Why It’s Necessary to Calculate Your Wifi Network Bandwidth

Network bandwidth is a vital component for the purpose of setting up and maintaining a functional WLAN. To properly balance performance and cost, you must carefully determine how much bandwidth you will require before you start creating the infrastructure.

How can WiFi bandwidth requirements be determined when designing the network? What particular factors are involved?

This article explains why, in order to have the most dependable network experience, it is crucial to take into account and accurately calculate the bandwidth requirements of your WiFi network.

What Is a Network Bandwidth?

The ability of a channel to transport data is known as its bandwidth. The data is transmitted via a binary system, a language that only uses two symbols—each of which is referred to as a bit—to encode data.

The byte, the fundamental building block of this language, contains 8 bits. Therefore, the amount of bytes that may be transmitted through the connection depends on the bandwidth. The bits per second are the unit of measurement (bps).

For instance, a low-resolution video that is 15 seconds long and 1 Megabyte in size can be downloaded on your computer from a website in 3 to 5 minutes if the connection is made using a 56 kbps modem.

If the link is broadband, such as the one with optical fibers, the identical operation takes a few seconds instead (over 1000 Gbps).

Network bandwidth is the ability of a network communications link to deliver the maximum amount of data in the shortest amount of time through a computer network or Internet connection. The bandwidth determines the data transfer rate, which has the same meaning as capacity.

However, bandwidth is not a gauge of network speed. The terms “bandwidth” and “speed” are frequently used interchangeably. They use the term “speeds” when they really mean “bandwidth” in their marketing, which may contribute to this mistake.

Indeed, the definition of bandwidth is the capacity for that speed, whereas speed refers to the pace at which data can be transferred.

Why is it crucial to determine the needed network bandwidth?

The amount of water that can flow via a water pipe can be likened to bandwidth. When a pipe is bigger, more water may flow through it at once.

The way bandwidth works is the same. Therefore, a data link can send and receive more data at once with more bandwidth.

Remember that there are bandwidth restrictions in every deployment location. This indicates that the amount of available space for the flow of data is limited. As a result, machines in a given space must share bandwidth.

More bandwidth is required by some devices than by others. More bandwidth is unavoidably required if proper speed needs to be maintained across several devices.

Conclusion

For the greatest experience without buffering or lag, high-usage activities like streaming and gaming need a particular level of internet speed. Your gadgets will also operate more quickly the more bandwidth your network can provide.

You must determine the maximum number of people who could be utilizing the network connection simultaneously and multiply that number by the bandwidth capacity needed by each application to determine how much capacity you need.

If you’re looking for stable wireless broadband internet, Fetch Wireless has got you covered! We’ve partnered with the largest 4G LTE carriers to deliver internet to even the most rural locations. Contact us now to learn more!