News
Wireless Coverage and Security in Hotel Issues
Does your hotel wireless work for your guest? 11-14-07
Wireless Coverage in Hotels is one of the most misunderstood products many hotel owners and managers struggle with. Most all of our hotels now have at least one access point available to guests, as many business travelers are now demanding hotels have wireless. This in combination with the fact that all major computer manufacturers are now selling computers having wireless cards built in have made wireless a hot item for hotel owners/managers.
Unfortunately wireless for hotel owners is not just as easy as going to Best Buy or Radio Shack and picking up the Wireless Access Point that is on sale this week. This is also true of many "Computer Guys" who are trying to add a new client base to their list of customers. So what is the problem you ask?
It is as simple as three words - SECURITY, COVERAGE and MANAGEABILITY.
SECURITY - Most Brand Standards Require that you have some level of security for your guests. This concept is easy in theory for most hotels, but what does this mean? Simple. It means that you must isolate all guests from each others computers. This needs to be done on the Wireless Access Point and Switches that the guest connect to. The technology used to do this is not something that is common to most Wireless Access Point and Switches that you would buy at a retail store. If you think about it in its simplest terms, most people buy a Access Point, Hub or Switch to be able to see other computers to share files or printers. In the hotel industry it is the opposite - Isolate Everyone from Everyone Else!
COVERAGE - The idea of Wireless Coverage is not hard to understand but hard to accomplish. This simple items is actually the most complex design we deal with - how to properly cover the entire hotel so that all guests get good signal. Some things you may or may not know:
* Not all Access Points are created equal. Access Points have radio cards and antennas that determine how far they can broadcast a signal. Access Points also work on a "fall-back factor" which means if one person connects to it with a slower card the whole access point will drop to that level for all users. You can think of this as an engine in a car - obviously some cars perform better then others both in gas mileage and speed.
* Not all guest Laptops have the same wireless cards. When it comes to laptops with wireless built-in or add-on cards there is a lot of variety. Laptop computers have any different wireless cards and use different technologies (commonly you will hear B or G mentioned with wireless).
MANAGEABILITY - This is probably the most important factor in it's ability to affect your guest satisfaction scores. If you have a problem how quickly can it be found and fixed. All equipment in the hotel should be monitored at all times in case of an outage. The last thing you want is for your guests to let you know that you have a problem. Or something happens in evening hours and it has to wait for someone the next day to power-cycle the equipment.
If you have any questions about your hotels Internet equipment please call Craig Lansing for a FREE phone consultation at 800-201-7539 ext 705. You can also visit us online at www.hoteltech.net
By Craig Lansing - craig@brainwavebb.com
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