Eruption is probably the wrong word because technically it means something short term. In this case, bandwidth isn’t a short term spike, it’s a long term issue with substantial sustained growth. So much growth, your networks are feeling and will continue to feel the significant impact.
Why so many newsletters about bandwidth? It’s an issue that won’t go away. As a technology consulting company our number one complaint to resolve for the last 17 months is lack of bandwidth. It’s amazing the amount of emails, conference calls, and office man hours constantly addressing this single concern. The reality is just that, it’s a concern that needs to be addressed.
Real Time Entertainment is now the number one source for internet usage. It currently accounts for 49% of all internet traffic. That’s up 20% since 2009. According to a report by Sandvine, Netfilx now represents 29.7% of all downstream traffic. That’s up 21% in six months.
Take a look at the current internet usage patterns (above). We must also take into account guest bandwidth at home. In an article in TechCrunch.com CEO Reed Johnson predicts a 1 gig standard home connection within 10 years. Far fetched? Based on the current usage and the upward trends, he’s probably right.
This affects your hotels two fold. First, your network has to be built for streaming traffic or it will fall short of guest expectations. It will also require you to consistently upgrade, tweak, or replace your network to keep up with guest expectations. 75% of the hotel networks in place now are not prepared to meet current internet usage patterns.
Secondly, we must address bandwidth. It’s important that we not only decide what we need now to support our guests but that the solution has the ability to scale up. Whatever we do today won’t work in 12 months. We need to avoid products and agreements that preclude us from taking the steps necessary to meet guest expectations. Fortunately or unfortunately, we need a strong internet connection to sell and retain rooms.
If you have any questions or would like to review your current strategy, please send us an email at trevorwarner@warnerconsultinggroup.com or call 614-486-4636. We look forward to speaking with you.