For business, poor WiFi means reduced productivity, staff complaints, and waiting customers. At home, weak WiFi can lead to frustration, havoc, and wasted time. And sometimes it can be a bit (or a lot) of both. As work and home tech needs merge into one congested world of working, learning and streaming from home, reliable and fast WiFi has never been as important. But wherever your WiFi problems – business or residential — they’re real, and may exist for a number of reasons. The good news is that there are solutions and it’s possibly a lot easier and quicker to fix than you think.
Understanding WiFi problems
WiFi isn’t magic. It’s technology that works only as well as it’s designed. So there are a variety of reasons why WiFi problems may arise.
Too many functions: The first possible reason for slow WiFi is when your WiFi is set-up using a standard residential router which is designed to do a lot of jobs. This may include routing traffic, acting as a firewall, WiFi and more. This means your router is not dedicated to only one function.
Physical obstructions: Another common reason for WiFi problems is that a typical router blasts out a WiFi signal of about 46m (150 feet) indoors and 92m (300 feet) outdoors. This is all well and good if your office is on a rugby field. But it’s probably not. At home or at work, there are many physical obstructions that get in your signal’s way which diminish signal strength and speed. Obstructions like microwaves, concrete walls, floors, and metal, all impact signal strength. Offices and homes spread across multiple floors are most affected, as well as longer distances from the router.
Ways to improve WiFi signal and reliability
While WiFi problems are common (and frustrating), there are solutions available from switched-on service providers who can assess and service your individual needs and set-up.
Single function: Part of the solution is installing dedicated Long-Range WiFi Access Points which are designed for one purpose – long range, fast WiFi. Long-Range WiFi Access Points are more reliable than WiFi typically built into residential routers.
Signal strength: To overcome problematic obstructions, Long-Range WiFi Access Points have a signal strength of up to 183 metres (600 feet) in perfect conditions (i.e. no walls or obstructions). These can be deployed at any location and replace the WiFi that is built into the router.
Multiple Access Points: For extra-large areas with lots of WiFi devices, there’s an added solution. These are multiple WiFi Access Points that mesh to cover all nooks and crannies. Depending on a customer’s specific set-up, a large residential house may need five Access Points across three floors if all floors are thick concrete, compared to a business that can possibly get away with one.
How Central Telecoms helps home & business customers
Most people have little interest and no time to understand why things don’t work. People simply want solutions, fast and reliably. And because most of us are time-poor, we rely on technology to make our lives easier, not slow us down or cause more frustration.
This is how specialised local technology companies like Central Telecoms can help by offering WiFi solutions designed for ease of use, accessible customer support, enhanced speed and a long-range signal.
Based in West Gosford and with a growing customer base across North Sydney, Central Coast and Newcastle up to Singleton, Graeme Johnston, Founder and hands-on CEO of Central Telecoms explains. “We completely remove the WiFi headache for our customers – our solutions just work! And we manage the whole exercise without our customers needing to get involved or watch a YouTube video to understand how to get things set-up properly.”
Data Trends Australia: Upsurge in Internet Usage
Over and above organic growth in WiFi demand, the need for reliable and speedy data has grown exponentially in recent years, especially with COVID lockdowns and more people spending more time working and schooling from home. This fast-growing need for better and more reliable WiFi for uninterrupted productivity applies to both home and office environments, even in a post-pandemic world. Zoom and Teams’ conferences and calls need to happen without a hitch (whether for work, book club or home-schooling!). There’s also been a large increase in demand for softphones, which enables clients to make and receive calls from their laptops or mobiles as if they are making or receiving calls from their office handset.
All these interwoven layers combine to increase the need for reliable WiFi providing uninterrupted Internet and clear phone calls. While Internet user growth in Australia is small year-on-year — Australia’s Internet penetration is at 88% — data consumption is rising rapidly. And with soaring data consumption so too comes the need for increasingly reliable WiFi.
More about Central Telecoms
As business and residential customers’ needs evolve and data consumption surges, Internet and WiFi technology solutions need to work swiftly and simply. By providing bespoke business-grade – not residential grade – solutions for all types of customer needs, Central Telecoms helps to both increase Internet speed and also significantly improve WiFi reliability.
As the highest-rated telco in Australia on Trustpilot scoring 4.9 out of 5, CEO Graeme shares more about Central Telecoms’ approach. “None of our services are outsourced overseas. And we don’t have an automated call centre system with a non-human voice to Press 1 for this, or Press 2 for that. All calls into our main number 1300677406 are answered by a tech support person in 8 seconds on average, who then deals with problems there and then. Average hold times with the biggest telcos are approximately 45 minutes – that’s 337.5 times longer than us!”
In terms of WiFi, Central Telecoms manages the Access Points remotely. Graeme explains: “If someone wants to change a password, create a guest WiFi or log a fault, we have full visibility of the unit and can do it in seconds without them ever having to log-in or try to manage their devices themselves.”
“As a locally based company, we are here for our customers. We’re good at what we do and passionate about the solutions we deliver. There are a lot of telcos out there that overpromise and under deliver. That’s not us. We solve problems – just get in touch. We’re open, accessible and fast to respond.”
To get fast and reliable WiFi Internet access for your business and/or home, make contact today. We’re open Monday to Friday 8am to 5.30pm. Central Telecoms is an award-winning, hands-on telco provider servicing more than 1600+ regional Australian business and residential customers since 2016. We’re experts in delivering NBN solutions, superior phone, VoIP and Internet systems offering 100% onshore real-people support.