As the wireless industry continues to evolve, many businesses and individuals look for better ways to access information in a timely fashion. It seems like everything is connected, and nearly everybody utilizes Wi-Fi connections. But, just like highways, most networks can only handle a certain amount of traffic. If you try to push too much through, it turns into rush hour- slow and frustrating. When this starts to occur, many businesses decide to utilize a bandwidth monitor to track and identify problems.
Bandwidth refers to the amount of information your network can transmit during a given time. The more bandwidth you have, the faster the data moves. A common problem businesses experience is they continue to add devices to increase efficiency, but fail to upgrade their bandwidth to keep up with demand. Over time, this causes frustration among employees, management, and leadership.
What is Bandwidth Utilization?
By using a bandwidth monitor, you see a real-time view of what occurs on your bandwidth. It shows you:
- Which devices and applications require more bandwidth
- If there are outsiders utilizing your network
- Any suspicious activity and possible cyber infractions that are slowing you down
- If any devices have malware or virus issues
- If you need to upgrade your existing bandwidth to keep up with demand
Signs your bandwidth needs attention
If your business is struggling with any of the following problems, it may be time to monitor bandwidth usage closely:
- Internet pages load slowly
- Videos, reports, or images take a long time to download
- VOIP calls are crackly or have spotty connection
- Email accounts don’t synchronize
- Outgoing emails are delayed
- You get time-out messages when downloading or submitting information
Best practices for managing bandwidth utilization
Before you decide to upgrade, review these best practices for managing bandwidth utilization.
- Check your current bandwidth
You won’t know what you need unless you know what you currently have. Speedtest.net lets you measure your current bandwidth for free.
- Understand what you need
The size of your business, number of employees, and amount of information being transmitted daily all impact the amount of bandwidth you need to remain efficient. You can’t understand how much bandwidth you need until you calculate what you currently use. How much time do employees spend online? What types of activities are they doing? If they are downloading large files often, they are consuming a lot of your bandwidth during those download times.
- Where are you storing information?
In the past, businesses stored a lot of information on in-house networks and servers. But, today some businesses are transferring storage to cloud-based systems. If you are considering moving to the cloud, you may not need to upgrade bandwidth depending on how quickly that change will happen.
- Contact an IT support professional
Unless you have an in-house IT support team, navigating bandwidth usage, requirements, and upgrades can leave your head spinning. Contacting a professional company that offers IT support is a smart business choice. They can help guide you through the process, make recommendations, and install any new equipment you may need in addition to making sure you have the right hardware and software in place.
If you have questions about your current bandwidth setup or would like to talk to one of our experts, contact Eastern American Technologies at 718-937-3600.