In this article
A Wi-Fi network for hybrid offices has to be designed for the worst moment of the week: the full-house day, between 10 am and midday, with half the company on video calls at the same time. Calls do not need much speed; they need absolute stability, traffic prioritisation and load well distributed across the access points. Most networks installed before hybrid working were not sized for this.
The meeting room has moved to the screen
Important meetings now take place on Teams or Zoom, with part of the team in the office and the rest at home, at a client's or in another country. When the picture freezes or the voice turns metallic, nobody thinks the network has failed: they think the company has failed. Network quality has become part of the professional image.
Why calls drop
A video call uses little bandwidth. What it demands is a constant flow, without hiccups, and that is where consumer equipment fails:
- Saturation Twenty devices competing for the same access point.
- Unstable signal The connection fluctuates when the laptop is moved.
- No priorities The meeting video competes with update downloads.
A business wireless network solves exactly this: it prioritises critical traffic and spreads the load to where there is capacity.
Nobody notices the network when the meeting goes well. Everyone notices when it drops.
DataRoad IT Unlimited
Talk to DataRoad. We assess your operation and propose the right plan.
Design for the peak, not the average
The classic mistake is sizing for average occupancy. Hybrid working concentrates people: on Tuesdays and Thursdays everyone is in, and late in the morning half of them are on calls. The network has to be designed for that moment, in the number of access points, their distribution across zones and traffic prioritisation. The starting point is a coverage study carried out on busy days.
Three questions for today
- Busy days Do calls drop more when the office is full?
- Problem rooms Are there rooms where it is better to plug in a cable?
- Old network Is the network the same as before hybrid working?
Two “yes” answers are enough to justify an assessment. DataRoad designs business Wi-Fi for hybrid offices and, in most cases, the upgrade is done in a day, without interrupting a single meeting. See also the Wi-Fi site survey and optimisation and business wireless network installation.
Next step
Request a no-commitment assessment of your office Wi-Fi.
More than 10 workstations · support contract · remote, on-site and telephone support. Call +351 211 459 950*.
*Call to a Portuguese landline.
