Hotel WiFi improvement:
So you have WiFi installed but are receiving complaints from your guests and like many a hotelier you’re not sure how to fix?
Well what determines the performance? Unfortunately, it could be any number of things! But from experience the main contenders are as follows:
P.S we’ve tried to take out as much techy speak as possible!
Client Distance – Basically the clients are too far away from the wireless Access Points (APs). Just because you can see a signal,it doesn’t mean the AP can see yours on the return. This is down to the weak transmitters found nowadays on client devices in conjunction with not enough APs being installed or being poorly located.
Old client devices – less common in today’s hotel networks as most customers seem to have the latest and greatest smartphones and tablets. But it’s certainly something to bear in mind and check on the WiFi setup.
No rate limiting – Unless you have at least a 1Gb internet pipe and less than 50 users then we would always advise device rate limiting. Basically this cuts out the issue of the minority of users causing havoc (slow speeds) for the majority. What it is set to really depends on the size of the venue and the available internet bandwidth.
DHCP pool exhaustion – Seen frequently on poorly designed networks. Symptoms? Clients have a signal but can’t get an IP address when trying to use the wifi. Usually seen at busier times.
Poor captive portal – When guests have to register and accept T&Cs before access to the Internet is allowed. Issues can arise with redirecting the client to the logon screen or asking for authentication when already authenticated. This can cause serious frustration to the guest.
Bad design – Incorrect number and placement of APs. Usually this is down to a lack of testing in the survey phase(or there was no survey!). Using hardware that just isn’t up to the job is another.
Interference – More commonly seen in networks just using the 2.4Ghz band due to the lack of non-overlapping channels and the larger area coverage when compared to the other 5Ghz band.
Well that’s the main contenders out of the way, but if you want to pinpoint the exact problem then give us a call and arrange a site survey.