The increasing cost of buying a home, less job security and a changing housing market have meant that, more than ever before, the under 40s are choosing to rent rather than purchase.
This new breed has been called ‘Generation Rent’, and more than merely renting, they’re causing a sea-change in the expectations on developers, building operators and landlords. Put simply, the expectations on the rental sector are now sky high.
Whilst traditional factors like price, location and style still come into play for the modern renter, those factors have been augmented with what some still consider secondary appeals – things like day-one access to broadband and WiFi.
Fast broadband and WiFi has successfully made the transition from luxury to absolute necessity, and is now an expected feature for Generation Rent, helping them live, work and play.
The Value of Day One Connectivity and a Building-Wide Service
Though most built-to-rent developers have woken up to the need for a managed internet service to ensure a fast, stable and simple WiFi for their tenants, there’s a surprising number which still believe that contrary to popular sentiment, broadband access is something for tenants to sort for themselves.
Whilst this is undoubtedly the simplest method for developers, it ignores the realities of WiFi for multi-tenant buildings.
In the UK, there are only three non-overlapping channels that WiFi routers use. This means that as tenants move into a building and their individual WiFi networks begin to interfere with one another, reducing the reliability and strength of their networks. Over time, too many of these interferences can stop WiFi connections working entirely, and that’s a big problem for building operators, who see tenant experience and satisfaction levels compromised.
For a tenant, to come into a new building and find that their broadband and WiFi has already been sorted is a huge selling point, saving them inconvenience of negotiating contracts, signing deals and waiting for installation. It’s only over time though that they’ll truly begin to appreciate the speed, reliability and security of a building-wide managed internet service.
However, the burgeoning Internet of Things (IOT) has meant that, increasingly, we traditional building-wide WiFi is no longer fit for purpose. Increasingly we make use of devices which all speak to each other, like wireless speakers, thermostats, televisions and Chromecasts, all of which require a private wireless connection in order to function effectively.
So, what’s the solution? Airangel’s Personal Area Networks.
Why your Building Needs Personal Area Networks
Unlike the vast majority of building-wide broadband solutions, at Airangel, we’ve worked hard to deliver a solution which not only provides strong and stable blanket coverage throughout your building, but also enables the new wave of interconnected technologies.
From the moment your tenant moves into their flat, they’ll find their wireless network set up and ready to go, complete with their own SSID. By adding a tenant to your WiFi network before they arrive, they’ll receive a simple text email with the details of their personal network name and their password, with no contracts to sign. All they need to do is log in and go, it’s as easy as that.
Best of all though, because our wireless broadband solution offers an individual SSID for each person, residents are can connect their devices to their own wireless network without fear of visibility to other tenants.
That means the ability to stream amazing content to their TV via their Chromecast, or manage their heating via a smart thermostat system. Increasingly, this kind of functionality is becoming essential across all sectors, including hospitality, and it all hinges on having a personal SSID for each tenant.
That’s just one of the many benefits of an Airangel managed WiFi platform, which includes an API to connect to other platforms and share data, marketing tools to increase interaction rates, guest engagement tools to promote products or services, and the ability to resell your wireless solution to tenants at a profit.
To learn more about Airangel’s day one connectivity and advanced SSID for developers and tenants, take a look at our blog, or speak to a member of our team today.
