Are you a landlord deciding whether to provide WiFi for students?

The decision to provide students with WiFi is a tricky one often fraught with questions. For example, is it worth the financial investment? Above all, what benefit could providing WiFi have for you?

Whether it be the shift to online learning, or the desire to catch up with family at home, students are more dependent on fast and reliable internet than ever. WiFi for students has quickly become a non-negotiable requirement and as a developer it is important that you keep this in mind when sourcing WiFi for your student block.

However, with many PBSA developments housing upwards of a hundred students each, we understand that it can be hard to cater to everyone’s internet needs at once. That’s why we are here to help. In this article we will explore the reasons behind students’ mounting demand for excellent WiFi. We will also reveal how Landlord Broadband can help if your existing WiFi system is struggling to cope. So, if you are interested, read on.

Why are students using more WiFi?

1. Hybrid learning

COVID-19 has altered the working habits of everyone in the country and students have been no exception to this.

The pandemic has triggered a permanent change to the way in which students access higher education. Online learning may have began as a emergency response to a unprecedented situation, but it is quickly becoming the new norm. Even in 2021, many universities have continued to take a hybrid approach to teaching, and there are few signs that this will be changing any time soon.

Under the ‘blended learning’ format, teaching is no longer constrained to lecture theatres and university campuses. Students now rely on WiFi to attend their weekly lectures, often from the comfort of their halls bedrooms. Because of this shift, students are understandably becoming increasingly mindful of WiFi when assessing their accommodation options. In fact, a survey conducted by Knight Frank found that 91% of students consider WiFi as a top priority. With so much emphasis placed on WiFi, this inevitably leads to increased pressure on developers to deliver on quality.

2. Independent study

Of course, lectures are not the only aspect of university life that requires a strong internet connection. WiFi also supports students’ ability to be able to complete independent study. Jisc’s student digital experience tracker surveys 8,000 students and their data reveals that 97% of higher education students find information online on a weekly basis during their course. This is especially the case for students who take courses that require a lot of independent research, such as English and History. Where you may once have had to trawl through books to write your essays, Google is now a students best friend. If your internet is slow, this can become frustrating for students trying to meet tight deadlines, so if you want to avoid complaints, reliable WiFi is the way to go!

3. Keeping in touch with home

Settling into university life can be hard at the best of times. The distance between home and university can often feel daunting, but thanks to the magic of the internet, there are more ways than ever to stay in touch with home. An increasing number of students favour platforms such as Zoom and FaceTime as a means to contact family and friends. Although great from a student perspective, these apps rely on large amounts of bandwidth which can overwhelm regular WiFi routers. As you can imagine, this becomes especially challenging if multiple students are trying to call at once. A professional installation is often the best solution for this.

Why providing the WiFi for students is more important than ever!

Some students complain that they cannot get a consistent WiFi signal in their university accommodation rooms*, when a lot of this WiFi is being used for their studies.* This could dramatically affect their decision whether or not to remain in the property.

In our 2019 student survey we found that a landlord providing WiFi in their property meant that prospective tenants were:

• 82% likely to view the property;
• and 88% more likely to rent the property.

Therefore, it is clear that WiFi can both encourage existing tenants to stay for multiple years and also make your property more appealing to prospective tenants.

*According to our 2019 Student Survey

How we can help with the inclusion WiFi in PBSA

Including Wi-Fi in your student accommodation properties doesn’t have to be a hard task. We have extensive experience working with a range of property portfolio sizes to include fast, quality, and hassle-free WiFi. Moreover, with our help including WiFi as part of your rental agreement is straightforward and hassle-free. Subsequently, we will increase the appeal and rentability of your property as soon as possible.

If you want to find out more about our services, go to our Student Accommodation information page. Or, fill out our free assessment form, call 0333 577 0600 for enquiries, or contact us for more information on our bespoke broadband services.