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What is 802.11ac and why should i upgrade to it?

Recently we’ve been hearing an uproar of praise for the newest Wi-Fi advance – 802.11ac wireless routers.  This week we set our minds to finding out whether we need to be recommending this new upgrade and what advantages it may have to our clients.

802.11 is nothing new.  Pretty much every model of router made within the last 5 years will be part of this family and most routers support 802.11n.  This wireless standard was introduced in 2007 as an upgrade on the 802.11g which was standard at the time.  It can transfer around 56 Megabytes per second and has long been considered the sufficient standard.  Until now.

802.11ac looks to be the newest contender providing double the throughput of the 802.11n.  Of course, on paper is seems like a better deal offering much speedier access.  However, we’ve been doing some research and we’re not so sure that it’s essential to buy a 802.11ac router just yet.

For starters, most people simply don’t need the speed and throughput that it provides.  The 56 megabytes of the 802.11n is sufficient for most households and we think in most cases the upgrade to an 802.11ac is a little excessive.  Not to mention, most devices don’t support the latest model yet so you could struggle to see the benefits unless you upgrade your device as well which can be expensive and as we mentioned before, pretty pointless.

Overall, the upgrade is an exciting moment for the world of Wi-Fi however we’re not so sure you need to be ditching the classic 802.11n routers just yet!

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IoT’s uncoded

This week we’re asking what exactly is the new cultural phenomenon known as the ‘Internet of Things’ and how it will affect our industry.  The Internet of Things refers to the interconnection of computer devices in everyday objects which enables them to send and receive data – think Fitbit’s and Amazon Echo.  We’ve recently read some rather incredible stats about the Internet of Things:

According to Cisco, the number of connected devices will rise from 15 to 50 billion by 2020 and in 2019 it is estimated that 245 Million wearable devices will be sold (smartwatches, Fitbits, etc.)

Clearly, this growth is going to have a massive impact on the industry and create opportunities. Wi-Fi is essential to the proper functioning of the Internet of Things, however as there is currently no standardised technology we are seeing competition between technologies (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee etc.)  Whist the emergence of these new devices presents many opportunities, there will inevitably be challenges to networks as they become crowded and stressed.

Not only does overcrowding present itself as an issue for the Internet of Things there are questions surrounding the security of such devices.  These new data points are collecting masses of information from their subjects, collecting personal information that may be shared between third-parties (other apps etc.)

Overall, the Internet of Things presents new and exciting opportunities for us geeks working with Wi-Fi, but it seems that it may come at a price as we see the number of devices increase.  Still, we are excited by the prospect of this new technology and the opportunities it may bring to the market in the future.

 

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3 Trend Predictions for 2017

 

Increase in speed and capacity 

The internet is a wonderful thing and increasingly consumers want it to be quicker and more efficient than ever.  2017 will be no exception to the trend of speed and capacity increasing year on year.  With apps like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram dominating the marketplace and relying on a device to stream content quickly – 2017 will be a year where we see mobile operators increase their speed, capacity and coverage to keep on top of demand for video streaming.

 

Public Hotspots

Public hotspots have become essential to modern life.  However, in the past there have been some very real security risks attached to browsing on a public network which have put people off.  We think there will be a strong improvement in security of these networks which will encourage more users to browse using public hotspots which will in turn increase demand for them.  2017 will see public hotspots move towards more secure measures.

 

Wireless VR

VR is about to get big.  But before this happens we need to address the issues surrounding the wires that connect the headsets to the device.  In 2017 we hope that wireless will save the day and VR will move into an era of wireless which will help it’s users to enjoy VR more freely and without constraint.

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Tweet is Murder: Vegan cafe owners in Wi-Fi battle

A strange dispute erupted this month over a vegan cafe’s lack of Wi-Fi.  Huddersfield’s ‘Goat Cafe’ came under scrutiny when they rejected the notion of Wi-Fi altogether, claiming that it ‘exploits humans’.  This bizarre internet bashing was, ironically, posted on Facebook which lead to a series of complaints from their customers.

Their message, which has since been deleted, read “being vegan, we believe humans are being exploited within the use of modern technology and would like to set a precedent in saying that we are ditching our internet.”

Sadly, for the cafe’s owners this was a cause of much controversy as many customers couldn’t bear the thought of being without Wi-Fi (quite rightly). Curly Kale but no email wasn’t going to cut it for these guys but customer complaints weren’t taken lightly.  One customer was even told “F*** you Bethany, and f*** your plans!” after she let the owner know that she would now have to cancel her upcoming visit.

Another local was allegedly asked “when exactly are you going to die?”.

We here at Geekabit sympathise with those wanting to connect to Wi-Fi.  We believe that you should be able to sip a soy chai without being asked when you’re going to die.

 

Get in touch to save yourself from these kinds of disasters!

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Pretty fly for a Wi-Fi

This week Quantas have announced free in-flight Wi-Fi services on all domestic trips and are even offering free Netflix and Spotify on their flights. In-flight Wi-Fi is becoming more and more popular, proving the power of connection and the necessity of Wi-Fi access. Even at 35,000 feet connection is essential & in this blog post we want to find out exactly how in-flight Wi-Fi works.

