You can probably put up with an unreliable connection at home, but not in the office, whose operations depend on the internet. This reliance is built on your business’s need to communicate with clients and customers, advertise and market your offerings, and do research, among many tasks.
Indeed, you pay good money for business internet, which, as a telecommunications giant explains, is priced higher than those for homes because of speed, parity, and uptime. You expect there will be no downtimes or lags to ensure work gets done without delay.
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Here are ways you can improve the quality of your office internet and ensure from your end that everyone can perform their tasks without delays or interruptions.
1. Check Your Existing Internet Setup
A constant bandwidth can be no match to a varying number of devices connecting to the network. Even an open-area office can have areas with a poor Wi-Fi signal. Issues like dead spots, slow zones, and the growing number of devices point to examining the current office-internet configuration.
The result of your check can lead to upgrading your internet plan. You may also have to reconfigure your old router’s settings or buy a new one to accommodate more devices. Another related consideration is getting an Ethernet switch from Netgear, which can provide faster connectivity.
Switches are used in settings like schools and offices that have multiple computers that use a wired connection, which is more reliable and faster than its wireless counterpart. You connect the switch(es) to the router, which links the devices to the internet.
2. Kick Out Rogue Users from Your Network
The internet can slow down at peak hours. But not all phones or laptops that contribute to the high traffic are from your organization. You can monitor devices, user activities, and more with the help of apps. One method of identifying unauthorized users (and thus blocking them) is going over MAC addresses.
A media access control address serves as a unique identifier of a device, although this bit of information can be spoofed for privacy reasons. A very simple way to drive out Wi-Fi hitchhikers is to change the password regularly. This should cause little complication if computers use an Ethernet connection.
3. Eliminate Bandwidth-Hogging Applications
Aside from the ability to kill productivity, applications in smartphones and computers can eat up more than their fair share of the bandwidth. Everyone can feel the resulting weak connection.
Streaming movies and torrenting lead the pack of bandwidth hogs as this statistic, although old, will tell you. You can ban or limit access to those websites. For necessary ones like Facebook (engagement) and YouTube (research/tutorials), you can set up controls to regulate the use of these sites.
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4. Run a Regular Antivirus Scan on Computers
Sometimes, it’s not an app or activity that causes the internet to lag or falter. It can be a virus, spyware, and other malicious programs infecting computers. According to a Windows Support article, spyware can interfere with your browser and monopolize your internet connection. As for viruses, they can be silently eating up your computing power and connection when they replicate.
To safeguard your network and keep threats at bay, invest in antivirus software. Such programs can scan emails, which are often the carriers of digital viruses. Scheduled scans act as that shield.
5. Keep Office Equipment Up-to-Date
The condition of your computers or laptops may have to do with internet connectivity. Older computers can take longer to connect to the internet than newer models can. The reason may be due to outdated hardware or network driver. Slow computers, as they are, can’t make anyone productive.
Monitor the health of your office machines to keep up with the business demands. You can also add tools along the way to boost their efficiency. For example, a USB docking station suits laptop users who need multiple ports to stay on top of their tasks.
Every minute in the office counts. Your business needs an internet connection that lets everyone accomplish what they set out to do.
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