Often we encounter customers who want to make the move to a wireless office. This desire has been built up through the consumerisation of Wi-Fi. Images of people working from coffee shops, an increase in remote working and the Internet of Things, all portray wireless as the future of connectivity.

Consumers and businesses are not the same, two people sharing a Wi-Fi connection at home certainly isn’t the same as ten people sharing in an office. Despite the slick advertising, the truth is that Wi-Fi as a technology has its limitations. A wire is ultimately a more reliable way to connect onto a network and no amount of marketing changes that.

The Limitations of Wi-Fi

Air…

As with any connection, the management of simultaneous users will have an impact on performance, with the largest bottleneck typically being the internet connection itself.

Like broadband to the Internet, the Wi-Fi spectrum you share is finite. Each user that connects results in your share being reduced disproportionately as low-cost Wi-Fi equipment is often unintelligent in how users are managed.

With a cable connected in, your access to the Internet and your office network tends to be faster and guaranteed. Those signals also travel better over a bit of copper than they do over the air. Ever had that moment when the Wi-Fi drops out for a minute then mysteriously returns?

There is also an unconsidered factor, in that not only are you sharing the Wi-Fi within your own office but that limited spectrum also has other people with their own Wi-Fi using the same frequencies as you. If you have found that the list of Wi-Fi networks you can see in your office not only includes your own but the businesses either side of you, you will definitely have felt the effects of this.

Speed…

It’s all about speed when it comes to access. Faster, more bandwidth, more Internet. In reality many businesses do reach a point where the speeds available are adequate for their needs and more doesn’t necessarily bring any greater benefits.

The logic, though, is inescapable; the more users you have connecting to a network, whether it’s the Internet or to locally held files and folders, the more speed you will need.

The latest Wi-Fi standards offer theoretical speeds of up to a mind boggling 1300Mbits a second. Chances are, your Wi-Fi doesn’t get anywhere near that capacity.

Where your business is a heavy user of Wi-Fi, the first place to look is how much capacity you have and consider adding more. It may mean changing to a higher specification broadband router with attest standard Wi-Fi capabilities, or deploying multiple wireless access points rather than have everyone connecting to just one device.

Even then, a wired solution is still the more reliable medium as it is likely to be faster, more stable and deliver consistent speeds of access.

The Right Choice

Wi-Fi does have its limitations and for many users, those limitations can be lived with. However, those working with remote applications, or high-res, high bandwidth data intensive applications such as graphics, may find the greater variability of Wi-Fi is a problem. In these instances, a wire outperforms Wi-Fi, not just in speed but in consistency of performance too.

Of course you do not have to choose one or the other, in many cases we have implemented a hybrid approach for our customers to ensure at least some users still have access to a wired connection.

If you’re still unsure what is the most suitable connection for your business, we would be happy to carry out a complimentary review of your requirements.

Contact 028 90786868 to speak with a member of our team.