business wifi routers

Buying a router for your business is not as simple as choosing another consumer product from an internet store with a five-star rating or finding the best price in an electronics store in your neighborhood.

Your company has serious needs, such as supporting dozens of users on the network and blocking company data to protect themselves from snoopers. Before buying the network equipment, it is necessary to understand the types of equipment available, as well as their uses and typical characteristics. Read on to know the basics when buying a router along with the explanation of the features you should look for business wifi routers.

Router types

If you only need a dozen Wi-Fi devices and devices at most, a simple home user router or a small business router should be enough. Typically, these routers offer sufficient Wi-Fi coverage for an office space of 500 or 600m2. They will provide four Ethernet stations for network cabling equipment, network storage or additional wireless access points for more Wi-Fi coverage.

If you need to support more than a dozen computers and devices, or devices, or if security is crucial to your operations, you need more than just a simple wireless router. You have two main ones to consider.

VPN Router / Firewall: These products, one step beyond a basic wireless router, can be wireless or just Ethernet; The latter requires adding access points for Wi-Fi connection. These routers have an integrated virtual private network server, and sometimes offer advanced features, such as VLAN support and various SSIDs (if they are wireless).

Gateway or UTM firewall: These routers include advanced features and are usually Ethernet with only four to eight ports, which requires separate access points for Wi-Fi connectivity. In addition to serving as a router and Internet gateway, in addition to providing a VPN server and firewall, these units also typically include protection against viruses and malware, content filtering, anti-spam functions and intrusion detection and prevention.

Additional security features usually require monthly or annual subscription fees. However, you will still need protection against viruses and malware on each user computer due to the limitations of network-based products, since they cannot monitor local behavior on PCs or inspect SSL encrypted traffic.

As you buy, you will probably find other buzzwords that refer to devices that are similar to UTM products, including unified security gateways and Internet security devices.