You own a startup. Like your competitors, you want to create a niche for the startup in the world of business. After thorough research you find that many of your competitors are offering free WiFi to their customers. And it is coming in real handy for them, attracting consumers and making them spend time in their retail stores.
So, you go their way, too. This is surely one of the best things you can do as a small business to attract the customers. Besides, you can leverage it to collect customer information.
However, even after offering free WiFi to customers, you do not find any significant change in your performance. Is this what was meant to happen?
Of course not. You must have made some grave WiFi mistakes, which are preventing your business from making the most of the free WiFi that you are offering. So, what are they?
Here’s a quick look at some of the most common WiFi mistakes that small businesses make. May be you are making something similar to these.
Not Having Enough Access Points
It’s extremely important to set up access points to make WiFi work perfectly in your office so you can avoid making WiFi mistakes.
So, how many access points does your WiFi router has? Is it just one? And you are wondering why the users in your office are not getting access to the internet properly?
This is one of the major mistakes almost all small businesses make. They do not provide the WiFi network in a proper way. In fact, the number of access points is less that what are required for the number of employees working in the office.
The result: WiFi performance is not up to the mark, and this negatively impacts the productivity of your employees.
So, you should take into account the area for which you are installing the routers. Besides, you also need to keep in mind the number of users and create sufficient number of access points for them.
Not Placing the Router at the Right Spot
You have done enough research and found out the proper number of access points that your office needs. And you have set them up. So, you now expect all the employees to have proper access to the internet through the WiFi network. But that’s not happening. The problem persists.
Why so?
Have you set up the access points at the right places?
That’s one of the major WiFi mistakes committed by a lot of small businesses. Remember, the physical location of the WiFi access point is extremely important when it comes to the connectivity in your office. You should not place it in any point where there is an object obstructing the signal. So, it is better to avoid points, such as metallic objects, just beside thick beams of concrete, and so on. These objects are likely to weaken the signal to a great extent.
It is always a good idea to place the WiFi router at an elevated place. This ensures that the signal won’t face obstruction from furniture, cubicle walls and so on.
Not Using a Complex Security System
When you are using a WiFi network for your business, it is extremely important to have a proper security system for it. For, you surely won’t like your business data to be hacked.
What kind of encryption are you using?
It is one of the most important things to consider when you are setting up WiFi for your small business. Surely you don’t want your accounts to get hacked due to improper security of the WiFi service that you are offering.
Don’t go for simple WEP security, which is quite unsecure. It might let the hackers access your network and hijack your necessary data.
So, it is always advisable not to use an encryption as simple and as easy to hack as WEP. Instead, a more complex security system can help you keep the data of your business as well as the guests safe.
You have bought a new router and have installed it to use for your office. And suddenly you find that your business data are being hacked.
But how?
Ask yourself a simple question. Did you change the default password of the router while installing it? If you didn’t, then you are the only one to blame for this problem. So, it is important to remember that you should never forget to perform this simple task before getting started with the WiFi service: do change the default admin password of your router.
If you are using it for your business, it is better not to make these WiFi mistakes. The pitfalls are expected to negatively impact the performance of the employees and, in turn, that of your business. So, you should remember to undertake the proper steps to avoid these mistakes to ensure that your startup does not suffer due to improper WiFi connection.
WiFi Router Photo via Shutterstock
Aira Bongco
Good advice. So many businesses are oblivious to these things that they just pay a monthly Internet fee and forget about the whole thing. It is insane.
We are going through it