Are your wireless access points getting outdated and need to be updated? Are you sure which model/brand to choose? There are a few things to keep in mind when upgrading your wireless access points. Some of the things to consider when upgrading your wireless environment are speed and performance requirements.
You want to think 5-10 years (most likely) to avoid having to upgrade again and think in terms of the number of users the access points will serve and also, the types of applications that will run on them. Some applications require more bandwidth and processing performance than others, such as video and gaming applications. Also, what kind of devices will be connected to them? There will be more mobile devices than ever in the future, especially with Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Each person may already have at least 3-5 devices (ie laptop, iPhone, Kindle, other IoT devices). These numbers are increasing, so make sure your new wireless devices have enough bandwidth to support all of these devices, and room for expansion.
There are many different providers that make great wireless access points and offer different licensing models. Some people prefer not to pay for an annual subscription license. It depends on what you want and how you want to manage these wireless devices. Some providers have a cloud-based management option that allows you to only have Internet connectivity and you can manage the access points directly from the Internet.
The other option does not require an annual subscription and they are not cloud based and you must already be on your corporate network to be able to manage it. With this option, you don’t have to worry about paying an annual subscription fee. You only pay once and that’s it.
So once you’ve determined the type of applications, how many devices you have that will connect to them, and how you want to manage it, you may decide to choose from some good brands of wireless access points like Aruba. IAP or Cisco Meraki models.
Other things to consider are your network cabling and any network switches you have. Network cabling must be capable of supporting the performance of new access points, such as Cat5e, Cat6, or Cat6a (with Cat6/6a to support any type of interface greater than 1 Gigabit). The switches you have should have enough PoE or PoE+ power (if that’s the route you’re going) to support the newer wireless access point models.
Now that you have an idea of what you need for wireless access points, your next question might be how many should I go with? We strongly recommend doing a site survey so you can determine how many access points you will need. The site survey will help determine which part of the building needs and wants coverage and which areas have weak signals.