After picking the right course and the right university to study at, the next big decision a young person needs to make is where they are going to live. There are numerous options available if they decide to move out of home, including university halls, private student halls, or a private rental/house share.
Years of increasing student numbers has driven a rise in private student accommodation and started a fierce competition, with each provider trying to convince prospective students that they are the place to call home.
Obviously important factors like location and cost are key, but so is the Wi-Fi speed. Ofcom’s Media Use and Attitudes 2015 report, showed that young adults spent over 27 hours a week online (that’s almost 4 hours a day!), so there is no denying that internet connectivity is integral to the student lifestyle.
This time isn’t just spent on social media and web browsing either, as 39% of 16-24 year olds regularly catch up on programmes online. So unless your wireless network has been designed to deal with the challenging performance and capacity requirements associated with HD video streaming, you will be left with a lot of unhappy customers.
Get it right though and not only can you shout about your blistering performance, but you get happier tenants, and less complaints about Netflix constantly buffering.
Naturally achieving a highly reliable, high-performance wireless network takes time and careful planning. Probably the single most important thing to remember is “don’t just think coverage, think capacity too”.
See why ASK4 used Ekahau Site Survey when they were asked to upgrade a 1,500 bed, 33 storey student accommodation block with a 200Mbps wireless service. Read more >
However you can make the job a lot easier with clever tools like Ekahau Site Survey. All you need to do is import your floor plans and then use the Auto-Planner to design a network according to the capacity requirements you have specified. Whilst an Auto-Planner will never design the perfect network it certainly gets it a long way there and all you then need to do is tweak the AP placements and configuration.
