Point-to-point WiFi is an often underutilised technology that offers an alternative to completely cabled networks. It is ideal for networks that must span across a large area, but are not necessarily contained within one building – a perfect example is a university or college campus.
Instead of using a cable to connect two points, point-to-point WiFi creates a ‘wireless bridge’ between two points, which can reach long distances. This wireless bridge is able to transmit data from one point to the other, which can then be further transmitted from wireless access points (WAPs) or ethernet connections on the other point. Point-to-point is beneficial because it removes the need for cables between two long-distance points, which can look messy and be hard to manage and prevent from being damaged.
Point-to-point isn’t suitable for everyone’s network solutions, but it does offer many significant advantages.
Advantages of point-to-point WiFi
Because point-to-point WiFi lacks a physical link between the two points, there is no physical link which can be accidentally damaged, or easily spotted and vandalised. This is ideal for businesses as it means there is a significantly decreased risk of downtime due to broken networks from cable damage. The education sector may also benefit from this, as misbehaving students cannot vandalise campus property.
Point-to-point WiFi uses encryption to keep your data secure; so when data is transmitted from one point to another, even if the data is intercepted, the interceptor cannot unencrypt the data. Without the key to decrypt data, the data appears as an unintelligible string, and so would be useless to the interceptor even if they did manage to steal the data.
Point-to-point WiFi is ideal for WANs (wide-area networks) because they lack the need for a physical link. If your business covers a large area, or if you have several buildings on-site, point-to-point is ideal as no cables need to be used to connect two buildings to the same network—which could be troublesome if the distance between the buildings is significant. Cables don’t look nice and often get in the way, so having point-to-point technology to expand your business’ network eliminates the issue.
Point-to-point isn’t necessary for many businesses. Small businesses simply don’t need to expand their network that much, and larger businesses often use other technologies like power-line adaptors or simply adding additional access points to a network. As previously highlighted, the best use case for point-to-point WiFi is to transmit a wireless signal across several buildings, such as on a university or college campus, but there are other uses for point-to-point also.
At TEC-ID we offer site survey services, so if you’re at all unsure what solution would be the best for you, why not invest in a site survey? Our engineers will look at your business requirements and suggest what technical solutions will suit your business the best, based on your unique requirements. To find out more about TEC-ID’s site survey services click below or contact us to inquire about our point-to-point WiFi services.