The first way that signal can reach you is through ground-based broadband towers. Effectively this method allows your device to hop from tower to tower as it travels over them. Signal is sent to the aircraft’s antennas and voila! However, this is far from foolproof and problems can occur when passing over large volumes of water where no mobile broadband towers exist. Obviously whilst flying this happens a lot. Luckily though, there is another way for signal to reach your device.

The second way is considered more effective and involves satellite technology. Far, far away in geostationary orbit sit satellites that send and receive information. They bounce signal from satellites to Earth and back again. The aircraft’s antenna then connects to these satellites and connects the aircraft to the closest signal that it can find. An on-board router then manipulates the signal and ensures that passengers receive Wi-Fi signal on their devices.

So there you have it – the mystery of in-flight Wi-Fi solved!

Staying connected is more important than ever and we are always looking to work with businesses to create effective solutions to Wi-Fi problems.

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Wi-Fails

If you, like us, spend a lot of time trying to avoid those three fated words ‘the Wi-Fi’s down’ then read on. Here are the most common (and most frustrating!) Wi-Fi fails and how to avoid them:

#1 – Incorrect usage of channels

A sure fire way to complicate and slow down your network is by overlapping channels with your Wi-Fi installation. Don’t be fooled – even 5Ghz is not immune! Although using 5Ghz offers far more channels, channel overlap is still a pressing issue. Get in touch to find out how to avoid this common Wi-Fi error and find out the tips and tricks to ensure you avoid channel overlap.

#2 – Maximum Power

Bigger doesn’t always mean better! Ironically, the biggest source of interference is your own access points. If you set your access points to maximum power then you leave your connection open to co-channel interference. When access points are set to maximum, devices are torn between each access point and end up continually flipping from one to the other, unsure whether to stay or go. The trick is to avoid using maximum power as tempting as it is. To find out exactly how to create smaller cells that work more effectively get in touch.

#3 – Only designing for 2.4 GHz

This one has fail written all over it. It’s 2017 and yet everywhere people are still falling into the trap of thinking that 2.4 GHz is the most important band for Wi-Fi installations. Often with 2.4 GHz there is too much interference and not enough channels. Single radio AP’s and single radio clients are to be avoided in favour of dual radio access points.

#4 – Access point placement

Having the wrong installations can be problematic. Different environments require different equipment and having the wrong type of access point or positioning it in the wrong area can cause problems. Access point polarity is also important – dipoles should always be pointing up or down but never horizontally.

#5 – Forgetting the importance of security

A surprising number of Wi-Fi hotspots have low or no security. WPA2 is the bare minimum for personal and business environments but should never be used in a public environment. VPN should be used for public environments to avoid security risks.

#6 – Forgetting to do a site survey

Site surveys are crucial to Wi-Fi success. From predictive site surveys which question access points, channels and power to periodic site surveys, each stage is crucial in order to gain insight into how the network actually works. A top tip is to use an external adapter for passive surveys in order to maintain accuracy.

#7 – Lack of knowledge

Thinking that certifications are overrated is an error. Becoming certified and having a wealth of knowledge about Wi-Fi is invaluable in this day and age. In order to learn more about wireless connectivity and speak to someone who can answer all of your Wi-Fi questions get in touch.

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Wi-Fi Advice
How to improve Free Wi-Fi – and what does it actually mean?

It’s interesting to see the new fleet of buses in Southampton that quite rightly offer Free Wi-Fi on each of their vehicles.

Whilst this may quite useful for the people sat in the city’s frustratingly busy corridors of travel, what intrigued our Geekabit team the most was the branding surrounding this.

Each of the vehicles is clearly labelled as free ‘4G Wi-Fi’. This got us thinking as we sat wondering how long it would take to get anywhere – “does anyone care if the Wi-Fi is powered by 4G?”. Additionally, do half the people even know what that means? 4G internet may be the source of the internet on that particular bus, but what does it mean to the average consumer?

We see “Free Wi-Fi” posters and signs across Europe now as standard, and although it can be a big draw, there does need to be some consideration over exactly what they mean.

Sat writing this in a coffee shop offering such a facility (I’m glad you’ve now got Wi-Fi Coffee #1), can we please consider a few things?

1) Terrible experiences lead to loss of customers – I am connected to my 4G iPhone, as I know it will work. I can’t trust the Wi-Fi here. For people with significantly less data allowances, I can see them changing to a venue where we know it will work properly.

2) If you promise free Wi-Fi, then make sure it’s easily accessible – confusing and broken captive portals that need your waist measurement are frustrating for everyone.

3) Free Wi-Fi in a venue means that – everywhere. Make sure it works in every nook and cranny, not just one end of your coffee shop, bar or restaurant. You can’t do this by hiding an access point in a back room or under the counter.

One of the biggest frustrations, and let downs with the technology, is the over-marketing and over-promise of free internet wherever you go. If you’re intending to offer this service, be clear what you mean, and make sure that it is as faultless as possible.

