Ever thought about adding guest WiFi to the office? You may be thinking that you already have a wireless network in your office, so why do you need to tailor one specifically to guests? If you have a business-grade router, deploying a guest WiFi network is fairly simple. It will give you better security. We have all had colleagues and strangers visit our office. If a colleague that you trust uses your network, you may not mind revealing the password to them. However, what happens if it is a salesperson that you have known for five minutes?
With a separate network, you can give WiFi access to anyone without sharing the password. The key advantage of guest WiFi is how it separates your network, and it lets you see who has accessed your company’s servers, computers and printers. Guest WiFi will have no ability to access the most essential components of your network, so a guest will not be able to download malicious programs that will cost your company money.
Overall, guest WiFi has greater convenience for guests. If your main network has a highly sophisticated password, passing it along to guests correctly will almost be slim to none. Also, will you change the password every time that you have a guest? With a guest WiFi network, you can create a simple password for that network, and while there can still be a risk of malicious people accessing your network, it gets lower dramatically. To learn more about setting up a guest WiFi network, call SynchroNet in Seneca, NY.
Why You Shouldn’t Use a Home Router for Your Business
As a business owner, you may try to cut corners on the cost of your networking equipment, but that can become a devastating mistake. It can feel tempting to buy the lowest priced hardware available or something that meets the specifications of what you want to replace, but choosing a home router can be a big mistake. On average, home routers cost between $20-$200, and many people will see the more expensive business grade routers and think that they are being ripped off.
Nevertheless, there are tradeoffs made buying a home router for business. For example, if you have more than 10 computers with a server, then you would be wise to invest in hardware that fosters growth. You want to balance both security and performance without overspending on hardware that you will never use. First, look at how many devices you need to support. If your business has a BYOD policy, you could have to support more devices, and if your employees plan to access their email from phones, most likely they will expect to do it using a business wireless network. If you have a low-end networking device, there will be a hard limit on the amount of devices that you can connect to it.
Finally, home routers are not always secure. They were intended to address issues with the consumer market, which means that they have only receive sporadic updates, and there will be a scheduled end of life where they no longer receive these updates.
