HTU 9
Hotelier Technology Update Wireless Networks Guests expect that wireless networks are ubiquitous and cover the entire hotel. But it’s just not that easy to get the networks properly configured. Location of adapters, what is inside the walls, how the antennae are tuned, and the type of equipment all impact the guest’s Internet experience. iBAHN has extensive experience in creating reliable, secure, and highperformance wireless networks for hotels.
Wireless networks - not just plug and play Hotels with older technical infrastructure face challenges with providing technical services throughout the hotel. One option that can be applied effectively is a wireless overlay, which can bring the hotel Internet experience up to the latest standards, while reducing the challenges of re-wiring each guest room and replacing in-room equipment. In today’s world, wireless hotspots are everywhere, and guests assume that wireless coverage will be uniform and seamless throughout a hotel. Open areas within a hotel, such as cafes and atria, are fairly easy to cover with a few adapters, however a hotelier who cares about performance, security and the ability for every guest to have a seamless Internet experience, needs to do more than plug in a Linksys wireless adapter and hope for the best. In addition, providing wireless services in a seamless fashion throughout the entire property can also be difficult due to the many intricacies of hotel building infrastructure. This HTU covers some of the items that should be considered when planning to install wireless HSIA services throughout the hotel.
Seamless coverage Guests expect to be able to use the Internet services anywhere in the room, not just at the desk. One cause of poor coverage is not enough access points installed or the building material and shape are not taken into account. With mirrors, pipes in the wall and elevator shafts next to hotel rooms, antenna placement to create a seamless coverage area can be challenging. Signals bounce and skip off metal surfaces. Another cause is the type of antenna used, as an antenna may give great linear coverage, but not reach equally in all directions, or have the power to cover the entire area. The installers need to conduct site surveys and fine tune the antennae to create seamless coverage areas; otherwise, even well placed antennae may have incorrect settings that will create poor coverage.
Ironically, having too many access points can also cause poor coverage issues. Too many access points can cause intermittent dropping of signals as the antenna overlap causes the signal to switch back and forth between antennae.
Access speeds Once guests are connected, they can have a poor experience due to slow perceived access speeds. Two causes of this are the number of users on the antenna and the negotiation speed between the user and the access point. Typical commercial antennae can support 5-8 users simultaneously, which may be fine in an atrium or even in a guest room, but what happens when there are 200 users in a conference room? Antennae must be placed so that an area such as a conference room can be covered with the appropriate density to handle a large number of users. Slow perceived speeds are a typical symptom of having too many users attached to a single access point. Of course, if there aren’t enough antennae to handle all the users, then users can’t even get on the network, or are dropped abruptly. A secondary issue that affects conferences with large numbers of users arises when the users require static IP addresses, such as when a large group from one company all use VPN connections. iBAHN dynamically manages IP addresses so that large groups at a single hotel can get all the IPs they need. This is a common problem with using standard ISPs who typically only provide a finite number of IP addresses for the hotel. Another cause of slow connectivity can be from a poor negotiation speed. When a wireless device attempts to connect with an access point, they agree on connection speed. Distance and signal strength along with access point configuration determine the speed, which can be as low as 1Mb. Common access point speeds are either 11Mb or 54Mb, so this impacts user experience.
Wireless security Data security should be a concern for hoteliers, based on recent stories in the trade publications on phishing and spyware on non-secure hotel computers. There are several protocols that provide wireless security. WEP and WPA2 are the most common. Both of these authentication methods add fairly good levels of security but come with considerable overhead. This must be designed into the plan so performance is not affected. Depending on how the access points are configured and attached to the network, roaming may or may not work and connections can be lost. iBAHN only uses WPA2 Enterprise throughout its Wi-Fi networks, as WPA2 is recognised as the industry standard that affords the greatest security. (Please see HTU No 5 on WPA for more information.)
Bleed-over Bandwidth theft and unauthorised usage can be a concern when signals are visible outside the hotel property walls. Most enterprise access points have the ability to adjust the power, and by strategically using directional antennae, the signal bleed can be minimised. If the hotel is offering free services to its guests, the guest experience can be compromised by users outside the building who are consuming bandwidth. Hoteliers should ensure that their antennae are tuned to keep signals within the property.
Enterprise grade equipment Enterprise equipment supports strong encryption in a centralised fashion. This means that all access points can be managed from a single point rather than having to be managed individually. The ability to create virtual networks and secure access control lists, logging, and PoE (Power over Ethernet) are not commonly found in consumer grade equipment. In addition, enterprise grade equipment enables hoteliers to cover broader areas, create dense wireless networks that can handle large groups, and ensure seamless coverage based on well-placed, well-tuned antennae.
What does this mean to the hotelier? There are many aspects to creating a seamless wireless network within a hotel. The placement, tuning, and type of equipment used all have a major impact on the service experience of the guest. Trying to cut expenses by using a fewer antennae or improving the reach without tuning the entire coverage area will cause hoteliers ongoing service issues.
How does iBAHN help? iBAHN has extensive experience in installing new and overlay wireless networks. We have solved complex wireless issues such as seamlessly covering 5 hotels, a convention centre and all the space in between for large events. With over 1,000 hot spots in the iBAHN network, and experience in full hotel wireless deployments, iBAHN can handle the most difficult of wireless configurations.
Email us at: eurosales@ibahn.com, or telephone +49 (0) 8122 559 56 55 or visit www.ibahneurope.com