Over the past few years we have seen exponential growth in popularity of accessing the internet and with this an increase in demand for wireless high speed connectivity. People expect it everywhere. They also expect it at low or no cost as a guest. One study has shown that over 90% of customers expect free, reliable Wi-Fi available in any public building or space.

This is causing some businesses a bit of a headache as offering these services is often more complicated than we think and can be a challenge for a number of reasons.

Wi-Fi traditionally only targeted small spaces like coffee shops that had small amounts of people connecting at one time. As the demand for such services has increased this traditional Wi-Fi approach of a box in the corner is no longer good enough, when it could have many guests connecting at once.

So where does a business start? The starting position, is understanding the potential number of users and the connectivity required to offer a fast Wi-Fi service. If the existing broadband speed is not sufficient to support this, then there are alternative technologies which can provide the required high-speed.

The next requirement is to model the actual environment and estimate the number / type of wireless access points required to provide the solution, and if there are going to be areas of high-density coverage. Sometimes this will result in the need for specialist equipment.

The third question is, can you leverage the investment needed either through charging or by using the infrastructure for your business purposes, such as acquiring user data for marketing or your own internal operations.

• When installing Wi-Fi for public use, a business must ask itself?
• How many people do I expect to be connected to the service at once, and is my speed sufficient to allow them to have a satisfactory experience?
• Will the Wi-Fi cover my entire business area, or certain zones?
• Who is best positioned to help me with my Wi-Fi questions – is it my IT person, or should I talk to a communications provider?
• What precautions do I need to provide, such as restricting access to sites / use disclaimers etc?

What begins as “We need Wi-Fi” becomes on the surface, a lot more complex. Choosing the correct connectivity partner, like so many other business decisions is critical to the success of the project. To help organisations understand what needs to be considered, Atlas is producing a help sheet to assist you. If you would like a copy of the information emailed to you please contact sales@atlas-comms.com.