It may sound like an oxymoron, but it is possible to get a private, secure, home-like network connectivity while connected to public guest networks such as those that are found in hotels, condos, dormitories, serviced suites, and co-working spaces. ANTlabs created the PAN (Personal Area Network) module for the IG 4 and SG 4 gateways for this very reason: good high-speed Internet access and privacy for each user in a guest network.
Picture this scenario: You just arrived at your hotel straight from the airport and you just want to relax by watching your saved shows on Netflix or play games on your Nintendo Switch on the Smart TV in your hotel room.
When you are
in a hotel guest network, that scenario is not usually as straightforward as sitting
down on your couch and finding your own devices in your own home network, and
then connecting these devices so they could ‘talk’ to one another. What would
most likely happen is that you would search for the SSID of the access point
(AP) where you are supposed to connect to, connect to that, and after that, you
do the same thing for your other devices, and search for the ones that you want
to connect to the Smart TV. Unlike your home network where you only see the
devices that you own, you would most likely be also shown other people’s
devices that are also connected to that AP—and that is usually a very long
list. Convenience is one thing, but
security is another very significant concern.
In the age of the IoT (Internet of Things) and digital nomads, the need for us and our personal devices to stay connected virtually everywhere is ever-increasing daily. Free, fast, and easy—that is how the ideal WiFi connectivity is for most people. How many people are there who think this way? Let’s get to the numbers.
Out of the
world’s total population of 7.676 billion, 4.388 billion are Internet users,
and 5.112 billion are unique mobile users1. That is a lot of users
and that data does not even include the other devices users own that also need
to connect to the Internet daily (i.e. IoT devices). According to Gartner’s
forecast2, the average number of users or devices supported per
deployed WLAN AP will increase by approximately 20% to 30% from 2018 through
2023. With those figures, it is even more crucial to have privacy, especially when
connected to guest networks and transferring sensitive data (e.g. personal data
or work files) over the Internet. Can hotels, serviced suites, or co-working
spaces provide that kind of privacy for each user? For service providers, is
providing each guest with private networks affordable and easy to implement?
At present, creating numerous SSIDs for each location and providing multiple Internet links for each IoT device type are the most commonly used methods for addressing these concerns but neither exactly answer privacy concerns nor are they easy and cheap to implement. Your guests can still see other devices on the network and the reality is, not all guests are Internet security-conscious enough to safeguard their own devices before connecting to public networks. A security or data breach that happens on your network is the last thing you want to happen. On top of that, the hotel staff must repeatedly adjust or create plans for Internet access provisioning especially during peak seasons or times when there are big events. The cost of training and maintenance is also added to your existing Internet service expenses.
ANTlabs, with 20 years of experience in guest network technology creation and innovation, had these concerns in mind when PAN module was created. This module allows service providers to give a multitude of users with multiple devices their own private networks, where they can manage their devices on their own during their stay, and it works well with ANTlabs’ signature 3-stage Advanced QoS. When these two modules are working together, your hotel staff’s devices, guest room IoT devices and guests’ personal devices can co-exist without sacrificing quality and user privacy. For example, you can set it in a way that with your hotel’s 10 GB pipe, each VIP gets a private network with guaranteed 1 GB bandwidth while your premium guests also get their own private network with 200 MB. Your hotel staff and offices each get a private network with 500 MB while non-staying visitors get 200 MB to share among themselves. Giving your guests peace of mind in knowing that they have their own private networks is one big plus to their total experience.
With PAN Module, there is no more need for multiple Internet links for different IoT device types and your guests shall not see other guests’ devices on your network. This is not only applicable for hotels but also for long-stay serviced apartments, dormitories, condos, shared offices, and other multi-dwelling units. PAN Module will potentially increase network security, protect your staff and guests from privacy intrusion, simplify operations support, and therefore improve the overall user experience in your hotel.
Whether you
are running a small hotel or a chain of hotels around the world, you and your
guests still want the same thing: a good experience—and to help usher in that
kind of experience calls for fast, seamless, and secure connectivity.
