Is your office more than just one large open space? If so, then setting up several standalone wireless APs (access points) is not an effective way to have a wireless network in your office, where you can walk around and not lose connectivity while bouncing between access points. To have the seamless wireless solution at your company, you should not be purchasing standalone APs, rather APs that have the ability to communicate with each other and pass you along to the next optimal AP. This is very similar to how cellphone towers operate as you are driving along. This solution is called a mesh wireless network.
There are several wireless hardware vendors out there that offer a mesh technology – Cisco, SonicWALL and Motorola just to name a few. Most of these solutions are costly at $600+ per AP and if you need 8-10 of them for full coverage of your organization, it is a steep investment. And with some of these solutions, you still need to purchase and manage a controller for all of the APs, which start around $2,000.
About six month ago, we learned about Open-Mesh – https://www.open-mesh.com/ – where the APs start at only $60 per unit and there is no controller to purchase. It is all managed via the cloud (Open-Mesh’s website). We have installed this cost-effective solution in several schools and large office buildings, and their performance actually matches those of the higher-end brands.
Please give us a call at 312-361-3800 to discuss our free onsite wireless assessments.