What Is Business WiFi?

Business WiFi is essential to employee productivity and customer satisfaction. With the right amount of bandwidth and signal strength, employees can untether from their workstation and effectively send emails, livestream video, upload data and download files at the most critical times. Not to mention, patrons can use it while visiting your location to learn more about your organization and services.

Leverage small business WiFi to further boost productivity, reduce costs and protect your data, all while keeping customers happy. Learn about the specific benefits of business WiFi and how it can set your organization up for success.

A simple business WiFi network likely includes a lot of the same standard equipment, features and benefits as residential WiFi, including fast speeds, security and reliability.  However, business WiFI can also offer more customized solutions with multiple access points and professional installation tailored for your specific organization’s needs. This includes:

• Improved capacity: Support up to 250 users at one time.

• Dedicated connections: Create a guest network to keep employee and guest connections private, secure and separate.

• Scalability: Strong coverage for indoor and outdoor connectivity of up to 36,000 square feet.

• Branded login pages: Serve custom content to employees or guests upon login.

• Remote management: Allow professional WiFi technicians to remotely handle your simpler IT tasks—like user logins, firmware updates, network monitoring, security, support and troubleshooting—so you can focus on more important business needs.

The equipment you use to set up your WiFi connection matters. Most ISPs will provide all the necessary gear and support you need to connect your devices and wireless printers to the Internet. You can also provide your own ISP-approved equipment, but keep in mind your WiFi connection may be limited by that equipment’s signal strength and the amount of devices it can support at the same time.

You’ll use similar equipment to what’s used for your home Internet connection, including a business router, modem, and/or gateway. You can also lease or purchase WiFi extenders or WiFi boosters to help strengthen the Internet connection where the signal is weak. WiFi range extenders are especially beneficial for businesses with large square footage or for outdoor WiFi usage.

That said, equipment costs can quickly add up in large offices. If your extender is not installed properly, it could also compromise your business WiFi security and put your business data and equipment at risk of malicious activity. Self-installed extenders often require constant maintenance and patching to keep your network secure.

To help reduce costs and protect your network, we recommend a managed WiFi solution for:

• Offices larger than 3,000 square feet
• Those who need indoor and outdoor WiFi connectivity
• Closed workspaces, like individual offices and conference rooms

Having both private WiFi and a guest network is beneficial for most businesses. Two networks will provide customers or guests (such as contractors or vendors) WiFi access without security risk or slowing down your internal WiFi. Adding value to your business, a guest network can solve for:

• Data breaches: Guests won’t have direct access to secure files hosted on your network, which keeps your data protected and your software running smoothly. Similarly, private WiFi encrypts all incoming and outgoing messages, meaning outside users can’t access important business information.
  

• WiFi speed: Separating the WiFi connections for employees and guests will allow for data transfer on your network to be fully optimized without interference.
  

• Visit to malicious sites: Your network and stored data will not be compromised if a visitor accidentally downloads malware from a suspicious site.
  

• Illegal downloads: With a branded login page for your guest network, you can quickly identify those who are downloading copyrighted materials and protect your organization from costly legal complications.
  

• Network overload: Whether guests are browsing the web or watching high-definition online video, separate networks ensure your employees have plenty of WiFi bandwidth to stay productive.

• User management: Internet connectivity can slow during peak high-demand times.  A separate network solves this by letting you manage who can access your network, allowing you to prioritize employees over guests.

• Customer satisfaction: Having a guest network can also increase foot traffic and the amount of time customers spend inside your business.

• Increased productivity: Guest WiFi boosts customer satisfaction by, allowing them to research your products while shopping. With a branded login page, you can collect real-time customer data and improve engagement by providing quick links to merchandise, social media channels, coupons and other special offers.
  

Managed WiFi is a WiFi network that is both owned and run by a third-party vendor. A managed WiFi solution typically involves tasks such as installing, monitoring, troubleshooting and upgrading a WiFi network. It can also include managing user logins and passwords, which can help regulate and monitor who has access to your office WiFi.

Many businesses choose this option because it helps free up their internal IT teams to focus on high-priority tasks versus having to deal with simple WiFi network tasks. Managed WiFi places all WiFi performance, maintenance and risk management responsibilities on experienced professionals, giving you the peace of mind to focus on running your business. We recommend this for:

• Hospitals, assisted living facilities and healthcare centers
• Hotels, resorts and restaurants
• Event centers and stadiums
• Educational, dormitory and other campus environments

The Internet is an essential aspect of any business. Whether your corporation is established or just getting off the ground, business WiFi can help support your growth and expand your company.