Is Managed WiFi Right for You?

By: John Shepler

Broadband is everywhere now. In fact, its become an expectation. For consumers, it’s their way to stay connected when there isn’t a wire to plug into. For businesses, it’s a way to offer the benefit of connectivity to their customers and to unchain their employees from the cable tether.

What about 3G and 4G cellular?
Isn’t cellular the true way to go mobile? Over wide areas, yes. It’s hard to beat cellular broadband on your smartphone. That is, until you reach your monthly usage limit. Then it gets expensive fast. Also, many computers, tablets and other devices don’t have the radios built-in to work on cellular, even if you wanted to pay to add them to your account. The one thing most every device does have is WiFi connectivity.

Enabling WiFi
At the most basic level, you can create a WiFi “hotspot” by simply connecting a wireless access point or WiFi router to your network or broadband connection. This is how it’s done at home and in smaller businesses. As the number of users increases and the area to be covered expands, suddenly managing a WiFi network isn’t so simple anymore. You can either grin and bear the extra effort involved or you can consider moving to a managed WiFi solution.

Managed WiFi in the Cloud
Managed WiFi simply means that a service provider, rather than you, does the heavy lifting of making the larger WiFi network work. A new wrinkle is cloud managed WiFi. This allows a service provider to deploy software updates and generate reports for you behind the scenes. A comprehensive system for cloud managed wireless is the Cisco Meraki system.

What Cisco Offers
The Cisco Meraki access point features high power radios for solid coverage with enhanced receive sensitivity compared to the garden variety WiFi AP. It includes MIMO and beamforming technology to met enterprise-class 802.11ac and 802.11n standards on the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands. The MR34 AP also has a dedicated security radio that scans and protects against security threats, adapts to interference and automatically configures the RF settings for maximum performance.

Security Features
BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) has become a user demand and a major headache for the IT department. If anyone can bring anything onto the network, security goes out the window. Who knows what’s going on?

The Cisco Meraki wireless solution feature set accommodates BYOD by identifying clients and automatically applying access policies by device or user groups. The system automatically assigns firewall and traffic shaping rules, VLAN tags and bandwidth limits to enforce policies by user class. Critical apps are prioritized and recreational apps can be limited for management control.

The cloud based analytics generate extensive metrics such as user visit time, repeat visits, apps used. You can manage WAN, LAN , wireless LAN and mobile devices on your control panel. That includes everything from a single location to a campus wide solution. There’s even an iOS and Android mobile app for network management on the go.

Acquiring Managed WiFi
An excellent approach that works well for both large and small installations is to get your managed wireless solution from a bandwidth provider such as MegaPath. This way you have one supplier for all of your connections, including MAN, WAN and WiFi. MegaPath’s network operations center will continuously monitor, configure and troubleshoot your wireless network on your behalf. They also have the most up to date security features the meet the requirements of the PCI (Payment Card Industry) data security standards.

If you are considering a major wireless expansion or installing WiFi access for the first time, get the details on cloud managed WiFi now.

PAETEC Adds Intrusion Detection For MPLS Networking

MPLS networks are on the ascendant as the preferred solution for linking multiple business locations. Now PAETEC is offering a new service to further enhance the security of its already secure MPLS network solutions by monitoring for network intrusions. What distinguishes this service is that operation and management is largely transparent to users.

Network security has become a hot topic in recent years. We’re all familiar with the constant barrage of viruses, phishing schemes, hacking and other criminal activities on the Internet. You don’t need a connection to the Internet to worry about electronic security. Any company or organization with a computer network is a target for those who think they can benefit from compromising it. No amount of physical security protects your network once it leaves your premises. But to do business today, you need connections to multiple office locations, factories, warehouses, customers and suppliers.

This is where PAETEC, a telecommunications company with a nationwide fiber optic footprint, steps in. Rather than trying to build a meshed network from dedicated point to point lines and then having to install and manage network security appliances and software, you can simply turn the job over to PAETEC. They provide each of your locations with access to their privately-run network cloud. You define how you want each location to communicate. Built-into the network is the new managed Network Intrusion Detection and Prevention System known as IDPS. You don’t need to buy any special on-site equipment or install and maintain any network security software. It’s all built into the PAETEC MPLS network.

How does this system work? It’s a network based firewall with two components. The intrusion detection part inspects all traffic entering and leaving the network to identify suspicious patterns. It notifies the enterprise system administrator with recommendations on how to respond to any threat it finds. The second part is an intrusion prevention system that looks for potential threats and makes recommendations on how to respond before an actual break-in occurs. PAETEC operates a 24/7 Security Operations Center that can handle alarm responses for customers who don’t have their own full time system administrators.

The addition of an IDPS to your WAN network is more than just a good idea. It’s a requirement for sensitive applications such as PCI for credit card transactions and HIPPA for medical records. Health care modernization initiatives are certain to increase the number of locations connected by high speed MPLS networks and in need of industry mandated security.

Are you interested in starting a secure multi-location WAN network or improving the security of the one you have now? Would you like to do that in a cost effective way? If so, you should take a look at the secure MPLS network options from PAETEC and other competitive network service providers.

