Is venue WiFi sufficient to support your average live event?
Our recent poll demonstrated that 50% of our fellow LinkedIn event professionals do not seek expert advice on the quality of WiFi connectivity when selecting the venue or site for their events.
Fast, reliable and secure WiFi is required by all event stakeholders to enable them to engage with today’s plethora of technology. It is an expectation amongst today’s event audiences and suppliers that WiFi is accessible to everyone involved. This is to both facilitate its overall success from a production perspective and to enhance the audience experience. However, it’s not enough for a venue or organiser to simply say they have WiFi; it needs to be high quality, fast, and reliable, e.g. fit for purpose, so it is essential to get this verified by an expert prior to your event.
Attendees will want to upload content, check emails, and connect with other businesses, but organisers and exhibitors also rely on WiFi for various, and often integral, elements of their events. For example, to launch a new product demonstration or to deliver a live stream. In fact, so many aspects of an event require a solid level of connectivity, one that is not easily disrupted, or doesn’t drop off at a critical moment, irrespective of how many people are logged in, or where you happen to be in the venue.
We’ve all been to an event where the WiFi has been poor or nonexistent, whether it is access to WiFi for your own use, or event technology failing due to poor connectivity, it negatively impacts your entire experience. The success of an event should never be compromised by ineffective WiFi, because event connectivity should always be tried and tested prior to the event going live.
Resolving WiFi and connectivity issues is not something that should be occupying the time of a busy event planner in the midst of an event, with so many other elements to manage to ensure a premium guest experience.
With 4G and 5G so accessible, do you still need WiFi?
Today, 4G and 5G seem to be accessible across most major UK cities and towns. So, the question for many is: do you still need WiFi to support an event? The answer is definitely yes. Bulletproof event WiFi ensures wireless internet is accessible throughout a venue for organisers, suppliers and attendees alike. This is a vital ingredient for the production and the smooth running of any event for all stakeholders.
Relying only on 4G or 5G can create a cascade of problems, especially if too many people are trying to access the same network from the same location. This increased internet traffic can overload the network, resulting in slower upload and download speeds. Although 5G is faster, it can still suffer from the same issues as 4G, which includes poor connectivity, congestion, and varying signal quality.
The importance of WiFi for event production and infrastructure
Robust WiFi is important for an event audience, but it is also a critical element for a vast range of event infrastructure. Many production specifications require a stable, fast and secure network, along with essential elements such as ticketing, bars and other catering areas that use payment technology such as EPOS or PDQ machines. All of these rely on WiFi that can really perform.
What are the benefits of a quality WiFi for event attendees?
Encouraging guests to upload posts to social media to share their experience and highlights from your event is a powerful marketing tool. Attendee endorsement across social media channels can boost sales and attendance for an event that is running across multiple days. It can also encourage participation virtually. Networking also forms part of the agenda for most B2B events, so enabling participants to post on their social accounts and make new connections, by committing to a WiFi service that is fit for purpose, should form part of your overall production brief.
The commercial benefits of a quality WiFi solution
There are obvious commercial benefits to ensuring you don’t lose connectivity at your event. For example, revenue generating areas of your event like ticketing and catering areas all rely on bulletproof WiFi. Installing a high quality WiFi solution will also enable you to maximise other business opportunities, such as capturing high volumes of audience data for optimising sales and supporting sponsorships.
When do you need temporary WiFi?
WiFi for brand experiences or activations are a great example of where you may require temporary WiFi. These events usually take place in pop-up style venues, rather than permanent venues. For example, you often see brand activations in retail parks or in public areas where the WiFi may not be robust enough to cope with the demands of the event.
What factors affect the strength of a WiFi signal?
There are many factors that can affect the strength of a WiFi signal. It is therefore good practice for wireless experts to assess an event site during the planning stage, to identify any issues which could impact connectivity. A building with particularly thick walls or a deep basement area can disrupt signals and reduce wireless coverage throughout the venue, meaning WiFi would not be available in all locations.
Temporary WiFi case study: Sky Up Next launch event
To promote Sky’s 2020 new releases, our client, Wonderland Agency, delivered a cinematic experience to guests and attendees at the iconic Tate Modern in London. The launch event promoted original content, drama, and comedy on the big screen and featured engaging keynotes, talent panels, and behind the scenes interviews throughout the night. The event finished with amazing culinary experiences and music performances from artists such as Ellie Goulding and DJ, Maya Jama.
For the team at Noba, this was our second time in a month working at one of our favourite London venues. It was our job to provide a seamless WiFi and internet connection including hardwired drops for the press and media outlets. We provided a fully managed WiFi system for our clients at Wonderland Agency, which not only delivered coverage indoors at the venue, but also at the entrance to allow fast check-in for VIPs via an iPad.
Noba understood the importance of delivering reliable, high quality WiFi, which enabled the Wonderland team to focus on running their event, with the confidence that our rock-solid internet connectivity would not let them down. All stakeholders including the production team, press, media, PR, and guests, including VIPs, benefitted from a reliable and secure WiFi system that simply delivered.
Having provided the events industry with the best in WiFi connectivity for over a decade, there aren’t many environments that we haven’t worked in. From forests to warehouses and vehicles to boats, we have always found the perfect solution.
Ensure the optimisation of your next event and arrange for your selected venue or location to be audited for its WiFi quality by the event WiFi experts at Noba. We can advise on the best connectivity or temporary WiFi solution to support your event requirements.
Book your call with our MD Nick Taylor today.
The Noba event WiFi glossary
We have created our jargon busting event WiFi glossary below, along with some FAQs, to help you understand what type of connectivity or solution you require for your next event.
