Optimizing Wi-Fi in your home office

This blog post has been written by Brian Wollak, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise wireless expert. You can find is Twitter feed here: @LukeStellar

Over the past month and in some cases longer our work life has changed due to the current crisis.  Many people now find themselves working from home. For some it will require an adjustment, for others like me, it is business as usual.

For those that are adjusting, I thought it would be valuable to provide some insight as to how you can get the most out of your home Wi-Fi.  Your home network should offer some of the same building blocks that we use in the enterprise. I would say your home office network is probably more important than your office network since it is the primary means of communication and likely don’t have a backup or redundancy.

I have 4 recommendations.

• Proper AP placement

  1. The AP should be placed in an area free of obstructions and high, like on top of a bookshelf, or mounted to the wall. This increases coverage and maximizes the RF environment.

• Performance

  1. If possible, disable low data rates, as this ensures a smaller cell size and a better Wi-Fi experience.
  2. Disable the 2.4 GHz band. This helps ensure there is not going to be interrupted Wi-Fi from the microwave.  Yes, the microwave causes interference in the 2.4GHz spectrum.
  3. Only enable 5 GHz, as the speeds are greater, there are more available channels so you can avoid your pesky neighbors’ wireless router channels.
  4. Enable DPI if possible, so you can see what applications are running on your network and an app isn’t over consuming the network, like multiple family members are streaming video.

• Expanding coverage

1. A lot of us have areas in our living spaces where wireless coverage isn’t as good as others. If you need to expand your coverage, consider a mesh deployment, (you will need to enable 2.4GHz for this).  A mesh deployment gives you the flexibility to add an additional access point without an additional wire.  You will need an outlet to power the AP though.

• Security

  1. Security should be taken very seriously. Ensure you’re not using an open SSID, WEP, or WPA/TKIP.  Consider using WPA3, this will offer enhanced security.  Also do not use  dictionary words for PSK, but use a combination of letters, lowercase, uppercase, numbers and symbols.
  2. Make sure you have anti-virus running on your laptop or tablet and ensure it stays updated to ward off any potential virus. Do not open email or files that you don’t know the sender or appears suspicious.  Always look at the sender’s address to see if it is legitimate.

You can follow Brian Wollak on twitter @LukeStellar.