Is your home or business plagued by slow internet? Many find themselves in the following situation: The internet is slow. You reach out to Comcast, Verizon, or whoever provides internet service to your premise. The internet service provider asks something like “Do you watch a lot of Netflix?” or “How many devices do you have?” Then, they suggest a solution where they increase the “speed” of the internet for an additional monthly charge. The speed gets increased, but the issues stay the same. If this situation sounds familiar then we may be able to help you better understand the problem and reach a solution.

First, for clarity, let’s define some terms:

Internet – The Comcast, Verizon, or other providers connection that provides a hypothetical garden hose from the lake of all other things connected to the internet to your location. Generally this is a wired connection that reaches your location with Coaxial or Fiber Optic Cable

Modem – The Device that converts the Coaxial or Fiber Optic connection into a format your home router can connect too, like an Ethernet cable.

Router – A widely over used term, but for this scenario, this is the device that sends and receives all the internet traffic from your location. If the internet lines outside your house were a garden hose the router would be a special faucet that can both send a receive water from the lake.

WiFi- Another widely used term, but for simplicity, WiFi is just the wireless portion of the internet connection. WiFi uses electro-magnetic signals to send information back and forth from your phone or laptop to your WiFi device. If by this point your confused because you only have a single device from your ISP for your internet, don’t worry. Modems, Routers, and WiFi devices are often combined into a single device, for example, the Comcast All-In-One Wireless Gateway pictured below.

Comcast, Verizon, and other Internet Service Providers are in the business of providing raw internet service and As you can see from the few simple terms listed above, there is a lot that can go into Internet service. The problem is, while the ISPs do a good job of getting the internet service to your home, they don’t always do a good job of dispersing it through out your home. As mentioned above, WiFi uses electro-magnetic signals. These signals have certain limitations when it comes to distance, speed, number of devices, and passing through various building materials. So when your ISP offers to increase your internet speed as a solution to slow internet problems, they are not considering these factors because frankly it’s just not in their business model. It is analogous to having a large garden with many rows of plants but only a single short hose. You’re trying to water all of the plants but the water can only make it so far with a single short hose, the ISP increases the speed at which the water reaches your house, but the regulator at the house slows it back down to avoid damaging the pipes. WiFi works the same way, it can only go so fast and reach so far.

So what do you do? Well you have this big garden of many iPhones, iPads, Rokus, Laptops, Ring Video Cameras, and many other thriving digital devices in your garden of technology. What you need is an irrigation system!

That’s right, you need a way to evenly disperse the wired and wireless internet service throughout your home or business. This can be done with the use of Ethernet cabling and Wireless Access Points. While Comcast or Verizon will provide you with a single All-in-One WiFi router, what you need is a more WiFi antennas spread across your desired coverage area. These additional “antennas” are contained in what is called a WiFi Access Point. The WiFi Access Point simply connects to your end points like a laptop or iPhone and connects back to your router over reliable Ethernet cabling. WiFi Access Points allow you to avoid the limitations caused by having too many devices, too far of distance, or interference from building construction materials.

Contact us today so that we can help you find the right combination of Wireless Access Points to support your digital needs.

Ubiquiti offers a range of cost effective wired and wireless networking equipment. This equipment quality is like that of professional enterprise level gear however the price is realistic for the average home or small business consumer. Ubiquiti wireless solutions allow solid networks to be created on a strict budget. Ubiquiti has turned a corner in the industry practically creating a new market and demand. The simplicity and effectiveness of Ubiquiti products enables the deployment and management of secure and reliable networks. Previously, building networks of similar quality would have required expensive equipment from brands like Cisco or Juniper. Ubiquiti offers cost effective solutions to problems small and medium sized businesses cannot afford to fix with enterprise level gear.
A single Ubiquiti access point can be used to solve the wireless needs of many small homes and offices. A proper installation of a Ubiquiti access points generally requires running a single Cat5e cable to the ceiling location where the AP is mounted. The other end of the cable gets plugged directly into the wired network. If a POE switch is not available, an included POE injector can be placed in line from the switch to the AP for power. The AP mounts to a standard ceiling with an included bracket. Once all the previous steps are completed, a configured AP and be plugged in and mounted.
Ubiquiti Access Points need to be configured with a software based controller. Before you mount your access point to the ceiling you should pre-configure the settings with the Unifi controller. The Unifi controller is a piece of software that is used to configure and manage the AP. The controller can do more than just configure the access point, it can also manage other Ubiquiti Unifi devices. The controller is the centralized location for managing Unifi Security Gateways, Unifi Access Points, and Unifi Switches. Instead of individually connecting to each router, switch, or access point when a change is needed, the controller allows changes to be made to multiple devices at once. Furthermore, the changes are saved in the controller, then pushed out to the devices. In the event that a hardware problem occurs with a device, a new device can quickly be configured and swapped in. This is very important if you are managing a network where excessive downtime is not acceptable. The controller software can be installed on almost any device running Windows, Linux, or MacOSX. Ubiquiti Even offers the “Cloud Key” device with the controller software preinstalled. The best practice would be to install the controller on a dedicated machine where it is always running. Once installed, the controller However, many people will “Configure and Forget” with little issues. When the AP is configured, the configuration is sent to and stored on the Access Point. Ubiquiti Access Points operate as “standalone” devices. Once the access point has been configured, it does not need to stay connected to the controller to remain operational. While not recommended, Ubiquiti Access Points can function for years without talking to a controller. However, without a controller, it will not be possible to update, make changes, or troubleshoot the device.