What is contention?
Internet contention refers to how many people are sharing the data capacity on an internet provider’s line. Often referred to as a contention ratio, it tells you how many people are using the same broadband as you, as this will affect your broadband speed.
1:1 contention is when you get a dedicated internet connection, such as fibre ethernet, which typically delivers speeds from 100Mbps to 10Gbps+. At Noba, all of our venue connections and many of our temporary solutions are 1:1 contention, which is critical for events where connectivity is a crucial element.
What is rate limiting?
Rate limiting is the method of limiting the bandwidth available to each user so as not to overload the internet connection e.g. a limit of 5Mbps/5Mbps could be set for all guest WiFi users. This also ensures no one user can take all of the bandwidth available on the network.
Other methods are also available for ensuring quality of service across the network such as traffic shaping and queuing. All useful tools to consider when overall bandwidth is limited.
What is the difference between upload and download speed?
These two terms are generally used when talking about internet speeds, but they do differ.
Upload speed refers to the rate at which information is transferred from your computer to the internet. The faster the upload speed, the smoother the user experience. A good upload speed enables you to send emails, post videos on Facebook, and upload large video files much quicker.
In contrast, download speed means the rate at which information is transferred from the internet to your device. A good download speed would allow you to get videos and photos from the internet quicker, as well as being able to watch films and TV shows online with fewer pauses.
What is load balancing?
Load balancing is a way of dividing internet traffic up over two or more internet connections to improve end-user performance and increase the reliability of internet connectivity.
If too many people are trying to use the same network at the same time it can result in a disrupted internet connection and slow upload/download speeds. Load balancing across multiple internet connections helps share this internet traffic, so a network doesn’t become overloaded, and the user experience isn’t negatively impacted.
What is bonded internet?
As opposed to load balancing, which distributes packets evenly or as a weighted value across multiple internet connections, bonding effectively ‘glues’ multiple connections together to create a single internet pipe.
This is particularly useful for live streaming as, by bonding multiple connections together, it creates a much more stable connection. A huge advantage being that if any of the individually bonded connections fail, the bonded link won’t fall over, and the livestream will continue unaffected.
Also, whilst load balancing is great for certain applications such as web browsing, live streaming will only use one of the load balanced connections. In this scenario, bonded internet is a better option.
What is FTTC & FTTP?
FTTC stands for fibre to the cabinet and is a type of broadband which uses a fibre optic connection from your internet provider to the nearest cabinet to your venue (the green boxes you see in lots of streets). From the cabinet to the venue, it uses copper wire. It’s also known as VDSL and can offer speeds of up to 80Mbps upload / 20Mbps download.
This is the most common broadband setup in the UK as it’s cost-effective compared to other solutions. FTTC makes use of existing infrastructure instead of digging up roads or grass in established areas.
FTTP stands for fibre to the premises and is a type of broadband which uses fibre all the way from the exchange to your venue. Where FTTC is limited to 80Mbps/20Mbps, FTTP can deliver much faster speeds.
What is point to point wireless internet connection?
When there are no on-site options, or if a last-minute high bandwidth connection is needed, point to point wireless internet is a great option. With speeds of up to 10Gbps available, an interference free 60Ghz frequency wireless link provides a stable ‘as good as cable’ internet connection.
Using a dedicated internet connection in another location (known as a POP), we can send this connection wirelessly to the venue where it is required. This does require line of sight and roof access at both locations but is a great way of delivering enterprise grade connectivity at short notice into an event site.
What is the nBox?
The nBox is a portable internet solution created by the team here at Noba that allows for unlimited plug and play internet. It provides enterprise grade WiFi for team home working, smaller scale events, and live streaming. Despite its size, the nBox still offers many of the same features as our traditional connectivity solutions, whilst being more cost-effective.
A key feature of the nBox is the simplicity of set up;it weighs the same as a standard laptop so can be carried from one event to another. Furthermore, our bonded 4G connections allow for unlimited data usage, meaning you won’t have to worry about excess data charges. For more information, download the nBox brochure.
How do I get my event connected?
At Noba, we understand the importance of connectivity for your event, whether it’s a large-scale conference with multiple speakers and attendees, or WiFi to support the live stream of a concert. We provide robust, high-speed WiFi tailored to your needs so you can optimise your event, without being restricted by your internet connection.
Our team are also experts in fibre broadband, satellite broadband, 4G/5G, point to point solutions and much more! We have a range of options to meet your requirements.
Book a call today and see how we can help get your next event seamlessly connected.
Why work with Noba?
In addition to specialising in event connectivity, we also provide a wider range of technology services. From our portable internet solution, the nBox, through to live streaming services and bespoke event software builds, the team here at Noba have unrivalled experience solving connectivity and event technology issues, wherever you may be hosting your next event.
Our portfolio of services also includes installing WiFi into permanent venues for the hospitality and events sector. We manage the WiFi at some incredible venues throughout London, from Printworks London to the Saatchi Gallery, tailoring solutions to each event. We understand the bespoke nature of the live events industry and that no two venues or events are the same. Whether we’re integrating existing technology or building a standalone application, our engineers are the most talented in the industry, and our networks will never let you down.
As well as live events, we deliver first class virtual and hybrid solutions, providing attendees with a glitch free online experience. From virtual platform advice to bespoke design and delivery, we create engaging online and hybrid events to reach your entire audience, no matter where they are.
Want to explore our services? Take a look here.
Get in touch
For any further questions or queries, or to book your event WiFi installation, you can contact us on 0345 612 3008. Alternatively, you can complete our online form and a member of our friendly team will be in touch.
