Cellular connectivity is an important driver of apartment resident (dis-) satisfaction. Every modern developer has stories of prospects walking out of a tour when their cell phones don’t connect at acceptable speeds. For residents who are streaming entertainment, working from home and staying connected with loved ones, reliable and strong wireless cellular connections are crucial for living spaces in our constantly connected world.

Three possible solutions to poor cellular reception include:

• Promoting wifi calling as a user-based solution inside their home;
• Installing a Distributed Antenna System solution as an overlay to existing building systems;
• Offloading all cellular signals onto a managed wifi network solution like Google’s new Orion program.

DAS (Distributed Antenna System) is a network of small antennas strategically placed where connectivity is weak throughout a building to amplify cellular coverage. DAS receives cellular coverage directly from service carriers and can support a variety of mobile phone providers across the nation. Caveats to DAS systems include the (unbudgeted) capital cost, and the vagaries of the originating cellular signal. If the external signal is weak, generally speaking, a DAS can’t improve a nonexistent signal.

Wifi calling may be the simplest option if the problem is not systemic and the residents have modern smartphones, […]

By Rush Blakely

Recently, I had the privilege of participating on a panel at the AIM Conference to talk about “Why Big Owners and Developers are Switching to Buying Internet in Bulk.”

It’s no surprise that the past year has truly shown us how dependent we are on having reliable Internet for working, schooling and shopping from home. For multifamily residents, this extends to being able to have consistent and uninterrupted WiFi at a friend’s apartment or even in common areas where co-working spaces became the norm—as well as filling in the gaps for cell phone coverage “dead spots.”

For operators, reliable WiFi also enabled mobile apps, smart locks, touchless leasing and more. In essence, property-wide managed WiFi has become the foundation for technology—and the most important amenity—as well as a viable way to earn ancillary income.

As the demands for bandwidth have increased, record numbers of developers and owners of existing properties are building or switching to property-wide managed WiFi; however, the decision for what technology to implement and how to do so isn’t always easy.

For example, if you were to issue an RFP and five vendors responded, there is no […]