Meetings technology expert Jim Spellos answers additional questions from The Ultimate Meeting Professionals Guide to Internet Connectivity webinar, which originally aired on Feb. 17, 2015.
1. What is Mi-Fi?
A portable device that is a mobile hotspot for connectivity. Personal hotspots (from smartphones) also can act as a Mi-Fi device. It uses high speed cellular connectivity (LTE being the most common) to connect to the web, and then your (or the facility's) Wi-Fi network to complete the connection.
At its' best, it's a great substitute for no or poor Wi-Fi in a location, though since it is a cellular network, most people have monthly caps as to the bandwidth they can use each month without going over their allotment.
Mi-Fi is known to conflict with other Wi-Fi in a location, including notably in our industry, the possibility of it interfering with your event or exhibitor's connections.
2. Are dedicated streams secure?
Not necessarily. Just because the connection is not shared with others, please don't make the assumption that you have a 100% secure connection. In fact, it is a fallacy in today's digital age to think that any connection is 100% secure. The reason you want a dedicated connection for your group is not to have to share the bandwidth with other groups or individuals using the same stream of connectivity.
Both wired and wireless can be either shared or dedicated.
3. What are some cool apps for analyzing Wi-Fi coverage?
The coverage app for the Apple devices discussed in the session was Coverage? (And yes, the question mark belongs there). CoverageMap is another one, but has both iOS and Android versions. For Canada, you can use OpenSignal. The Wi-Fi analyzing app discussed was Wi-Fi Analyzer, and that's an Android-only app.
4. Questions about hotel costs?
There were so many that were asked, but they all can be bundled into this answer. Everything is negotiable, but that is far easier to do before the contract is signed than after. That includes cost for bandwidth, patch fees, etc. You need to consider this as you do any other commodity in your contract.
There are no norms that are out there. Consider it the Wild West.
5. Is it fair for the hotel to charge for Internet?
I'd say it is fair. There is a real expense involved, with client and attendee expectations. Perhaps in 5-10 years, we'll be at a point where all of those costs are absorbed into room rates. (We don't pay for electricity at hotels, but you know that their prices cover those expenses.) But for the convention hotels, I understand charging for the Internet. What I don't approve of is how much some hotels ask for, and I do think that IP request or bandwidth usage costing is inherently inappropriate.
Unless the hotel has to bring in additional equipment to service your needs, just because you need more of what the hotel has doesn't mean it is fair to charge more.
6. Can you bring your own Internet provider into a hotel?
You can, but that'll be truly determined on what you sign in your contract. Clearly, Internet connectivity is a money maker for hotels, and they don't want to lose that stream.
Think about it like AV. Since the hotel makes money when you use the in-house AV company, why would they want you to bring in another company (even if they're 50 percent less expensive!)? As I said with costs, you better be negotiating this before the contract is signed.
7. How can I obtain connectivity reports?
Many people said that the property/AV company doesn't keep them for long. Each property can keep them indefinitely, but what they do with them is their call. I would be surprised if this data doesn't begin to regularly be saved the same way rooms, F&B dollars, etc., are saved.
Of course, the only way to be sure that you get them is to require it as a condition of the contract (with a stipulation that the bill doesn't get paid until complete and satisfactory reports are received). I'd ask for them as part of the post-convention report I get when I leave the hotel.
8. What’s the difference between bits and bytes?
Okay, here's the primer. Bits are smaller than bytes. (Think about taking a BIG “byte” out of your favorite food). