs for various departments or guest access to improve security and manage network access efficiently.
• Security protocols: Implement the latest security standards like WPA3 to protect the network from unauthorized access.

4. Network management

Centralized management software

Use centralized management software to monitor and control network activity, manage APs, and troubleshoot issues from a single dashboard. I'd opt for the UniFi Controller here.

Regular maintenance

Schedule regular maintenance checks to update firmware, optimize network settings, and make sure all components are functioning properly. Also communicatie when you are running maintence updates.

5. Improve network security

Add the best security measures

• Firewalls and VPNs: Use firewalls to defend against threats and VPNs to secure remote connections.
• Network segmentation: Use VLANs to segment the network and isolate sensitive data.

6. Monitoring and optimization

Real-time monitoring

Use tools (like the UniFi Controller) that provide real-time analytics on network usage, performance bottlenecks, and security alerts.

Feedback Mechanism

If you have some sort of feedback mechanism in place to get insights from users about network, that would be a great addition for keeping tabs on your performance.

7. Future-proofing Your Network

Scalability

Plan for future growth by choosing a network infrastructure that can easily expand in terms of user capacity.

Adopting new technologies

Stay updated with new technologies and standards that could improve your network performance and security.

Final thoughts

Choosing the right Wi-Fi setup for your office involves is a great deal. Every business relies on proper Wi-Fi. When implementing make sure to be careful with planning and consideration of various factors, from the physical office layout to your specific needs.

If you are working with a large network or complex setup, consider using a managed hosting provider like UniHosted. We provide managed UniFi Controllers to improve your network efficiency. Especially, if you are an MSP or IT-service business looking for reliable, secure and scalable UniFi network deployments, this is something for you. If you would like me to personally walk you through UniHosted, you can schedule a call with me here.