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Thinking of Switching?

Thinking of switching?

Thinking of upgrading your WiFi system to the latest and greatest 802.11ac access points? If so, we would certainly recommend looking into the capability of you current switches. Two things to look for – are they Power over Ethernet (PoE) capable and what are the maximum port speeds?

Power over Ethernet (PoE or PoE+): Firstly are they PoE capable? Then what is the total power available for PoE devices(otherwise known as PoE Budget). All switches have a limit ,so even though there may be 24/48 ports, only a percentage of those may be available for PoE devices. This really depends on what power each device requires. The IEEE standard 802.3af allows power of up to15.4W per device. This is fine for most access points, however quite a few of the newer access points require more than that(up to 30W). This is when the higher specification of 802.3at(up to 50W per device)is required.

Port Speeds: What port speeds are your switches capable of? 10/100/1000Mb? 802.11ac access points can now take full advantage of gigabit ports with stated speeds of up to 1.7Gbps for the 5Ghz band & 800Mbps in the 2.4Ghz range. Most earlier standards(802.11n)access points wouldn’t really benefit from anything over an 100Mb full duplex port in the real world.

If you’re not sure what your switches are capable of or need to upgrade, we can asses current switch capability and upgrade options, ensuring your switches are up to speed with the latest 802.11ac WiFi standard.

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