Are your students returning to sub-standard internet?
September is the traditional time of year when students start to go to university, or return for another year. The growth in the build of purpose built student accommodation means that more students are able to live in these communities than ever before.
The increasing availability of high-quality student housing has been fuelled both by a desire of universities to deliver greater value to students and also the business opportunity for investors and operators in the private sector. For many, gone are the days of cold, damp or poorly furnished HMO's, replaced by modern, turn key properties offering comfortable and private living.
This home from home experience provides students with the perfect place to live throughout their student days. Many properties could be likened to hotels with bright and airy rooms featuring en-suite bathrooms, spacious communal areas and even gym facilities. Of course it's also essential that these properties come with internet connectivity, but in many cases it often doesn't fit the bill.
Many properties were conceived and built more than 10 years ago and the speed of development has moved on significantly in that time. It was once common, and perfectly OK to provide a low-speed broadband solution to students, either via wi-fi or wired connection in the room. It allows students to use basic facilities such as email, browsing and study so in many respects it serves a basic need.
Today's students have evolved significantly from when this accommodation saw its first residents. A desktop or laptop computer and mobile phone were once the norm but now there's tablets, e-readers, gaming devices, smart speakers, printers and many more connected devices. Then there's the huge increase in data traffic, driven by the explosion of streaming services like Netflix. Today's students are used to using and consuming media in a much different way and consequently expect much more in terms of connectivity whilst living away from home.
So if as a provider your students are still struggling with slow connections, it's time to look at ways to improve your offer. Most legacy networks rely on slow and inefficient copper cabling which has limited capacity and limited scope for speed increases in the future. Optify specialises in the provision of full fibre networks which are not only built for the demands of today, but thanks to their design and construction are fully upgradeable for many years to come.
Best of all this technology is available now. Find out more here.