Wireless Business Broadband Available In A Day

You’re opening a new store this week and everything is all set to go. Construction is done, the fixtures are in place and the shelves are stocked. The announcements have been sent to the media and all that’s left is the ribbon cutting. After that, let the profit making begin. Oh... NO... There won’t be any profit making because there won’t be any sales. The broadband service you were promised won’t be installed for another couple of weeks. Well, that’s what they said anyway. But they said that two months ago. What are you going to do without any connectivity? Is there anything that can jump in and save the day?

Yes there is and you’ll be glad you found out about it. Instead of grinding your teeth or just leaving the doors closed until your DSL or other provider can get around to bringing up your business broadband, get a wireless solution from Accel Networks. It’s highly secure and PCI/Visa compliant, so you can make cashless transactions with confidence. Data rates are typically 768 Kbps to 1.4 Mbps download and 384 Kbps to 512 Kbps upload with solid signals covering 90% of the United States. Best of all, it can be deployed in 1 to 3 business days.

A broadband wireless connection available in as little as a single business day? How come other providers don’t offer that. One word: Wires. No wires means no digging in the yard, stringing pole to pole, or fishing cables through the building. Those are things that take time. Avoid the wires and a good bit of the provisioning time goes away.

Accel offers a wireless solution that cleverly makes use of existing infrastructure. Most WISPs or Wireless Internet Service Providers are very localized and require direct line of sight to their towers. They likely will have to come out and put a dish or other external antenna on your building even if you can see the tower. Accel Networks doesn’t use proprietary towers like your local WISP. They’re using some or all of those cellular towers you see all over town. That's another reason why they need so little provisioning time.

Accel Networks has made agreements with the cellular carriers to use some of the data bandwidth that is available from every cell tower. But rather than limiting their options to one carrier, they’ve contracted with both CDMA and GSM carriers so that their service footprint covers 99% of business locations in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. Their specially designed “Accelerator” customer location equipment is capable of 99.9% availability and network management from Accel headquarters. Installation takes less than an hour from the time your equipment arrives.

What can you do with a wireless network solution? The quick start option to have your business up and running in days, not weeks or months, is an obvious winner. It’s perfect for point of sale terminals in retail stores, quick service restaurants and hospitality providers like hotels and motels. It’s also a fast solution for disaster recovery in any business that can’t function without an Internet connection. Dial-up was once the answer to backing up broadband. But dial-up is just too slow for many applications anymore. Besides, the same disaster that took out your main wireline service might well have knocked out the phone lines as well.

The low capital and operating expenses per location for Accel Network’s wireless has given many businesses the incentive to upgrade from their old VSAT and frame relay connections or their current DSL and Cable broadband services. Accel is and can be the primary network service for restaurants, gas stations, banks, convenience stores and many other businesses. Some businesses have started with a panic call for quick start service and later decided to keep Accel Networks as their primary broadband connection.

Are you in dire need for fast and effective WAN network bandwidth at a reasonable price for a single or multiple business locations? Perhaps you’re just shopping around to see if you can do better than the high cost and unreliable service you have now. Either way, call the toll free number or enter an online inquiry for wireless business WAN bandwidth to get prices and availability.

Fixed Wireless for Point of Sale Authorizations

Just about everyone uses credit cards these days. That means the credit card authorization terminal is every bit as important as the cash register for today's retail businesses. What helps to make for a fast and pleasant transaction experience could be the means of connection. If you are still using a dial-up terminal that shares a phone line with your office telephone and FAX machine, the dirty looks from your customers as they stand there and wait is probably all the encouragement you need to be looking for an upgrade.

T1 lines have come down in price dramatically over the past few years and are the broadband connection of choice for many small to medium size businesses. They may still be a little pricey for many smaller retail operations that aren't heavy users of the line. But what else can you get? Dial-up Internet access is universally available but hideously slow. DSL is not always available, nor is Cable broadband. Satellite is a better option, but it requires some serious professional installation work. How about wireless?

There are WISP or Wireless Internet Service Providers, but coverage is pretty hit and miss. You need a direct line of sight to the nearest tower. What would be really nice is something like cell phone service that seems to be available just about everywhere. Even better, how about a business service that uses multiple cellular carriers to give you fast, reliable access in over 90% of the U.S.?

Accel Networks offers just such a service. What they've done is to combine broadband wireless data services from the four leading wireless companies serving the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada. Chances are that there is one or more cellular towers providing reliable data service to your location.

These wireless services offer 3.5G, 3G or 2.5G performance, depending on the carrier. A 3 or 3.5G data service gives you 768 kbps bandwidth with bursts up to 1.4 Mbps. Upload is 384 kbps with bursts to 512 kbps. This is very similar to DSL and satellite performance. If you are in a more sparsely populated area, you'll probably get 2.5G service which still gives you 120 to 140 kbps download and uploads. That's far superior to dial-up and without the wait for modem connections.

Accel Networks claims cashless transaction times of 2 to 4 seconds using their network. They have also been certified by VISA for meeting all the payment card industry (PCI) requirements for data security. They'll ship you the hardware in as little as 3 days and you can likely get it up and running yourself in under an hour.

The Accel Networks fixed wireless broadband service is useful for general retail, quick service restaurants, table service restaurants, banks, fuel tank monitoring, hospitality services, pipeline monitoring, convenience stores, retail petroleum and other applications. In fact, this service is also used by companies for network continuity in the event that their primary WAN services goes down.

Are you in need of better voice and data connections for your business? Find out how little it costs for reliable, professional grade telephone and broadband solutions right now.