Is Your Bandwidth Wide Enough?

As the Internet grows, so too must your WiFi network.

By Adam Kirby, Associate Editor -- HOTELS Magazine, 4/1/2007

Although the hotel industry hasn't yet come to a consensus on whether wireless Internet access should be complimentary or fee-based, the technology at this point has become a standard amenity in much of the world, especially among high-end properties. However, free or not, it is not enough to simply set up a Wi-Fi access point and assume your hotel is meeting the expectations of laptop-toting guests.

The need for network security is well documented, but what many hoteliers might not be aware of is the increasing strain being put on bandwidth. Bandwidth-intensive applications are becoming increasingly popular with hotel guests, and if hoteliers are not prepared for evolving Internet trends, they risk either having bandwidtheaters crash their network, or providing insufficient bandwidth for the serious users. Either way, the result is dissatisfied guests. "You can't really just sit back and say, 'We have Internet access; we're done for five years," says Chris Hartmann, chief technology strategist for HVS International. "You're going to have to keep looking at your wireless system because improvements keep coming and consumers are going to want what's new."

Laptop use in hotels is evolving quickly. While many businesspeople are ditching bulky laptops for PDAs and BlackBerrys, more and more leisure travelers are bringing along computers for entertainment purposes, which tend to be more bandwidth-intensive than workrelated applications. In fact, a Harris Interactive poll commissioned by Intel Corp. found that 53% of Americans plan to take their laptops with them on future vacations.

One of the main culprits of bandwidth overuse is a new device called Slingbox. The product allows users to stream, in real time, their home television channels over their laptop computers, anywhere in the world. The increasingly popular Slingbox uses about 1 megabits per second, several times more bandwidth than a typical Web browser. Internet video gaming, music downloads and the burgeoning YouTube culture similarly are absorbing vast amounts of bandwidth. Without proper bandwidth limits, a handful of users can effectively overwhelm an entire hotel network. On the other hand, say a road warrior from Tokyo is in Chicago and he wants to watch a Yomiuri Giants game on his laptop-if his hotel has insufficient bandwidth, it won't be long before he checks into a competing hotel that can meet his desire to watch hometown sports.

Similarly, Internet phone services (also known as voice-over-IP) such as Skype and Vonage require sufficient bandwidth. Even though it does not use nearly as much bandwidth as streaming media, voice-over-IP users expect a reliably consistent Internet connection; a connection that cuts in and out might go unnoticed by someone checking e-mail, but it becomes unacceptable during a phone conversation. "Hoteliers better start becoming smart about how they buy bandwidth because they're going to need a lot more of it," says Nick Price, chief technology officer for Hong Kong-based Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group. "A guest that can't get a good connection because of a lack of bandwidth won't be happy."

Is It Time To Sell Bandwidth?
So what is a hotelier to do, other than buy much more bandwidth than a property will usually need? Well, one option is to sell guests extra bandwidth at a premium, using a tiered system, suggests Daryl Schoolar a senior networks analyst for the Arizona-based technology research firm In-Stat. Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based EthoStream, which provides WiFi to more than 300 hotels, offers a bandwidth up-sell program in which guests needing more than the standard bandwidth can pay a few extra dollars a night. Bandwidth up-sell can generate additional revenue for the hotel while offsetting the problem of bandwidth crunch.

Hoteliers also might choose to adjust their standard bandwidth offerings based on peak usage. Most bandwidth providers are able to allocate more bandwidth during high-demand periods, like lunchtime and evening, while scaling it back when most guests are off-property or sleeping. "The kitchen doesn't make 100 meals an hour if nobody's eating them," Price says, and he believes the same principle should hold true for Internet service. However, Kirt Mulji, a former hotelier who now owns California-based Kyber Networks, offers an opposing analogy. "You don't turn off your lights in the middle of the day, even if there's nobody in the hotel," Mulji says, "so why wouldn't you do the same with Internet? It should be there if people need it."

Play Nice With Neighbors
As WiFi becomes even more commonplace, hoteliers are beginning to experience problems with network interference from nearby businesses, particularly in dense city centers. When many WiFi signals overlap on one another, instead of boosting the connectivity, the opposite happens: the signals end, cancelling each other out, says Paul Lopez, general manager for marketing at NEC Unified Solutions, a Texas-based network provider. Lopez suggests a simple remedy: "Play nice" with neighboring proprietors to coordinate wireless networks. If that doesn't work, the hotel's network provider might be able to fix the problem by adjusting channel frequencies or relocating signal beacons, Lopez says.

The strength of a hotel's own wireless network even can become a burden. Event planners might request unlimited wireless access for their attendees; the challenge for a hotel with fee-based guest WiFi is how to offer free access to attendees without opening the network up to other guests, and conversely, the same holds true if a hotel has free Internet but charges attendees for network access. Many hoteliers are turning to their network providers to set up temporary virtual networks, separating the conference area with a network partition and requiring a password to access the temporary network, Lopez says.