Related Articles:
1 WeAreSocial and HootsuiteTM (2019) ‘Essential Insights Into How People Around the World Use the Internet, Mobile Devices, Social Media, and E-Commerce’ [PowerPoint presentation]. Available at: https://datareportal.com/reports/?tag=Digital+2019 (Accessed: 7 July 2019).
2 Naresh Singh,
Christian Canales, Joe Skorupa, Evan Zeng. (2019). Forecast Analysis:
Enterprise Network Equipment, Worldwide. Connecticut: Gartner.
The user form authentication method requires downstream users to fill in a form to access the Internet. There is an option to verify the identity of the user via SMS or email and gateway administrators can enable it upon setting up the form. The data collected is then presented in the web admin GUI and […]
ANTlabs Cloud Services, ever since its launch, has made global guest WiFi management easier for many huge properties in the world by allowing their venue owners to be able to configure thousands of devices, run diagnostics and view reports in one place. More features have been released to improve both guest and admin/venue owner experience while using ACS.
The following features have been recently rolled out in ACS Update #15:
ACS portals can now support multiple languages so whether you are remotely managing an overseas site and want to localize your messages, or you just want to add more ways to communicate to your guests more effectively, this feature will help make that possible for you. Admins can configure text and create user login pages in up to 10 different languages.
We added three new templates: Natural, Minimalist and Corporate. Have your login portals up in no time by selecting any of the available templates in ACS, or easily make custom pages that adheres to your brand. Deploying the same portal design across a large number of sites? No problem. ACS can let you duplicate a site across multiple venues.
New Real-Time Downloadable Reports Tracking the progress of your guest Internet revenue is made easier with the new downloadable reports. These three new reports can be found under Reports and Analytics:
These are just three of the many features to be explored in ACS. Login to your ACS account now to try these out. Interested in ANTlabs Cloud Services? Email us to know more about ACS.
One thing that every service provider aims for is to exceed customer expectations. Customers are now more demanding and they know that they have more options available to them, so it has become paramount for establishments to dig deeper on what they think might work to keep them from running to their competitors. This is one of the reasons why free WiFi is as omnipresent as coffee shops are in metropolitan areas—it serves to attract and retain customers in the area.
For service providers, each day in service delivery is unique, therefore one must anticipate what customers need (or probably appreciate) and be ready for any eventuality so solving problems would be quick and smooth. Relevant customer insights equip you with the knowledge of who your customers are, what they like, why they go to your establishments, and what might be the reasons that will make them stay or come back.
Providing reliable WiFi connectivity to your guests (whether you offer it for free or not) while gaining unique, user-verified data about them is what the User Form Authentication feature enables you to do—and it is without incurring additional cost that usually comes with customization. With user form authentication, you can collect information you want from the customers themselves.
The user form authentication method requires downstream users to fill in a form to access the Internet. There is an option to verify the identity of the user via SMS or email and gateway administrators can enable it upon setting up the form. The data collected is then presented in the web admin GUI and sent to ANTlabs Cloud Service (ACS) if the gateway is connected to ACS, where further analytics and presentation can be viewed.
Forms are good for collecting information, but here’s the catch: people are hesitant to give out information, especially when they feel that you are asking too much or make them think too much for replies for each field. It is therefore ideal to have a simple form that is not daunting for first time users to fill up. The sign-up process must be as quick and painless as possible. A well design form encourages good WiFi sign-up rate. Here are some best practices to consider when designing your establishment’s authentication form:
Set your goals and identify what data required to achieve these goals. Only ask what is required. Eliminating unnecessary fields increases sign up rate.
The ANTlabs authentication form provides the flexibility to select from the default fields and create up to 5 custom fields. Thus, enabling businesses to collect unique bespoke data to meet your business goals.
With the drag and drop capability, related fields can be grouped together logically from a user perspective.
It’s highly recommended to avoid optional fields. However, if required, you should uncheck the box in the mandatory column. All mandatory fields will an asterisk (*) beside their labels.
