Bulk Internet AGREEMENTS
Is Bulk Internet Right For You?
A reliable Internet connection has become as ubiquitous as water, phone service, and electricity in apartment buildings and multifamily residences. Providing your tenants with Internet service is becoming less of a luxury amenity and more of an expectation when tenants consider leasing at different communities.
However, getting bulk broadband Internet for your apartment building, condo, multifamily community, or association does not need to be a hassle. While vetting the providers, pricing, and technology may be difficult for the average property owner, you can work with an experienced technology solutions provider like Converged Services to make things easy.
Converged Services can handle every step of the process, from analyzing your needs, navigating the options for service providers, negotiating your rates, and even providing project management of installation.
Why You Should Setup Bulk Internet For Your Apartment Building Or Multifamily Residence
Apartment and condo communities throughout the United States are becoming more luxurious every year to cater to the wants and needs of residents. Many apartments are adding amenities like smart gyms, dog parks, and steam rooms, so amenities like high-speed Internet that were once considered “luxury” are now seen as necessary to stay competitive.
As more and more people rely on their home Internet connection to work remotely, stream television and movies, listen to music, and even control the smart devices in their home, it’s no surprise that tenants expect their apartment to be “online” the day that they move in.
There are several reasons you will want to make sure you're providing your residents with an Internet service package.
Make Your Building More Attractive To Potential Tenants
It’s no secret that the lifeblood of an apartment building is its tenants. If you are unable to find tenants to lease your apartments, your career as a landlord or property owner will likely be a short one.
Staying competitive does not mean you need to totally renovate your property or begin offering a complimentary espresso bar (although free espresso is always a nice touch). However, there are a couple of basic amenities that tenants have come to expect when touring a community, and a good Internet connection is right up at the top of that list.
In many cases, blazing-fast broadband plans can be secured at very reasonable bulk Internet rates, especially when you work with an experienced technology solutions provider like Converged Services. This allows you to offer your tenants a much faster Internet plan at a much lower rate than they could secure individually.
We often encourage apartment building owners and managers to share this information during community tours and to include the information along with comparisons in their printed marketing materials.
Improve Lease Renewal Rates
Surveys find that approximately 7 out of 10 people will leave a unit if the broadband Internet service doesn't meet their expectations. If you aren’t already bundling Internet service into your leases, your tenants may find another building that does.
Further, if your apartment or condo community is still only offering a DSL or cable TV plan, your tenants may also leave in search of faster connections. Depending on the infrastructure and the providers in your area, you may want to consider upgrading to a fiber-optic service to keep up with tenant needs.
Fiber optics have become much more affordable in recent years, and they offer speeds up to 100x faster than standard cable plans. This makes it an excellent value for any multi-dwelling unit as well as individual residents.
The added benefit of having fiber optics at your complex is that it usually reduces the chance of Internet downtime considerably, which can be frustrating for tenants who depend on streaming services for entertainment purposes.
In addition to raising lease renewal rates and generating more revenue, you'll also notice a decrease in customer complaints. Customers will be much happier when guaranteed that their Internet is up and working 100% of the time.
Increase Your Community's Value And Profit Margin
When you bundle Internet and cable TV services into your leases, you’re creating a new income stream from each tenant while making your tenants’ lives easier.
It may be a good idea to offer a higher speed service at a more expensive cost in some cases. Apartment managers can price their services accordingly and allow tenants to decide whether to pay for something more advanced. In other words, giving your community members a choice may be the way to go.
While it may be tempting to offer residents the lowest cost service, your property's value will suffer due to not meeting their increasing demands for high-speed broadband. It is better to provide all of your residents with the option of using Netflix or other popular streaming services without worrying about exceeding their data limit.
Planning Bulk Internet Packages
If you own or manage a multifamily residence, condo, or other residential building and are considering offering broadband Internet services, there are a few important things to consider when vetting Internet Service Providers.
How Much Bandwidth Is Needed?
The amount of bandwidth you need will depend on many factors, including the age of your infrastructure and how fast you’d like your upload and download speeds to be. If you have a newer building with CAT5 wiring in every apartment, you'll probably be able to support speeds up to 100 Mbps per unit without too much difficulty.
In most cases, if you have an average-sized apartment building with 20 units or less, you shouldn't need more than 100 Mbps of total bandwidth per unit. If you have an older building with outdated appliances or wiring, you may be limited to the types of services and the total bandwidth that can be offered.
Where Is Wi-Fi Coverage Needed On Your Property?
It's also very important to note that the location of your tenants will affect the speed and bandwidth they require. For example, if your building is large with resin floors on every floor, you'll need to consider installing APs above ceilings for maximum signal strength.
It’s also important to consider the other locations on your property that tenants may try to connect from. Tenants may like to watch streaming content while at the gym, Facetime with family while at the dog park, or do some afternoon work in the outdoor garden. It’s essential that your building extend its WiFi coverage to common areas as well as apartments to ensure 100% coverage and tenant satisfaction.
How Many Users Will Be Connecting To The Wi-Fi?
You'll also need to do a little bit of planning on the number of users that will be connecting to the network. If you have a lot of people who all connect multiple devices, you could face connection bottlenecks if the network is not prepared for the expected usage.
Getting The Best Bulk Internet Agreement For Your Apartment Building, Condo, Or Multifamily Residence
Getting the best deal on bulk internet services for your apartment complex can be tricky. If you're not careful, you might get stuck with an overpriced contract that doesn't actually meet your tenants’ needs.
The most important factor when selecting a provider is going to be who is available in your area. While you might expect coverage from the big ISPs like ATT & Comcast, you might be surprised that they do not fully cover your area.
It's also important to consider the location of your building in relation to the existing infrastructure. If you're located on the outskirts of town, it might be difficult for them to provide quality service until they expand their infrastructure closer to you.
Check to see what equipment each provider has in your area: a fiber connection can provide speeds of up to 1Gb/s, while older coaxial cables can only support 100 Mbps.
Once you’ve landed on which providers will actually be able to provide Internet for your apartment building, then it’s time to start vetting prices and packages. This step can be confusing, especially if you’re not familiar with the industry, so it’s always best to engage a technology solutions provider like Converged Services to assist with your bulk Internet negotiations.
How We Help With Bulk Internet Negotiations
At Converged Services, we help apartment buildings, condos, and multifamily residences negotiate the best possible bulk Internet services, managed WiFi solutions, and other multifamily technology solutions at the lowest rates. We can handle every step of the process of getting your building online, from vendor selection and negotiations to contract review and project management.
Our goal is to make this process easy for you by taking care of all aspects of setting up Internet services for your residents, whether it's a new service or an upgrade/change in service provider. Contact us today to learn more about how Converged Services can help bring your apartment building online.