“Good enough” is simply not good enough anymore. Hotel guests expect Wi-Fi to perform as well as it does at their home or office. If not, they will not come back. An airport hotel near London had 802.11n Wi-Fi that outlived its value, and it was becoming a problem. Connectivity was slow, and coverage was poor. By upgrading to Wi-Fi 6E technology from Taran and Cambium Networks, the hotel boosted throughput from 1.5 Mbps to 180 Mbps, increased coverage from 10% to 100% and saved 60% of the cost of competitive solutions.

Guests are now receiving a high-quality experience. Returning guests notice better coverage and higher speeds across the property – even before they enter the front door. Since the upgrade, the hotel has hosted multiple conferences with 200+ guests and has not received any complaints about the wireless, its availability or performance. The hotel is now a destination for conferences.

The Challenge

Originally designed to support business travellers using laptops to read email, the 2.4 GHz 802.11n standalone access points simply did not support the current demand. Guests complained about speeds and connectivity across the property. No one sat in any of the communal areas, restaurants or bars because there was no wireless connectivity.

The system needed to be upgraded without disrupting ongoing operations.

The Solution

The new technology was implemented as an overlay on the existing system within three days. When installation was complete, the overlay provided a complete side-byside comparison.

Across the hotel, the Wi-Fi has an average of 400 active users with peaks of approximately 900 users.

• Guest Room Wi-Fi: Every other room has an XV2-22H Wi-Fi 6 Wall Plate access point.
• Hotel corridor: XV2-2 Wi-Fi 6 indoor access points
• Reception, lobby and restaurant: XE3-4 Wi-Fi 6E high-density indoor access points
• Meeting rooms, event center, pre-function area: XE3-4 Wi-Fi 6E high-density indoor access points
• Back loading dock: XV2-2T0 outdoor Wi-Fi 6 access points
• Ethernet switch infrastructure: cnMatrix™ EX2052-P 48 port PoE switches were deployed to replace the ageing switch infrastructure and to deliver seamless connectivity across the hotel property
• Centralised cloud management: The cnMaestro™ management system makes it easy to provision, monitor and manage the entire network

The Results

“The solution delivered a hundred-fold increase in speed and performance,” says Alex Huxham. “That’s a powerful statistic, but what it means to guests is that they can upload their iCloud photos, they can call families on WhatsApp and do their work without even thinking about the Wi-Fi. Just like at home and work. That is what guests want.”

There is complete coverage in guest rooms and hotel locations:

Even distribution of auto-RF channel distribution: This spreads out the bandwidth instead of clustering all of the traffic on a small number of channels.
Guest room coverage: Wi-Fi 4/5/6 in dual bands available in all rooms.
6 GHz Wi-Fi enabled: Supporting 6 GHz devices when they do appear.
Excellent client signal-to-noise ratio (SNR):

• 96% > 20dB (target 95%)
• 91% > 25dB (target 85%)
• 74% > 30dB (target 75%)

Low co-channel interference in 5 GHz frequency band:

• 6 radios > -75dBm
• 2 radios per channel > -75dBm

Next Steps

There are plans for a more extensive implementation in each room involving the installation of a dedicated access point and the integration of Zigbee technology. This advancement will allow for the seamless operation of various functions, including door locks, mood lighting, TV services, and even AI cameras, all facilitated through the access points, which have networking capabilities built in. Furthermore, the property is also considering the incorporation of two-way cameras and two-way audio systems, both connected to the Wi-Fi infrastructure, as part of the next phase of improvements and implementations.

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