Network and Wi-Fi infrastructure for prime London homes and workplaces

Because a network can show full signal everywhere and still perform badly. What matters is capacity – how many devices each access point can serve well at once – and roaming, the handover between access points as people move through the building. We design for both, which is why a properly engineered network uses more, smaller wireless cells rather than one powerful transmitter shouting through the walls.

There is no standard answer, and any figure quoted before a survey is a guess. The quantity depends on the construction materials, the floor plan, how each space is used and how many devices it must serve – all of which are established through a wireless survey and predictive design. Two houses of identical floor area can need very different designs.

Because good Wi-Fi is built on cables. Every access point needs a wired connection back to the rack, and anything fixed and demanding – televisions, AV equipment, cameras, control processors – performs best wired, which also frees wireless capacity for the devices that genuinely need it. A wireless-only network is a network with its foundation missing.

Yes – this is standard practice on our projects, delivered through VLAN segmentation on one physical network. Guests receive internet access without visibility of the household's devices, staff systems are kept apart from family data, and building systems such as CCTV and automation sit in their own segments. The separations are designed and documented, not improvised.

They are the current generations of the Wi-Fi standard, adding access to additional radio spectrum and more efficient handling of busy networks. Whether a project needs them depends on the devices it will serve and how long the infrastructure is expected to last – a judgement we make at design stage. The honest answer is that cabling and access-point placement decide more of the experience than the standard printed on the box.

Yes. We configure managed networks for secure remote monitoring, so performance can be observed, faults diagnosed and most issues resolved without a site visit. On supported projects this is often invisible to the client – a component misbehaves, an alert is raised and the fix happens before anyone in the building experiences a problem.

Somewhere planned, which is the point. A rack needs space, power, ventilation and acoustic separation from living areas, and it should be positioned where cable routes from across the building can reach it economically. Plant rooms, basements and dedicated comms cupboards all work when they are designed for the job; the under-stairs cupboard chosen on the last day of the project rarely does.

Usually, yes. We survey what cabling and routes already exist, reuse what is genuinely serviceable, and design the smallest set of new routes that delivers a reliable result – often through existing risers, voids and cupboards. Where a compromise is unavoidable we say so plainly, with the options and their consequences set out before any work begins.