In the wake of the pandemic lockdown, many government agencies have reduced their physical footprints, using the space for other purposes. Returning employees may find themselves in a smaller position.

As a result, when employees return to the office, more devices may compete for limited network capacity. Examine these potential pain points to address bandwidth challenges.

1. Optimize your organization's wireless access points

When the Wi-Fi signal is strong, wireless access points are often overlooked chokepoints, but the story goes beyond signal strength. If there are too many devices trying to use the same AP, the signal strength doesn't matter.

For wireless devices that perform low-bandwidth tasks, such as sending email or browsing the web, a rough rule of thumb is 50 clients per AP to control collisions. Possible solutions to increase wireless network throughput include adding APs, improving channel planning, or just using the 5 GHz band.

2. Increase Internet bandwidth on government equipment

Internet pipes will become more taxable as the number of network devices increases. Performance varies when the internet pipe has too many users to support. Sometimes, the web can feel fast. Other times, frustrated users refresh the web page to make it load.

Solve this problem with more bandwidth. Consider increasing the speed of your internet pipes or adding more pipes. For government campuses, consider one internet connection per building. This approach requires thoughtful network design and more security equipment, but it scales well if budget allows.

3. Monitor employee network usage

A network monitoring system or NMS will help chart bandwidth usage at network connections. However, don't assume that all bad performance stems from traffic overload - it could be the link throwing errors. An error-prone link is a "grey" failure that is difficult to isolate.

Armed with monitoring information, IT officers can spot problems and plan budgets. Maybe faster internet will bring the most benefit to the agency, or maybe more access points are needed. Maybe a consultant should perform a network tweak. Without monitoring, an institution would not know what it did not know.