How To Set Up A Wireless Office
If you’re finding yourself tripping over all the cables in the office and are eager to do something about the problem, then it’s likely that you’re a good candidate for setting up a wireless office.
Wires can actually contribute to an inefficient networking medium. They can limit signal strength as well as make it more difficult to expand and reorganise your office when it comes to network configuration. A wireless infrastructure, on the other hand, can make it much easier to reconfigure your office space as you consider scaling opportunities and watch your company grow and change.
With Wi-Fi technology readily available to everyone along with a host of plug-and-play devices, it means that setting up a wireless office is very simple and straightforward, without any need for technical degree to wave goodbye to those cables.
If you have DSL, broadband or satellite internet access you can connect this to your modem and it’ll allow all of the computers on your network to share a single connection. To allow multiple wireless users to use the internet and any browser-run application effectively, you’ll need a decent broadband connection. Luckily, with providers fighting for business you can get fast speeds from even the cheapest broadband packages.
When you are setting up a wireless office for a large number of employees, work out how may modems you need. Basically, one gateway can support up to 25 computers. After this, it’s a quick trip to your local computer store for some basic equipment to really get the ball rolling.
Naturally, we’re interested in the wireless printing aspect of the wireless office. Not so long ago, arranging wireless printing was more than a little time consuming but today all the major business printer manufacturers make Wi-Fi enabled models. If you don’t want to update your printers just yet, you can pick up a wireless printing adapter for just over £10.
Wireless capability is far more widespread with computers but not every desktop you can buy will have an inbuilt wireless network card. In the unlikely event that you are in this predicament, you can always source a PCI or a PCMCIA networking card at an added cost to upgrade your PC to make it Wi-Fi friendly.
Once you’ve purchased a decent modem, ensure that you place it in a centralised location in your office, as the farther a computer is from the modem the weaker the signal it will have. This will compromise your download as well as upload speed while you’re connected.
To complete the wireless effect, why not invest in a wireless keyboard and mouse for each computer. Cables for these desktop essentials can often create a lot of mess and get snagged up, limiting how your employees can use their desks. Make sure you always have batteries around though, as these devices need to be powered independently.