ANTlabs is featured on Wi-Fi NOW regarding the Wi-Fi managed services platform, ASP / ASP Cloud, as well as a host of gateway features and services like Advanced QoS, Personal Area Network (PAN), and Web Filtering to enhance the user experience for MDUs (Multi-Dwelling Units).
The demand for managed Wi-Fi services for MDUs is on the rise worldwide, but standard enterprise-grade Wi-Fi services are rarely the right solutions for residential premises. The answer is a dedicated Wi-Fi feature set that affords residents all the benefits of professional MDU Wi-Fi including security, dynamic quality of service (QoS) management, and personal area networks.
MDUs are characterised by a lot of building tenants often living relatively close together. The need for dynamic quality of service management is important – as is delivering the right security. Add to this that tenants also want to be able to share content over the private Wi-Fi networks inside their unit only. Standard enterprise-grade Wi-Fi management – even in the Cloud – is simply not enough. MSPs (Managed Service Providers) offering managed Wi-Fi service in an MDU environment will benefit greatly from ANTlabs solutions that improve productivity, and boost user satisfaction and operational efficiency.
Read more about it below…
Wi-Fi for MDUs requires a unique service management feature set, says ANTlabs
Did you know that your neighbors may also know that you are watching Netflix when you cast Netflix on your hotel TV? Even high-end hotel guests are not spared the surprise nor embarrassment and have experienced getting a mobile notification that somebody nearby is streaming Netflix on their hotel TV. This situation usually happens when the network does not have any private network setup.
Upon reaching your hotel room, one of the first things you will most likely do is get your devices connected to WiFi—whether for work or to relax after a long day by catching up on your favorite shows on Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, or Disney+. Unlike in the home network–where we only see the devices we own–guest networks would most likely also show other people’s devices connected to that AP when you scan for your devices to cast on your hotel TV. If you can see your neighbor cast Netflix from their phone to TV, imagine what else we could be unknowingly broadcasting when connected to guest networks.
As a service provider, be it for hotels or MDUs, how can you assure the users in your network that their devices are only “speaking” with one another? And that intruders cannot easily find their devices? As more users are practically doing everything online these days, customers are also getting more aware of privacy matters and the need to protect themselves from intrusion.
One way to accomplish this is to provide each user with their private network. Providing private networks for each of your guests will ensure that only the user’s devices can “see” each other online, whether they are ‘working from hotel’—the other WFH—or just unwinding and casting Netflix on their hotel room Smart TV. Guests can also connect their gaming consoles to it, just like how they set it up at home, thus, improving the guest experience. The traditional way of achieving this is not straightforward and very time-consuming. As a service provider, the easier way to do this is through ANTlabs’ PAN (Private Area Network) module.
User experience is more than just a buzzword now, especially when transacting business online. It usually starts with how fast and easy you can connect to the Internet, how stable it is, and how secure it is wherever you are, especially guest WiFi networks. Improving network security protects your staff and guests from privacy intrusion and simplifies operations support.
With PAN module, you can tell your guests that they have a private network within their hotel room and can expect to quickly hook up their gaming consoles or enjoy casting their favorite Netflix shows on their TV—without letting the whole building know about it. They can trust that they will have a pleasant and enjoyable stay and secure business transactions online.
ANTlabs gateways also have other modules that complement the PAN module. Take, for example, the Advanced QoS module. You enjoy the best of both worlds with both PAN and Advanced QoS through operational efficiency, high-quality internet connectivity and privacy. These benefits are not only for the guests but also for the hotel staff. For one, it is easy for your team to set up private networks for your guests with the PAN module, and it is just as easy to allocate differentiated bandwidth tiers for your guests.
For example, your hotel can allocate VIPs and premium-paying guests with their 1GBps private network while non-guests who are enjoying free WiFi at the hotel lobby café share 200MBps among themselves. This means that no matter how hectic it gets during the day within your staff’s own 1GBps network, your VIPs and premium-paying guests will still be happily casting and streaming Netflix or making Zoom calls in their rooms. On top of this, other users will not see your devices that are within your private network.
The PAN module is also suitable for co-working spaces and MDUs (e.g., condominiums, dormitories, serviced apartments). While the current global situation does not encourage a lot of human traffic in these areas, it somehow shows the opposite on online traffic. Everyone is online to do practically everything; thus, more and more devices connect to the Internet daily. With the PAN module, service providers can provide a seamless and private user experience to their users no matter how busy the network gets with WFH (both ‘work from home’ and ‘work from hotel’) online activities during the day, and casting Netflix or YouTube at night.
Learn more about how the PAN module can improve your guest network.
This update includes the following enhancements: New Personal Area Network (PAN) module: Allows users to be assigned dynamic VLANs after login Allows dynamic VLAN assignment based on PMS room number Note: Micros Fidelio and Guest authentication is required Google+ login enhancements to use Google Sign-in due to Google+ API shutdown This update fixes the following […]