Cabling

Modern telephone systems use CAT5 wiring, originally designed to connect PCs together. The advantage of using CAT5 structured cabling is that as your office moves you would always have a pair of points close to any desk location. These points can be used for phone, fax, computer, printer, etc. giving you complete flexibility in office layout without the need to call in cablers for rewiring.

Traditional telephone systems used CAT3 cabling, with the socket directly cabled to a port on the phone system. We can takeover this phone cable and give it a CAT5 like presentation enabling phone extensions to easily be swapped around. These outlets will only support voice.

We can provide a quote, either a full site survey or working from plans with photos. This covers from providing the cabinet with the trunking, taking the cable all the way to the sockets thought the building, through underground ducts, across overhead spans. We can provide the complete solution from building site stage to working office. We can work weekends and out-of-hours to minimise disruption to your office.

Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi speeds and coverage have been rapidly improving and to simplify things the names have changed from letters “n” and “ac”, to numbers - we now have Wi‑Fi 5 and Wi‑Fi 6. Wi‑Fi 6 replacing “ax” before it was launched. All new Wi-Fi devices support the old “n” at 150 Mbs / 300 Mbs, the better ones support Wi‑Fi 5 and Wi‑Fi 6 taking Wi-Fi speeds above those supported by standard CAT 5e / CAT 6a cabling.

The two frequencies, the 2.4 Ghz band has been used so much, that in many areas it is so congested that people just can't get a stable or fast connection. The 5 Ghz band which was just used for specialist applications is now generally available so you can now get a better quality signal even in the most populous areas. With the 6 Ghz band, now becoming avalible, so congestion should not be a problem.

Wi-Fi access points occasionally come as a wall mountable / standalone unit sending the signal all around it, but more often they are designed for ceiling mounting and they send the whole signal down, focusing the coverage where it is needed giving high speed Wi-Fi and a longer range Wi-Fi coverage.

The Wi-Fi access points are normally cabled back to PoE (Power over Ethernet) switch that connects them back to your network and gives them power and Internet access.

Within a building if a single unit won’t provide coverage, you need to look at a master control unit with a number of slave stations enabling you to roam all over the site without losing signal as one slave unit hands over to the next. If you need to save money and don’t roam but need signal everywhere than a series of independent units could be better for you. We can plan and check coverage using "heat" maps like the one on the left.

Long Range Outdoor Wi-Fi Access Point / Bridge can be used to link different buildings together / back to a main centre for both data and telephone calls. We have set up and support systems that cover many kilometres. Please contact us so we can help specify what is right for your requirements in your location.

There are three basic set-ups for full building / area Wi-Fi coverage:

Lots of Access Points (APs)

Full coverage is given to an area just by placing lots of access points in the area, and optimise their positions by use of a Heat Map survey.

Advantages -	It’s relatively cheep
Disadvantages -	Many access points to maintain (change passwords) Can’t separate secure network from guest network Each unit needs it’s own power supply and socket

Access Points linked to a managed PoE switch

The access points are in the same locations as the above but they broadcast multiple network SSIDs, receive Power over Ethernet (PoE) and that switch also enables the VLANs to separate the secure from the insecure traffic

Advantages -	Guest network separate from secure network(s) Each unit just needs it’s own data socket, no seperate power requirement
Disadvantages -	Many access points to maintain (change passwords) Each AP needs a dedicated socket

Master controller Access Point system

A master central controller is added to the network either localy or via the Internet, all access points connect to it via a managed PoE switch setup, as above. Then you make a change in the controller all the access points get it, rather than you having to log on to every access point to say, change the Wi-Fi password. Where there is coverage overlap the controller balances the load to maximise everyone's throughput

Advantages -	Guest network separate from secure network(s) Each unit just needs it’s own data socket, no seperate power requirement You have a single point of control
Disadvantages -	Each AP needs a dedicated socket

Model

Key Features

Wi-Fi Speeds

2.4 or 5 Ghz

LAN Port Speed

No. of LAN ports

Price

U6 Professional

U6 Lite

U6 Long Range

U6 Enterprise

Unifi AC Pro

ZyXEL NWA1123-ACv2

Vigor AP-903 Managed Mesh Wireless Access Point

Vigor AP-912C Ceiling Wireless Access Point

Ubiquiti GigaBeam