The Fourth Utility: Wireless is the New Bar for Renter Attractiveness

Property-Wide Seamless Connectivity Is Key

Full disclosure: this excerpt is from a competitor’s website but it was a validation of the feedback we’ve been hearing in the field, so we thought we’d share. Or steal and then share is more accurate. Tomato, tomahto. It highlights the necessity of providing connectivity throughout your entire multi-family building.

Connectivity in the unit is simply not enough – amenity areas, corridors, garages and units all need to be seamlessly connected. Providing the ability for a resident to remain connected, for both data and voice, phone-in-hand throughout the property will be the bar for renter attractiveness. Doug Lodder of Boingo Wireless correctly stated in a recent Development Magazine article that, “Real estate owners, REITS and property managers will rise or fall based on their ability to deliver first class wireless coverage to buyers and tenants.

If wireless is not seamless throughout the property, it will not suffice as an “in-building” wireless solution. It has long been known in networking that too many routers will cause connectivity and quality of service problems for the end-user. This has become extremely evident in the multifamily space where building owners who are not offering seamless wireless connectivity throughout their property and instead rely on tenants to use individual consumer routers in-unit. Due to channelization issues and interference, individual routers in every apartment simply cannot be the solution to quality streaming data services or VoWiFi services. Service must be seamless and managed to ensure quality of service for the end user.