How to choose the best Wi-Fi for the modern office
The modern office is changing with few people connecting to networks physically anymore, every company needs the best Wi-Fi for the modern office it can have.
A recent survey shows that 23% of employees actually chose where to work based on the office environment, therefore ensuring that your workplace is attractive to potential employees is increasingly important.
However, despite the rising popularity of flexible workspaces and open-plan offices, private spaces remain an important factor for many employees. In fact, 88% of the survey respondents stated that the option for a private space to work was something they valued.
This provides challenges not only in terms of office design but also in providing an appropriate IT infrastructure to support your workforce. When employees can move from private spaces to collaborative spaces, meeting rooms or other shared spaces throughout the day, ensuring that all corners of the office have Wi-Fi coverage can be a challenge.
A modern business router such as the ASUS BRT-AC828, which incorporates high-gain antennas and a finely-tuned signal power output, is one possible solution to this problem. But for larger spaces, or awkward office layouts (such as an L-shaped configuration), or offices that include thick partition walls, a single router may not quite reach all the locations where your employees hang out. Fortunately, this is where a mesh Wi-Fi network can help.
What is Mesh Wi-Fi?
A mesh Wi-Fi network involves the use of two or more Wi-Fi routers or nodes, which are each placed in a different location around the office. The nodes are connected and provide a single, seamless Wi-Fi network, with data transferred wirelessly between each node. This means that if you receive an important email, or need to work with sensitive or confidential data, you can easily move from a breakout space into a private workspace in a different part of the office and pick up the strongest Wi-Fi connection from the closest mesh node. This all happens automatically and seamlessly, without the need to switch SSIDs or make any configuration changes.
Mesh Wi-Fi for small businesses
One disadvantage to business mesh Wi-Fi systems is that they can be prohibitively expensive for smaller business and SMEs. But as mesh Wi-Fi has risen in popularity, more solutions have entered the market. One great option for smaller businesses is the AiMesh AC1900 WiFi System from ASUS. It uses a pair of powerful, dual-band RT-AC68U routers to create a mesh network that is ideally suited for smaller offices, or for where part of the office is on another floor, or where the primary router is obscured by a wall.
Don’t look Backhaul in anger
Since mesh Wi-Fi systems work by transmitting data from one node to another, a consequence of this is that some of the Wi-Fi bandwidth is consumed by inter-node communications, potentially reducing the overall Wi-Fi speed. A neat trick to avoid this problem is to use something called Ethernet Backhaul, which is where the nodes are connected via Ethernet, leaving the Wi-Fi bandwidth exclusively available for employees to use.
There are many challenges that come with adapting your office environment to suit the needs and expectations of today’s employees. But with a mesh Wi-Fi system, providing a seamless connection to the Internet needn’t be one of them.
What is Mesh Wi-Fi?
A mesh Wi-Fi network involves the use of two or more Wi-Fi routers or nodes, which are each placed in a different location around the office. The nodes are connected and provide a single, seamless Wi-Fi network, with data transferred wirelessly between each node. This means that if you receive an important email, or need to work with sensitive or confidential data, you can easily move from a breakout space into a private workspace in a different part of the office and pick up the strongest Wi-Fi connection from the closest mesh node. This all happens automatically and seamlessly, without the need to switch SSIDs or make any configuration changes.
Mesh Wi-Fi for small businesses
One disadvantage to business mesh Wi-Fi systems is that they can be prohibitively expensive for smaller business and SMEs. But as mesh Wi-Fi has risen in popularity, more solutions have entered the market. One great option for smaller businesses is the AiMesh AC1900 WiFi System from ASUS. It uses a pair of powerful, dual-band RT-AC68U routers to create a mesh network that is ideally suited for smaller offices, or for where part of the office is on another floor, or where the primary router is obscured by a wall.
Don’t look Backhaul in anger
Since mesh Wi-Fi systems work by transmitting data from one node to another, a consequence of this is that some of the Wi-Fi bandwidth is consumed by inter-node communications, potentially reducing the overall Wi-Fi speed. A neat trick to avoid this problem is to use something called Ethernet Backhaul, which is where the nodes are connected via Ethernet, leaving the Wi-Fi bandwidth exclusively available for employees to use.
There are many challenges that come with adapting your office environment to suit the needs and expectations of today’s employees. But with a mesh Wi-Fi system, providing a seamless connection to the Internet needn’t be one of them.
