The network is the thing nobody thinks about until a room goes dark. It is also, in most small offices, the part that was built in stages by different people over several years, and never actually designed.
Wi-Fi that works in the whole building
Dead spots are rarely a router problem. They are a coverage problem — one access point doing the work of three, placed where the cable happened to reach rather than where the people are. Adding a repeater usually makes it worse, because the repeater halves the bandwidth and the devices cling to the wrong one.
Doing it properly means working out where coverage is actually needed, placing access points to suit, and cabling them. It is less exciting than a new router and it is what makes the problem go away.
The firewall, and what it is letting through
Most small-business firewalls are doing considerably less than their owners believe. Default rules left in place, remote access opened years ago for someone who has since left, firmware that has not been updated since installation.
Reviewing that is quick and it is usually where the surprises live.
Monitoring, so faults are noticed before they are reported
Without monitoring, you find out about problems when someone complains — which is after it has already cost you time. With it, a switch that is overheating, a connection that is dropping overnight or a disk filling up is visible while it is still a small thing.
It also means the intermittent faults get solved. “It goes slow sometimes, usually in the afternoon” is impossible to diagnose by being told about it and straightforward to diagnose from data.
Maintenance, which is the unglamorous part
Firmware updates, patching, checking logs, replacing the switch that has been running hot for a year. None of it is interesting and all of it is why some offices have a bad week every few months and others do not.
What this covers
- Wi-Fi surveys, access point placement and cabling
- Firewall configuration, review and firmware
- Switches, VLANs and separating guest traffic from the business
- Monitoring with alerting, and reporting you can actually read
- Patching and firmware maintenance on a schedule
- Remote access done properly, rather than a port left open
- Diagnosing intermittent faults that nobody has been able to pin down
What it costs
Quoted after looking at the site, because the same brief — “the Wi-Fi is bad” — can mean moving one access point or recabling a building.
Common questions
Will a better router fix our Wi-Fi?
Sometimes. More often the problem is coverage and placement, and a more expensive router in the same wrong place performs about the same. Worth finding out which before spending.
Do we need business equipment, or is consumer gear fine?
For a few people in a small space, consumer equipment is often fine and you will be told so. It stops being fine when you need guest separation, more than a handful of access points, or remote access that is not a liability.
Can you work with the network we already have?
Yes. Most jobs start as improving what exists rather than replacing it, and it is cheaper that way.
What happens when the internet goes down?
Depends whether that has been planned for. A failover connection is worth discussing if a day offline actually costs you money — and worth skipping if it does not.
Tell us what keeps breaking
Describe what goes wrong and how often. You will get a plain answer on whether monitoring would have caught it.
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Prefer to talk? Call (941) 424-8081. Serving Bradenton, Lakewood Ranch, Sarasota, Palmetto and Parrish.
BRATechSystems carries $1,000,000 general liability and $1,000,000 technology errors and omissions insurance through The Hartford. A certificate of insurance is available on request.