If we continue to let people down with Wi-Fi, then they will slowly learn to not trust the technology, and migrate to the 4G and 5G platforms as quickly as they can.

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Wi-Fi Advice
Wi-Fi Site Surveys are important in pubs too

Today is Blue Monday as we understand it, the day when all credit card bills get paid, and we are all at our most saddest post-christmas. Which is a shame!

January is a great month for enjoying all the greatest UK traditions – reading large newspapers, country walks and finding a great pub for an English roast (always with a Yorkshire pudding, always).

Steve, our founder, took the opportunity to spend Sunday afternoon in the heart of the New Forest in Southern England, near Southampton. Taking to a country pub in the middle of nowhere, surrounding purely by ponies and bushes, there was an open plain, and very little sign of life.

Little sign of life is often accompanied by a distinct lack of connectivity, and indeed phone signal, which was the perfect place to inject a little Wi-Fi to improve the pub experience for those who wish to remain in contact.

Apart from the marketing benefits of allowing you to share your meal and friendship with the rest of the world, it’s also good to have a connection so you know people can get in touch with you if needed. It makes everything all the more relaxed.

wififorpubs

Being the Wi-Fi experts that we are, Steve was intrigued to see how the Wi-Fi in this venue would perform whilst waiting for his roast.

Noting three access points in two very small rooms, which made little sense considering the model and manufacturer of equipment that had been chosen (with the likely number of connections), it was interesting to measure the response.

Initially the captive portal login took over a minute to load (terrible user experience), and it forced Steve to enter over 6 different bits of information, with some very strong user validation, and then about another minute to authenticate and connect.
Eventually, we have Wi-Fi. Which kept on ‘dropping out’ and we suspect the iPhones that we tested it in were trying to connect to the furthest away access point.

It’s important to really think about the number of access points needed, to perform a site survey to check signal strengths and ensure, that even with little interference from surrounding properties, that there is no interference from other devices. Perhaps the over-powered microwaves in the kitchen, the credit card machine Wi-Fi connection and the like had something to do with it.

Additionally, even when trying to pay the bill on the remote credit card machine, it had trouble connecting via the Wi-Fi, despite the fact we were sat underneath it.

Installing more access points and hoping for the best rarely works, it is always worth calling the experts.

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Our Communities
Welcome to 2017 Wi-Fi Lovers

From everyone at Geekabit, we wish you a prosperous new year and hope that 2017 allows you to achieve all of your goals both in business and in life.

Working on the first proper day back of the year can often be tough, and it’s surprising how many telephone calls and emails we receive of things that have miraculously ‘broken’ over the Christmas period when their offices have been closed!

People are frequently convinced their Wi-Fi access points have also gone away on their Christmas holidays, when in all honesty, it turns out they were probably turned off and unplugged by people conducting cleaning and deep maintenance when everyone else is away.

We’ve used the festive period as a chance to get away, up into the Valleys, walking and taking stock of where we want to be over the next year. The overriding theme is the chance to ‘skill up’ and ensure that more of our team continue their professional development and qualifications to ensure we will meet our goal to be the UK Wi-Fi consultancy experts, each and every time.

2017 is going to show a greater reliance on Wi-Fi technologies both in and out of the office, and yet there are still wide and generalised misconceptions of the technology. What’s interesting is while it becomes even more important and vital to our daily work, we understand less and less.

Visiting a huge number of permanent and temporary Wi-Fi installations over the last year across the UK, it is clear to see that simple guidelines and advise just isn’t being followed. 80% of our work is correcting very simple mistakes. We can only see this continuing.

There is little point in withholding all this knowledge ourselves and so our blog posts will be focussed on as many case studies as we can cover in one year, showing the steps we take in order to make things better. That’s fair isn’t it?

We hope that you’ve returned to work and that you’re fully connected, ready with ambition for the new year and ready to achieve your goals.
We look forward to working with you

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Wi-Fi Advice
UPS for Wi-Fi – what happens when the power goes out?

We wondered through the streets of Soho on Friday night deep in the middle of the famous London powercut of Black Friday 2016.

Meandering through familiar streets, restaurants and bars lit purely by candlelight, people spilling out over pavements and talking with strangers who had only just met each other – it was quite a sight.

But it also caused a massive spike in the use of mobile data networks, perhaps people all wanting to tweet the news of the lack of juice in the lamp-posts? More likely, suddenly users realised they weren’t connected to their local, regular Wi-Fi networks in their pubs, offices and neighbourhoods.

Have you considered what happens to your users when the power goes out? How important is access to your internet connection both wired and wireless? Can your support or customer service department afford to have the downtime?

These are all questions we ask when planning new Wi-Fi network installations in London, Cardiff and Hampshire, helping our users to understand the resilience of their networks and which bits are truly vital for 24hr a day operation.

For a business of any size, it is worth considering where you need to ensure the power never goes out, and additionally where it would be quite nice to be disconnected for a few hours.

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