Up to now your enterprise network has been running smoothly, without a hitch. Now, all too frequently, there are service interruptions at certain times of day, and the reasons for these outages cannot easily be traced. If the frequency of these intervals increases, it’s time to troubleshoot the cause of the WiFi interference and remediate, to avoid losing money through lost productivity.
First, look around for any changes in the office layout. Construction materials can impact wireless communications and greatly truncate their range, and slow their speed to a crawl. Be on the lookout for new concrete, brick, and metal installations. Consider elevator doors, brick facades, even new appliances in the breakroom, which, due to their density, may be slowing your router speeds. The simplest fix here would be to reconfigure your office layout to avoid WiFi interference that may be blocking your signal.
What to Do if Your WiFi Signal is Blocked
New tenants in your building? Competing WiFi networks may be impacting your service. If so, check to see if your router has a feature that elects to automatically adjust to the least crowded WiFi channel. This way you can reclaim your fair bandwidth share. Got an older router that does not self-adjust? It could be time for an upgrade!
Again, if you have just reordered your office layout and now your file transfer and other speeds seem to have slowed considerably, it could also be WiFi interference from other electronics that are not connected to your network, yet operate on the same frequency. Consider Bluetooth devices, cordless phones, microwave ovens in the breakroom, even the TV in the conference room, which all can generate short-range interference even when they are turned off. Unplug the presumed culprits, and see if the situation does not improve. Many times, simply moving a device or appliance is all that is needed to restore service. As for cordless phones, these often have a switching capability. If you are running your Wifi service on 5GHz frequency, try moving your phones to a 2.4GHz connection.
In urban areas and office parks especially, WiFi interference can be an ongoing issue. Let the professionals at GNS Wireless assist you with upgrade recommendations to resolve many of these conflicts. Give us a call at (877) 209-5152 for a confidential consultation, today!