Data validation process (email / SMS) can be easily enabled in the form. This feature not only facilitates data protection but also reduces the cost to handle invalid customer data.
The welcome page is an excellent platform to connect with your users and showcase your brand. Multiple templates available to give you a quick head start, while you can focus to create your own unique brand experience. Customizable areas include: logo, background image, promotional web banners, color and font settings.
You will need your user to agree with the terms and conditions to use your WiFi. This will spell out where your business’ liability ends in a situation when there is a security breach. If a user engages in illegal activity in your network, your business shall be protected from the repercussions of said activity.
You can easily enable CAPTCHA in your form to capture only relevant information from humans. However, do note that it may affect the sign-up rate as users can get frustrated after one or two failed attempts.
Randomly request some of your colleagues to go through the form you created. Their feedback will give you an idea if your form is effective or easy to use.
Event Manager is a new add-on module that is available for both SG 4 and IG 4 gateways. This module is for the M.I.C.E (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions, & Exhibitions) sector where the venue hosts multiple events with different requirements for each event.
Generating post-event reports is easy and it can be ready in minutes. Details available include user count, users and sessions, and data and duration usage. For events with social media logins, additional visitor details (name, email, gender, age group, influence, place and birthday) will also be made available. These reports are valuable to event organizers as the information they gathered from them may help them to engage visitors better and drive more traffic for future events.The new ANTlabs Advanced QoS allows administrators to configure intricate bandwidth allocation policies for users in your network. With the way people are consuming data these days, it is important to achieve fair sharing of bandwidth among users so user experience will not suffer.
One of the unique features of the ANTlabs Advanced QoS 3-stage engine is its capability to allow multiple devices to share a single bandwidth rate limit per user. For example, you wish to allocate 1MB per guest. Each guest will only use up this amount of bandwidth among his/her devices and it will be shared equally.
With Advanced QoS 3-stage engine, bandwidth utilization can be maximized by creating differentiated classes of services for different groups of users.
Login to your gateway admin and go to Bandwidth > QoS Class. You will find the three Advanced QoS classes when you click and expand Advanced Settings:
This tier has the highest priority and is typically reserved for users who need higher quality bandwidth no matter how many users there are in the system. Users in guaranteed bandwidth tier shall always get the requested bandwidth in total. Bandwidth will be divided equally among all users in the same tier in a dynamic manner based on the total number of users who requested for it. For example, 10MBps is allocated for this class and there are 10 users. If there are only two active users requesting for bandwidth, then each user will get 5 Mbps. When other users start to request for bandwidth, the bandwidth will be dynamically adjusted accordingly.
This is class is suitable for (but not limited to) large venues, conferences and company guests staying in hotels. ANTlabs Advanced QoS enables you to have up to 30 guaranteed bandwidth tiers.
Higher bandwidth is shared among premium users or VIPs in this tier and excess bandwidth from other tiers may be used if available. This is usually what is offered for paid internet usage in lounges, waiting rooms, and other visitor-based networks. This tier typically guarantees best quality of service.
The connectivity in this tier has the lowest priority. All users share the allocated bandwidth and is suitable for non-paying guests or those who just need basic Internet access.
The Settings and Shaping tabs show you additional options that allow you to fine-tune bandwidth allocation even more.
In Settings, you can choose to assign network devices and MAC addresses to your different pre-defined QoS classes.
Shaping tab takes it even further by allowing you to prioritize apps that need connectivity. When enabled, you can assign what percentage apps take from your pre-assigned Download and Upload limits. For example, you want to increase bandwidth for Streaming or throttle down P2P users, you may do so in this area.
You can create and customize different traffic shaping rules for specific application traffic types. These can then be later tied to different user groups.
Apply even finer control by customizing the bandwidth to individual plans that will be applied to a specific user group(s). Choose from specific category of traffic type and tie it to the QoS Class rule created earlier. Access these settings anywhere on the ASP from the Cloud.
ANTlabs Advanced QoS allows you to manage bandwidth easily in such a way that the different needs of your users are met and to ensure the fair sharing of bandwidth, especially when it is limited.
