Wireless technology is magic, right? It allows us to communicate without the need for clunky wires. We can use it to communicate with friends and family far away, work remotely from home, or connect to our organization’s network from the road.
While it does provide the technology we need to do all of those things (and more), it isn’t exactly magic.
As a small or mid-sized business owner, you may be familiar with the term wireless access point (WAP), but you may not entirely understand what it is, how it works, or even how many your business might need. If so, you're not alone.
Wireless technology can be confusing.
In this article, we'll explain using straightforward language what WAPs are and what they do. We'll also explore some of the variables that help your IT team or managed IT service provider (MSP) determine how many and what types of access points your organization needs.
After reading this overview of WAPs, you’ll have a deeper understanding of how wireless technology works and how you can leverage it to boost efficiency, improve employee mobility and productivity, and enhance your network's performance.
What Is A Wireless Access Point And How Do WAPs Work?
A WAP (or AP) is a physical device that acts as a bridge to connect your wireless devices to your wired network using radio waves (radiofrequency or RF signals).
Most organizations use a combination of wired and wireless access. It makes it easer to get online and access internal and external resources, whether you're on-premises or working remotely.
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When you plug your laptop into a docking station at work, for example, you connect to the local, hard-wired network.
On the other hand, when you take your laptop off the docking station to bring it with you into a meeting in a conference room on-site, for example, you're using a wireless internet connection.
The ability to use your laptop, smartphone, tablet, or other device and access company resources wirelessly is facilitated by the communication between a WAP and the device's wireless NIC (network interface card).
How Can You Determine Which WAP Is Right For Your Business And How Many You Need?
There are two main types of access points: standalone and controller-based.
Standalone access points operate independently, while controller-based WAPs rely on a controller or centralized device that acts as the "brain" to manage multiple access points.
Determining which type to use and the quantity essentially comes down to how you want to manage them.
Standalone (or Lightweight) WAP
Standalone (or lightweight) WAPs are good for businesses that don't have a remote workforce and only have a single, standalone office with fewer than ten employees.
Standalone access points are best for situations where one WAP can cover their entire business. It's also good for organizations that don’t want to manage multiple access points.
This option doesn’t scale well, however, meaning that adding additional access points down the road is difficult. It also multiplies the workload of the administrator who would then need to manually manage each WAP.
Controller-based WAP
These WAPs use a controller to unify the configuration across all access points.
A business can easily add WAPs in a controller-based arrangement to manage hundreds or thousands of access points from a central management center.
The controller also optimizes RF to get the best performance. These can be managed on-premise or in the cloud.
On-premise
With an on-premise controller-based WAP, an organization has one or two physical wireless LAN controllers (WLC) on-site.
On-premise controller-based WAPs involve capital and operating expenses, as the organization has to buy hardware and pay for licensing and maintenance support costs.
On-site, physical controller hardware has shorter lifecycles than cloud-based solutions because eventually the hardware will be outdated and no longer supported. At that point, the controller hardware will need to be upgraded or replaced.
Cloud
Controllers in the cloud are upgraded and managed by the vendor, saving administrative time for the organization’s staff.
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WAPs managed in the cloud tunnel back to the internet for configuration and update automatically, all of which is managed by the vendor.
There are no hardware expenses with a cloud-based controller since all backups and updates occur in the cloud. Organizations incur only operating expenses related to licenses and support.
Where Can Wireless Access Points Be Deployed?
They can really be mounted and deployed anywhere, depending on the coverage that is needed.
In a large manufacturing facility or sports stadium, for instance, they might be deployed on poles, from ceilings, or on walls.
Often, you might not even know there’s a WAP nearby because they can be concealed to blend in with the environment.
How Much Do Wireless Access Points Cost?
Depending on which solution you choose, wireless access points can range from around $100 to $2,000 per access point depending on the included features, where you want to use them (indoors or outdoors), and the number of built-in radios and antennas it has.
What Variables Affect How Many Wireless Access Points You Need?
An IT expert would need to do a site survey to come up with a design that maximizes the wireless coverage and speeds for your business.
It’s important to consider how the RF signal travels, or propagates.
It’s kind of like when you drop a pebble into still water in a lake or pond. The waves ripple across, and by the end of the outstretched ripples, the water moves less. If there's a dam or other obstruction in there, the water movement stops altogether when it reaches this point.
Wireless signals are similar. The farther out they travel, the weaker they are. And, if they hit a wall or another object, the signal either gets absorbed by the wall or is very weak coming out of the wall.
Some of the factors an IT specialist considers when determining the number and location of wireless access points are:
- How many devices are being used in the area? (client density)
- What building materials are in the space? (sheetrock, brick, concrete)
- How is the space configured? (open office, cubicles, walls)
- Applications being used (i.e. VOIP or video)
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The Bottom Line With WAPs
If your organization’s wireless signal is slow and unreliable, it’s probably a sign that you need to add more or upgrade your WAPs.
If you have an in-house IT staff with the skills to perform a site survey and be able to determine where the gaps are, then you may not need additional help. If you don’t, you may be considering working with a managed IT provider.
If so, we encourage you to do your research to ensure you choose a provider with the specialized skills and experience to meet your IT and business needs. We write articles like this to provide business leaders like you with useful information to help you make the best IT decisions for your organization.
That said, Kelser has been in business for 40 years, and we perform these types of analyses for customers regularly. If you're unsure how to fill your wireless gaps, reach out now by clicking the button.
One of our IT experts will contact you shortly to learn more about your concerns and see how we can find the right solution for your business.
