In today’s world, a strong internet connection is an expectation. Whilst this is common in most venues, ensuring signal outdoors can be a challenge. This blog explores how access points can bridge the gap and provide your business with a competent solution for extending Wi-Fi coverage to your outdoor areas and boosting your business overall.
Key Takeaways
- Reliable internet outdoors is crucial: Customers now expect strong Wi-Fi access in outdoor areas like cafes, restaurants, and pub gardens.
- Outdoor access points help boost your business: By attracting customers, improving service, collecting valuable data, and standing out from the competition.
- Choose the right access point: Consider factors like weatherproofing, range, manageability, and features like guest networks.
5 Ways Outdoor Access Points can boost your business:
As a pain point, frustration, and demand from your customers, you want to ensure you’ve got a stable internet connection for your business. Whether it’s outdoor pub areas, swimming pools, boutique hotels, etc, don’t run the risk of an unhappy customer. Connectivity is becoming a necessity, and access points are a great solution. So we’ve got together 5 ways in which access points can boost your business:
1. Attracting and Engaging Customers
Free and reliable Wi-Fi can keep your customers lingering in outdoor areas, leading to increased sales of food and products. With online menus and ordering apps, and the convenience of staying at your table or with your friends, guests may stay longer. Wi-Fi connection is also handy for doing little bits of life admin on the go, like checking a bus schedule, checking a cinema showing time, staying in contact on social media or with family, and more. Customers not only find this appealing but they are engaged with your business and will recognise features like reliable outdoor Wi-Fi as a strength.
2. Improved Operations and Efficiency
Now that customer service in restaurants, cafes, and pubs often makes use of connected products like tablets, phones, and card machines, it makes sense to ensure a hassle-free process for outdoor guests. With outdoor access point solutions, payment processes, and ordering are straightforward. This helps keep customer frustrations at bay and ensures a good experience.
The security of your business is also enhanced with outdoor Wi-Fi to maintain reliable connectivity for security cameras and monitoring systems. Surveillance for parking areas and outdoor areas has never been easier to keep an eye on.
3. Increased Brand Awareness and Engagement
With connections in outdoor areas, your customers can access their social media easily and post about what they are doing, for example, posting a picture of their food and tagging your restaurant business. This is called “user-generated content”, which sees the customer generate brand-specific content that promotes your business. Using an access point outside increases the chance of user-generated content, with easy upload times and a speedy connection to all their favourite platforms, allowing your business to be seen by other people, without you having to put in any of the marketing efforts yourself.
4. Data Collection and Insights
Using an outdoor Wi-Fi solution also means you can create your own Wi-Fi portal login process, which can be used to collect data and send targeted offers and promotions to customers. You’ll be able to monitor the traffic coming in and out, allowing you to understand your customer’s behaviors and traffic patterns. Overall, you can use this to create some marketing strategies to get yourself seen when customers are connecting to the Wi-Fi at certain times of the day, or providing them with special offers on products you know are their favourite, etc.
5. Competitive Advantage
Whilst Wi-Fi indoors is more often provided, there are still businesses that do not provide outdoor Wi-Fi. Doing so can be a significant way of standing out from the crowd, especially in areas with limited Wi-Fi access. For example, it would ease a pain point for customers who have to come into the building to get a Wi-Fi connection every time they want to check on a football score or receive an iMessage or WhatsApp message. Outdoor Wi-Fi is convenient and improves overall customer experience, setting you apart from your competitors.
Overall, Internet connection has become paramount to our daily lives, with our phones, iPads, laptops, and more in constant use. Whether we are scrolling through social media on a commute or working remotely from a café, we constantly seek a strong and reliable connection, and you can boost your business
Below, we’ve listed some recommendations for reliable outdoor access points from HPE Aruba Networking, Draytek, Netgear, Ubiquiti, and TP-Link.
Our recommendations:
Aruba AP17 Outdoor Instant On Access Point
Specifically designed to withstand harsh weather conditions, this access point extends reliable Wi-Fi connection to your outdoor areas such as outdoor seating areas in restaurants and cafes, swimming pools, and boutique hotels.
Features:
- Capable of handling harsh weather conditions such as rain, snow, hail, or extreme temperatures.
- Smart mesh technology.
- Remote management and monitoring capability.
- Separate guest and employee Wi-Fi network.
- Mobile app and cloud portal.
Ubiquiti UnFi AC Mesh Indoor/Outdoor Access Point
Features high-performance, wide-area Wi-Fi with UniFi mesh technology. Suited for indoors and outdoors due to its weather resistance and compact fitting seamlessly into an outdoor environment.
Features:
- Weather-resistant enclosure suitable for indoors and outdoors.
- Versatile mounting for wall, pole, or fast mount.
- Multiple power options
- Antenna options
DrayTek VAP918RPD-K VigorAP Outdoor Wireless Access Point
An outdoor access point that’s flexible, manageable, and secure. Suited to restaurants, gardens, marinas, educational premises, and anywhere else outdoors.
Features:
- Can be used as part of a DrayTek Mesh Wireless solution
- Easy setup and control with an app.
- Weatherproof in extreme cold and hot temperatures, and foul weather.
- Long-range point-to-point wireless.
Netgear WAX610Y
Enterprise-level outdoor access point suited to small and medium-sized businesses. Suitable for high-density Wi-Fi environments. Also includes insight cloud remote monitoring and management, Wi-Fi 6, and more.
Features:
- PoE only.
- Ideal for high-density WiFi environments.
- Dual-band wireless mesh with wire-free installation.
- Greater capacity and battery life – with 4X more connection capacity than Wi-Fi 5.
TP-Link EAP650-Outdoor AX3000 Indoor/Outdoor Wi-Fi 6 Access Point
Resistant to dust ingress, shock, vibration, and moisture, and can withstand the most extreme environments. Includes Wi-Fi 6, high network efficiency, and more.
Features:
- Superior Wi-Fi 6 speeds.
- Long-range coverage.
- Seamless streaming across the property with devices effortlessly switching between access points.
- PoE powered.
Overall, the demand for internet connectivity is only going to increase with the changing world. To find out more about our outdoor access points, visit our website at Comms Express.
