Tech Essentials

Necessities for the Modern At-Home and Hybrid Business

- Alexandra Mehat

Many small businesses around the country have by now made the shift to a remote, and in many cases an at home location. With this pivot comes the need for high-performance, problem-free WiFi, but tight budgets often get in the way of making necessary WiFi investments. More than ever, at home business owners need to take advantage of offerings like sub-networks, WiFi 6, Power over Ethernet (PoE), and more to keep their businesses running smoothly, safely, and securely. Not familiar with any or some of these technologies? Well let’s get started.

WiFi for Your Small Business

It goes without saying that in any business, getting the best coverage in today’s digitalfirst world from a reliable WiFi power source is imperative. As small businesses continue to alter the way they conduct business, virtual engagement with customers and employees is now the new standard, making both performance and security demands of a WiFi network exponentially more important.

As such, one of the most fundamental tools for home and remote workers is robust WiFi connectivity. And for modern day SMB owners, the connection needs to be safe, fast, and accessible everywhere you need it. The first step in ensuring you have the right connection is to check that the network service in your home/remote location (via a service provider) is adequate by running a broadband speed test. The second step is to choose the right network equipment for your location.

If all you need is basic business-quality WiFi, affordable, standalone wireless access points like NETGEAR’s WAX product line are great options and can deliver fast bandwidth and reliable performance. These next-generation access points are also designed for fast, fuss-free installation, and an intuitive user interface helps with on-going management and troubleshooting should you need it.