Forecast 2014: Boost your mobile bandwidth

To maintain access point density and coverage, and keep bandwidth capacity at a workable level wherever possible, Horn has opted to keep some devices on the wired network. "We still look at the wired opportunity -- even with new construction," he says. "If an employee is typically going to be standing in the same area to do their task, then we put them on the wired network."

He has been studying the potential of 802.11ac but doesn't see it as a panacea for what ails most wireless networks today. He claims the dual band (2.4GHz and 5GHz) could present engineering challenges and keep it from reaching its 1Gbps theoretical data rate. "If we install it into a real network with competing interference, that will de-rate the speed and not make it worth implementation costs," he says. That said, as Advocate constructs new buildings, Horn is planning cabling to support 802.11ac for potential future adoption.

In addition to access point frustrations, Horn has experienced Internet connectivity strains and network security requirements that forced him to separate public and clinical Wi-Fi traffic, and to bump up capacity.

For instance, Horn assigns public traffic -- which can be generated by patients or family members streaming video and other bandwidth-intensive applications -- a lower class of service than he does the mission-critical hospital traffic. At the same time, he asked his Internet service provider to expand the Internet pipe from 100Mbps to 500Mbps with headroom to hit 1Gbps, which he expects to need within the year. He credits lower prices from ISPs for making this option possible.

BYOT = Bandwidth Vampire