Networking your system
Networking of equipment can be considered an uninteresting part of your office setup, however if you do not get the cabling infrastructure correct it can cause the communications between your networked devices to become very slow and unstable.
It is for this reason you need to ensure that the cabling of your offices is installed correctly. The three main points to check are listed below.
Networking and Broadband Configurations
1.) Type and Quality of Structured Network Cabling and Wall Ports
Historically there were a number of different cable types options but mostly the type of cabling you will see is CAT cabling - Category 5, 5e, 6, 6a and more recently Category 7. If you have Cat5e and higher then a 1GBit connection is possible.
2.) Type and Quality of Network Patch Leads
These will need to be the same or better than you structured cabling to ensure you get the correct performance.
3.) Type and Quality of Network Data Switch
There are a number of different options, not only data transfer speeds but whether you choose an Unmanaged, Smart or Managed Data Switch. Which option suits you delends on the devices and requirements of your own network.
4.) Wireless Networking
You may need a mixed configuration network with wired and wireless options. This setup can be very useful for non office based employees and visitors requiring secure segregated internet access. Employees can be setup to access your office network servers, whilst guests have restricted internet access only.
See some simple rules below on each setup.
ADSL (BT) Broadband Setup
Setting up a broadband service can be fraught with problems due to many different reasons.
You may have a cable service supplied by Virgin (NTL) or an ADSL service via your BT phone line. Your service provider might well not be BT and your line rental may also be via another provider, but if you have ADSL broadband then you are using a BT service, you are just paying for it via your ISP (Internet Service Provider).
At S.C. Consultants, we can help you network your system and get your broadband up and running as quickly as possible. Normally broadband can be setup within half an hour, with just a call out charge. If you need any hardware ie wireless ADSL, wireless cable router or additional filters these are normally in stock we have you ready as soon as possible.
There are some simple steps you must make sure you do if you are trying to set it up yourself. Plug a broadband filter in every single phone socket which has a phone / sky / fax etc plugged in. You should have no more than 4 filters and ensure you do not double filter your router/modem as this will cause intermittent broadband or stop it working at all. Always check and double check, as it's easy to forget what you have plugged in and why.
You will be supplied a username and password for the broadband service by your ISP, these details are now most commonly setup in your router and not on your PC as would be the case if you were using a USB modem. Without the username and password, details being entered into your router will not authenticate to the service and will not work.
Also be aware when your ISP is BT using a BT router, these will plug in and work with the generic default username set in the router. These will work but you can find that the service runs much slower than it should. Make sure you enter your username and password for the best speed and reliability.
One advantage is you can plug your router into a filter in any phone socket.
Cable (Virgin) Broadband Setup
The setup for Cable is a bit different from ADSL as your service is via a cable modem fitted by Virgin in a fixed location. You can either plug your PC / Laptop directly into the modem via USB or Ethernet Cable or add a Wireless Cable Router. Don't confuse these with ADSL Routers, one easy way to check is that Cable routers have a WAN (Wide Area Network) port on them to plug in the ethernet cable from the cable modem. Be patient and follow the instructions carefully supplied with the cable router and all will work well.