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 […]
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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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