Guest Wi-Fi is Expected Almost Everywhere… Some Tips On How To Set It Up

Wireless technology has been advancing, improving and becoming much more prevalent. There is a tremendous amount of innovation taking place in the space. And many markets & use-cases being served, such as: IoT (internet-of-things), BYOD, Smart-cities, sporting event stadiums/arenas, hospitality, and corporate businesses.

Some of the Wi-Fi vendors have added security and analytics features to their solutions. The latest standard of 802.11 is 802.11ac. Wireless performance is outstanding. 802.11ac max theoretical speed is 7Gbps (actual is up to several gigabits per second). To provide some reference, the max throughput of the previous standard, 802.11n, is 600Mbps – so AC is 10x faster.

In my local travels talking to customer and prospects, the general consensus is that everyone always expects to have access to a wi fi network. Customer locations, restaurants, hotels, sporting event venues, everywhere, and all-the-time.

In the digital era, data leads to insights. And one of the easiest sources of getting data is to allow people to use your network. But not the corporate network, a Guest Network.

Here are some tips for setting up Guest Wi-Fi

• Always require some kind of log in so you can associate traffic and usage with users.
• Devise a process to deliver secure access to the guest segment with ease (i.e. use social credentials)
• Make guest access part of the evaluation criteria for your Wi-Fi purchase.

Guest Wi-Fi is a critical component of the digital experience for many companies in a variety of industries. There is absolutely no reason this should be a complicated process that could potentially frustrate users. The data that is captured can be invaluable, so make the onboarding process simple.

Corporate wireless is becoming more the norm vs. the exception. From a security standpoint, wireless seems much less secure than regular wired networks. To help with security, there are several security and policy management platforms/tools that make it easy to deliver awesome experiences—for users, visitors, guests and IT. They allow you to protect your network by easily and definitively securing users and their wired and wireless devices no matter how tough the environment— while freeing users and IT from passwords.

Wireless networking does not immediately come to mind when thinking about a corporate network, but its importance cannot be overlooked. Flexibility, collaboration, value-added services for customers and suppliers/partners are all hallmarks of adding wireless.

DSN Group designs, implements, and supports converged infrastructure solutions with the best available hardware and software to meet your organization’s needs. DSN Group uses a five step approach to deliver a consistent, reliable, and predictable converged infrastructure solutions. If you’re interested in getting the most out of your virtual, unified data center contact DSN Group at 888.445.2919 for more information.

Does your organization need to setup Guest Wi-Fi?