Two quotes with similar totals can differ by lakhs in what is inside them.
What each component costs
| Component | Entry range | Business range | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business fibre internet | ₹500 - 1,500 per month | ₹1,500 - 4,000 per month | A second link is cheap insurance |
| Leased line | ₹8,000 - 25,000 per month | ₹25,000 - 60,000 and up | Only if downtime costs more |
| Router with firewall | ₹1,500 - 3,500 | ₹8,000 - 25,000 | Buy a gateway, not a laptop router |
| 8 or 16 port unmanaged gigabit switch | ₹2,000 - 4,000 | — | Fine below 10 wired devices |
| 8 or 16 port managed PoE switch | — | ₹9,000 - 22,000 | VLANs and a PoE budget |
| Business WiFi access point | ₹6,000 - 12,000 | ₹12,000 - 25,000 | Price tracks client count |
| Cat6 solid cable, per metre | ₹18 - 30 | ₹30 - 45 | Stranded is wrong for walls |
| Cat6 installation, per point | ₹350 - 700 | ₹700 - 1,200 | Testing and labelling included |
| Rack, patch panel, cable manager | ₹8,000 - 15,000 | ₹15,000 - 30,000 | Before the switch |
| Rack UPS | ₹4,000 - 9,000 | ₹9,000 - 25,000 | Sized by the switch |
These are planning ranges, not quotes.
Cabling versus wireless
| Approach | Cost for 12 desks | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Wired to every desk | ₹40,000 - 1,10,000 | Gigabit per desk, no dead zones |
| Wireless only, 3 to 4 access points | ₹25,000 - 70,000 | Shared medium, dependent on walls |
| Wired backbone plus wireless | ₹55,000 - 1,30,000 | Fixed desks fast, roaming devices covered |
Five or more fixed desks: wire them. The cable is a one-time cost against a five-year life, and each desk gets its own link. Phones, guests and a meeting room need access points too.
A run stapled beside mains, or a consumer mesh across three floors, looks exactly like an undersized router, and the usual response is a bigger router: a ₹15,000 mistake made twice.
how to set up a network for a small office covers the switch, rack and access point decisions these budgets are built from.
Managed, unmanaged, and the gap between
| Unmanaged | Managed on-premise | Cloud-managed | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | ₹2,000 - 4,000 | ₹9,000 - 22,000 | ₹15,000 - 45,000 plus an annual licence |
| VLANs | No | Yes | Yes |
| Per-port PoE budget | No | Yes | Yes |
| Per-port speed and errors | No | Yes | Yes |
| Remote changes | No | With extra setup | Yes, from anywhere |
| Per-client visibility | No | Basic counters | Yes |
| Ongoing cost | None | None | Licence per device per year |
| Honest use case | Under 10 devices, no cameras or phones | Cameras, phones, access points, or VLANs | Multiple sites, or nobody to reboot it |
Managed gear earns its price when you must change something without walking to the rack.
Cloud-managed versus on-premise
Cloud-managed puts your configuration with a third party and costs money every year for hardware you own. The alternative is a hardware controller, or open-source firmware on hardware you own outright. One question decides it: who changes the network when you are on holiday? If nobody does, cloud-managed costs less than a single call-out.
A realistic budget for a 12-person office
| Line item | Range |
|---|---|
| Business fibre, 300 Mbps, 12 months | ₹24,000 - 48,000 |
| Business router with firewall | ₹8,000 - 15,000 |
| 16 port managed PoE switch | ₹12,000 - 20,000 |
| Three business access points | ₹22,000 - 40,000 |
| Cat6 to 12 desks, 2 printers and 3 access points, tested and labelled | ₹35,000 - 70,000 |
| Rack, patch panel, cable manager, UPS | ₹15,000 - 35,000 |
| Installation, configuration, documentation | ₹15,000 - 35,000 |
| Typical total | ₹1,31,000 - 2,63,000 |
Excluding internet, the same office lands nearer ₹85,000 to ₹2,15,000, and the low end still works in five years.
The money usually goes wrong three ways: overspending on the router while underspending on cabling and power, buying 24 unmanaged ports when you needed 8 with PoE, and forgetting the second link.
FAQ
What does a small office network cost in India? Roughly ₹1.3 to ₹2.6 lakh including a year of internet for 12 people, and ₹85,000 to ₹2.15 lakh for hardware and installation alone. Reusable cable and floor count move it.
Is cabling worth it if we already have WiFi? For desks that never move, yes. Cable gives a dedicated link that does not share airtime, and the sockets outlast any router.
Do I need managed switches? Not for ten devices on one flat. Buy managed the day you add cameras, phones, access points, or guest WiFi.
Should I get a second internet connection? If the office stops when the internet stops, yes. A second line from another provider with automatic failover costs less than a day of lost billing.
How much should I budget per seat? For a straightforward wired build, ₹7,000 to ₹18,000 per person including share of rack, switch and access points, plus internet.
Get a quote you can line up
24Bit System does networking services in Noida, Ghaziabad and Delhi, with quotes itemised by component. Each line item is broken down in office network setup in Ghaziabad, and ongoing changes can sit under a monthly IT AMC. Call +91 7840002466 or contact us.
