A long time ago (like 15-20 years ago) WIFI in a business was scarce, and largely unavailable. Fast-forward to today, and WIFI is just as commonplace as sliced bread. At first, WIFI was mostly used for a business’s customers, but quickly this expanded to being used internally by workers. However, if your wireless network is running on consumer hardware, you definitely want to consider switching to commercial grade WIFI.

All In The Numbers

Do you know how many devices are currently connecting to your wireless network? When you start adding things like your company issued mobile phones and tablets, along with your employees, and then your customer’s devices, the numbers add up quickly. If you are using a consumer grade wireless router, you may be hitting a bottleneck.

Some routers may advertise that you can connect 150-250 devices. However, that does not mean you should. Also, the more users connecting to your wireless network, the more your overall internet speed will be reduced. That can affect not only your wireless devices, but your company’s work computers.

Commercial WIFI equipment is designed to handle considerably more devices than consumer grade hardware. In many cases, they can host 400-500 devices, as well as having greater range, and faster speeds.

Network Management

Consumer WIFI appliances allow you to have your main WIFI connection, as well as a guest network. However, not all home WIFI units allow for you to manage each individual network name and how much speed is allocated to it. This is known as “throttling.” With commercial WIFI appliances, you have the ability to set limits on how much data speed is allocated to a particular network. This comes in very handy for your guest networks, so that someone is not taking down all your bandwidth watching TikToks.

Another network management feature is the ability to filter out certain websites. While consumer WIFI routers offer this feature, commercial grade WIFI appliances typically feature more detailed and robust features. Being able to block social media, music, and video websites, all which are major consumers of your internet speed, is a must for business WIFI. Also, with commercial WIFI, the reporting features of who and what is happening on your network are valuable.

Durability

Commercial WIFI appliances are designed to last. This is especially true if you are wanting, or needing WIFI in areas of varying climates. If you have a machine shop, with no AC, but are needing WIFI for your workers, placing a consumer WIFI router out there will not last long. With commercial appliances, many are specifically crafted to be used outside and can withstand the varying temperature extremes, as well as being waterproof. Also, with commercial WIFI, there are ways to extend internet to different buildings without the need of running more cable, which is costly.

Want to know more?

If you are looking at your current WIFI setup, and are now thinking it’s time for an evaluation or upgrade, we are the experts that can help. Contact us today, and we can get a plan going that works for you.