Is it a new site or an existing one?
Networking Services South Africa covers the cabling, switches, WiFi and routing that everything else in an office depends on. Describe the building and what has to connect and compare installation prices and ongoing support.
Describe the site and get networking quotes. Every reply comes from a LEADERR APPROVED provider.
Get the Best QuoteWhat the Work Usually Covers
- Structured cabling. Data points run back to a cabinet, tested and labelled.
- The cabinet. Patch panels, switches and a tidy termination that can be worked on later.
- Switching. Managed switches where you need segmentation or power over Ethernet.
- WiFi. Access points placed from a survey rather than guessed at.
- Routing and firewall. The boundary between your network and the internet.
- Guest and device separation. Keeping visitors, cameras and payment devices apart from the office.
- Site to site links. Joining branches over a secure tunnel or a leased line.
Where Office Networks Go Wrong
- WiFi used as cabling. Fine for laptops, poor for desktops, printers and anything that streams.
- Unmanaged switches. Cheap until you need to find which port has the problem.
- No labelling. Every later change costs hours that the labelling would have saved.
- One internet line. A single point of failure for a business that now runs on cloud services.
- Consumer equipment. Home routers struggle past about fifteen devices under real load.
- Cable in the ceiling with no test. Untested runs fail at the worst time, inside a wall.
Networking Services Prices
Ballpark figures so you can check a quotation.
| Item | Ballpark price |
|---|---|
| Network data point, supplied and installed, per point | R650 - R1,400 |
| Wall mounted cabinet with patch panel, fitted | R4,500 - R14,000 |
| Managed switch, 24 port, supplied and configured | R6,500 - R22,000 |
| Business WiFi access point, supplied and installed | R3,500 - R9,500 |
| WiFi site survey | R4,500 - R18,000 |
| Firewall router, small office, supplied and configured | R8,500 - R35,000 |
| Site to site VPN setup, two sites | R6,500 - R22,000 |
| Network support, per month | R1,500 - R6,500 |
Prices JUST UPDATED. Ballpark figures, rounded, excluding VAT. They reflect typical South African IT support and technology rates. They are not our prices or quotations, and no provider is bound by them. Confirm what each quotation includes, such as how many users or devices are covered, the response times, after-hours cover and licence fees.
Get a price for your own building rather than a range.
Get the Best QuoteWhat Affects the Price
- How many points. The main driver, and the price per point falls as the count rises.
- The building. Face brick, concrete slabs and heritage restrictions all add hours.
- Cable runs. Long runs, roof voids and trunking cost more than a short internal drop.
- Cable grade. Cat6 is the current default; Cat6A costs more and is only sometimes needed.
- Whether you need power over Ethernet. It raises the switch price and removes the need for plug points.
- How many access points. Coverage is about walls and density, not floor area alone.
- Working hours. After-hours installation in an occupied office carries a premium.
What to Include in Your Request
- The building. Size, number of floors and what it is built from.
- How many points. Desks, printers, cameras, access control and the boardroom.
- What is there now. Existing cabinet, switches and cabling, and how old.
- Your internet line. Provider, speed and where it terminates.
- Whether there is a second site. And whether the two need to be joined.
- Whether you can be offline. And when, if at all.
Before the Provider Quotes
- Ask for test results. Every run should be certified and the results handed over.
- Ask for labelling and a diagram. Both ends labelled, and a drawing you keep.
- Ask whether making good is included. Chasing walls and ceilings and leaving them is a common gap.
- Ask about the WiFi survey. Access points placed by guess is the usual reason WiFi disappoints.
- Ask who owns the equipment configuration. You should have the administrator passwords.
- Ask what the warranty covers. Cabling warranties of fifteen years or more are normal from a certified installer.
Networking Services FAQs
Do I still need cabling if we have WiFi?
Yes. WiFi is for devices that move. Desktops, printers, access points themselves, cameras and anything that needs consistent throughput belong on a cable. A WiFi-only office is the most common cause of complaints that are blamed on the internet line.
What is structured cabling?
Cable run from each point back to a central cabinet, terminated on a patch panel, tested and labelled to a standard. The alternative - cables run point to point as they were needed - works until the first change, after which nobody can tell which cable is which.
Should I use Cat6 or Cat6A?
Cat6 handles a gigabit comfortably over normal office runs and is the sensible default. Cat6A supports ten gigabit over the full distance and costs noticeably more to buy and to install, so it is worth it for long runs, for links between cabinets, or where you know the building has to last twenty years.
How many WiFi access points do I need?
It depends on walls and how many devices, not floor area. As a rough starting point, one access point per two hundred square metres in an open office with modern construction, and considerably more in a face brick building or a dense meeting space. A survey settles it.
Why does our WiFi drop in one corner?
Usually a thick wall, a metal structure or a single access point trying to cover too much. Sometimes it is interference from a neighbour's network on the same channel. A survey identifies which, and the fix is normally one more access point rather than a stronger one.
Do we need a second internet line?
If your business now runs on cloud services, yes. The second line should come from a different provider over a different technology where possible, because the common failure is a fibre break that takes out everyone on the same route. A failover router switches between them automatically.
Network installation is quoted by many of the providers listed on IT Support South Africa often together with the security and support work that follows it.
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