Wi-Fi has been one of the technologies that has increased most in the last years, especially due to the large spread of mobile devices. From laptop PC’s to tablets or smart phones, wi-fi is being used by companies internally to improve their work processes, but also many companies (especially service companies) offer their clients Wi-Fi, as an added value service. Indeed keeping clients connected to the Internet efficiently, is a huge added value, which keeps client satisfaction extremely high, because who doesn’t need to be constantly connected? Whether it’s for personal reasons (access to social media, messages or phone calls via Internet) or for professional issues (emails, access to company networks, etc.). The answer is that an extremely large percentage of the population need constant connectivity.

Hotels are probably one of the most mature markets who offer their clients Wi-Fi and we can’t really imagine staying at a Hotel without Wi-Fi connectivity. I believe that most of us would not stay at a Hotel without Wi-Fi. Indeed, so much so that to date, most of us expect this service to be included in our stay at a Hotel without any extra charge! Even small rural hotels have Wi-Fi for their clients now.

Nowdays, which type of companies offer wifi-conectivity?

So who apart from Hotels, offer Wi-Fi connectivity now? Without thinking too hard…resorts, casinos, hired apartment, timeshares, airports, convention centers, coffee shops, restaurants, museums, palaces and shopping malls would offer Wi-Fi services. The latter (museums, palaces, shopping malls, etc.) are slightly different, in that yes, they do offer connectivity as a service to their clients, but they can also offer clients information on the site that they are visiting for example, to increase the service offering. However, these type of organizations can also use Wi-Fi in another way. That is, to track the movement of their visitors, to obtain data on most visited spots, areas of most interest, etc. However, this would be a totally different concept to what is being analyzed in this post.

Moving on, there is a new concept in Wi-Fi connection being offered more and more, which is quite different to what we have talked about so far, but has the same goal. The concept is Wi-Fi for travellers on buses, trains and other forms of transport. It is becoming more and more frequent, because it improves the client satisfaction of travelling. Similar from the client perspective, allowing always on connectivity, but a hugely different concept for the company that has to offer the service, as far as the set up and maintenance is concerned. Wi-Fi on a moving vehicle, with all related issues to capturing and maintaining signals whilst in movement, is not a minor task at all!

An unstoppable process

Indeed, all the markets segments that we have mentioned have different type of clients. A casino client would be entirely different to a commuter on a train or a museum visitor would differ from someone having a meal in a restaurant. However, in the end these clients all need to have Wi-Fi connectivity to access the network and for that connection to be of a high quality.

As was mentioned at the beginning, Hotels is probably the most mature market as far as Wi-Fi as a service to clients is concerned and that other markets may not be as developed in Wi-Fi, but this is moving at a very fast rate. How long will it be until we will have the same situation with transport, where there will be many more means of transport with Wi-Fi than without? When will we have a situation where we decide not to go to a certain shopping mall, because they do not offer free Wi-Fi connectivity? What is clear, is that it will not be very long at all.

Within Teldat we are totally aware of this fact and that’s why our company is investing heavily in this area to offer all these market segments the best Wi-Fi solutions. From specific devices for Wi-Fi connectivity to our router devices that include a built in Wi-Fi option, to Wi-Fi on trains or other types of vehicles