How can you get the most out of your internet connection?

WiFi and the internet are essential assets for any business, and getting them to work effectively can sometimes be a struggle. Let’s look at how you can improve your connection to get the most out of your WiFi for your business.

Look at your fibre to the cabinet

Some poor internet connections aren’t solely to blame on its equipment. Fibre to the cabinet is something that is dependent on your venue and its geographical location. Fibre to the cabinet is connectivity between a fibre optic cable and a copper cable. Depending on the age and quality of your fibre to the cabinet, this can often have an effect on your WiFi connection overall.

How can you prevent this? There’s very little you can do to improve your fibre to the cabinet as it is pre-existing. Adding boosters is your best bet at resolving this issue, it will help “boost” the WiFi you already have in your building helping it to be faster and stronger.

Thought about installing a leased line?

Similar to fibre to the cabinet in some aspects, except this one you DO have control over. Like the cables we talked about earlier, except this one is private to your business. There are so many benefits to installing leased lines except for the unbeatable and fast internet connection it will allow your venue to have.

• Perfect for businesses set in different locations (increased bandwidth, which allows for better communication between sites)
• More generic WiFi and broadband providers may limit how much data you can transfer, with a leased line it is totally uncapped
• You won’t be affected by other local businesses, no matter how many people around you are using the internet, this one is totally private to you, so no more worrying about your connection dropping out during ‘peak times’

Has your equipment been designed for businesses?

Choosing the right WiFi equipment and setting up your business is key. So much of your business relies on your connection so it’s important to have one that is built to support your network.

Household WiFi from generic providers won’t be strong and stable enough to support your business’s entire network. Astaris always recommends going with Cisco-Meraki (top of the range) or Ubiquiti (also amazing, perfect for businesses of a smaller size, venue, and budget). These provide the stability for the rest of your network to run on, this way your business can stay running smoothly 24/7 with no drop-outs.

You also want the added security that comes with business-grade WiFi, with so much data running over the internet the last thing you want is for it to be stolen because of a weak connection. By having this extra security in place, it means data such as credit card information won’t be stolen (avoiding a bad reputation, and not the mention the GDPR fines that also comes with this!)

Wireless access points

Ever wondered why the WiFi inside your restaurant won’t work on your patio area? Do you have to ask customers to come inside to make payments? With exterior wireless access points, that are waterproof and durable you can get a WiFi signal throught the venue, inside and out.�

Their easy to install and have instant results, it strengthens your entire WiFi network leaving no blank spots for the signal to drop out. This one is a quick fix to an often unidentified problem.

Be mindful of where you install your WiFi

If you’ve had your WiFi professionally installed by a team of professional IT engineers, this won’t be an issue you face, but having your primary WiFi router in a centralised location in your venue will help get the 360 coverage your after.�

Also be mindful of what you’re storing it in, of course, it may require some protection (constantly bashing your router isn’t good and can lead to damage and therefore, dropouts). On the other hand,  you don’t want to place it inside a room/cupboard with super thick walls, as this may block some of the WiFi and trap it in that one space. Overall, take a look at where is a centre point in your venue and place it there (fitting routers and wireless access points to the ceiling is also a preferred option, as they aren’t caged in, but also tucked away from any potential damage).

The bottom line…

WiFi can be a challenge, we will never deny that, but it needn’t be. With the right equipment and support and knowledge from a reliable IT support provider, you can have a strong WiFi connection.

It may not always be your fault, and some aspects are sometimes out of your control, but there are ways to cheat the system and make sure you have WiFi that can keep your business up and running. If you have any questions about improving your WiFi, click here to read more.