Cambium Networks Wi-Fi anywhere
Wi-Fi in new locations can give your business a boost in more ways than one
Wi-Fi is a valuable tool for your business, no matter which industry you’re in. Whether it’s in a warehouse letting your workers use mobile barcode scanners and stay up to date on orders, in an outdoor seating area providing internet access to your guests, or hosting an outdoor concert where people can live stream and take selfies like there’s no tomorrow, high speed always-on internet access is essential. There’s just one problem: how to get Wi-Fi where you need it. This doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive – as long as you make the right choices. Let’s run through some of the issues to help get you up and running.
Do I have to dig a trench?
The most common problem with getting Wi-Fi to new locations isn’t the Wi-Fi itself – it’s the connection from your router back to the internet. After all, that Wi-Fi traffic won’t do much good if it can’t go up into the cloud and back. The internet connection is delivered to the Wi-Fi router via a cable in your main office, but extending that cabling to where you need Wi-Fi is very expensive, and if you need to cross large outdoor spaces or someone else’s property, often impossible. If it’s an outdoor space or remote building, chances are good that your ISP won’t offer coverage there either, and if they’re willing to, you’ll be stuck with the fees for them to lay cable, install equipment and then a monthly fee thereafter.
Enter wireless backhaul
The leading technology to resolve this issue over long distances with high bandwidth and high reliability is wireless backhaul, provided by ePMP from Cambium Networks. Typically operating in the 5GHz band, it operates like a wireless network cable. A point to point wireless backhaul link is made up of two radio units, each with a normal RJ-45 Ethernet port. To get your Wi-Fi router talking to your internet connection, install one radio unit at the Wi-Fi router with a line of sight to the radio unit installed at the internet connection in your office. After a short alignment process to get the best signal, you can easily achieve speeds up to 200Mbits/sec, with no monthly fees or expensive cable runs.
Can’t I just use Wi-Fi?
Wi-Fi is great for what it was designed for – providing bandwidth to multiple client devices in a small area. It does this by being contention-based – whilst a Wi-Fi device is transmitting, all other Wi-Fi devices in the area wait until the transmission finishes before attempting to transmit their own data. The problems start when trying to use this technology for wireless backhaul. Unlike the inside of a home, where Wi-Fi was originally intended for, wireless backhaul links can cover long distances (easily up to several kilometers) and are subject to interference from many different sources on their way from A to B. A standard Wi-Fi connection used here will try to wait until all interference is clear, which it never is, before transmitting. The result? A flaky, unusable backhaul link and terrible Wi-Fi.
Network integration
Integrating wireless backhaul with your existing network is easy. At its simplest, ePMP works as a transparent bridge, so data coming in one end of the wireless link leaves the other. It’s that simple. This gives IT full, transparent management access to the Wi-Fi router (and ePMP) from the office, as if they were sat next to them. If more advanced network configurations are required, such as NAT and QoS, these can be configured directly on ePMP itself, without the need for a dedicated router to handle these functions in every location.
Security
Like any other piece of IT infrastructure, security is a vital consideration. Wireless backhaul doesn’t mean less security than a cable – every piece of data transmitted and received across the link is encrypted with AES-128, and none of the data is stored on either radio unit. The IT department can handle firewall rules, access control and other security issues just as they would for Wi-Fi inside the enterprise. Wireless backhaul extends their reach, like a wireless cable, providing total visibility and security.
Where do I start?
Anywhere you need outdoor network connectivity, consider wireless backhaul with ePMP. For WiFi, IP video surveillance, or anything else, it’s an affordable solution to your business need.