In our previous post, we introduced Plans and how establishments can set it up to meet different needs of users. This time, we will discuss use case scenarios to better illustrate the use of IG 4 Plans in different environments. We shall delve more on the most common use case scenario: Fixed Duration
Unlimited Plan is typically used in corporate environment where there is no need to enforce quota. Staff users can get internet access whenever they are logged in the office network. This may also be applicable to campuses, serviced apartments and similar network setups where users often get unlimited Internet access.
Fixed duration is often used in hotels and other visitor-based networks. Time count down usually starts from the guest’s first login and ends usually on the day the guest checks out.
Here is a sample list of plans for a hotel:
Guests typically get free WiFi and there are usually way more users on this plan type. Bandwidth, however, is not limitless. In order to ensure fair use and a generally good experience for all guests, free Internet access is limited at a reasonable speed. In our example, 3Mbps access is shared for guests with free access.
Hotels may want to provide faster Internet connection to VIPs and this can be done easily by simply selecting the VIP plan (e.g. 3 days (10 devices) – Free (VIP)). Here is an example of how you can customize the VIP plan further:
In this example, download and upload bandwidth are set to 10Mbps, which is higher than that of the regular guests with free access. VIPs can also use the same account for up to 10 devices (as set in this example) while the regular free access only allows account sharing for up to 3 devices. Seamless relogin is also enabled so that whenever the guest is within the coverage area, he/she need not go through the login page again to get WiFi connectivity.
There are times when you may need to assign a public IP (e.g. webcasting) and you may opt to create a separate plan for it if your establishment or venue has a lot of guests who would request this.
Here is a sample diagram of a typical hospitality network with various zones:
In our diagram, zones have different account provisioning and authentication methods. Guests can then choose the plans they want at the login page.
This scenario is comparable to mobile voice prepaid plans wherein balance is only deducted when used. This is often used with the auto-logout feature to prevent overcharging. Some establishments may offer prepaid Internet (e.g prepaid scratch cards) and go for this plan type so that their customers may get access only when needed and as long as he or she still has available balance. This may be used in transit lounges or any establishment where prepaid Internet access is more suitable.
In our example here, this Stored Duration plan grants 72 hours (3 days) to the user and there is no expiry date as to when this should be consumed:
Stored Volume is comparable to mobile data prepaid usage where a user is given a specific volume for consumption. It Is common in Australia and the Middle East. For example, establishments would like to allocate 650Mb per user and then throttle the users down when it is exceeded or automatically log them out of the network. It is generally preferred to just throttle them down at minimum speed when users have hit their assigned data cap.
As shown in these use case scenarios, user experience can be improved through IG4’s intelligent bandwidth management. IG 4 enables establishments to meet the Internet connectivity needs of practically every kind of user and this is easily done by setting up Plans.
We’re starting a series of biweekly articles that will focus on ANTlabs products features. To start this series, we’ll focus on IG 4 Plans and Use Case Scenarios… The total hotel guest experience these days already includes how convenient it is to stay connected, whether these guests are business travelers who conduct video conferences or […]
Using a dedicated load balancer to aggregate bandwidth is one of the solutions to achieve higher bandwidth. However, doing this also means incurring more expenses for the operator–not to mention that your network may need to use all features. ANTlabs offers a more cost-effective solution: the Multi-WAN module.
This module can do the essential function of a dedicated load balancer right in the gateway, so buying a separate load balancer is no longer necessary. Getting the Multi-WAN module means lower operating costs, lesser equipment to maintain and lesser power consumption than having a dedicated load balancer.
With the Multi-WAN module, the operator can aggregate multiple Internet connections to provide a superior end-user experience:
This module is for new hospitality customers who require a reliable gateway and efficiently use aggregated multiple Internet links. This is also suitable for existing ANTlabs gateway customers, who want to enhance end-user experience by aggregating multiple Internet links, and resellers who want to fulfil the latest hotel requirements, including multi-WAN.
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