Archive for October, 2011

The New York Times has an interesting piece on how iPads are changing the economics and speed of hotel WiFi.

Here’s one excerpt: “Largely because of the broad use of iPads and other mobile tablets, which are heavy users of video streaming, the guest room Wi-Fi networks that most hotels thought they had brought up to standard just a few years ago are now often groaning under user demands. ”

The piece points out that the demand for streaming video often surpasses the hotel’s ability to provide it for free. The writer feels there will be a move to a tiered system, where basic access for checking email and browsing the web will be free, but users will have to pay for higher bandwidth required to watch videos.

It is estimated that 10 to 15 percent of hotels in the United States now offered at least some kind of Wi-Fi service with fees for higher use.

How is your network coping? Have you made upgrades in the last few years, only to find yourself falling short of guest demands again? Liveport’s all-inclusive pricing model might be the solution. Liveport includes equipment refreshes for life, eliminating the need to pay for expensive and frequent upgrades. We also have the ability to provide the tiered networks discussed in the article, and our mesh-node technology is perfect for mobile devices like tablets and smart phones. Ask us how we can help or visit http://www.liveport.com.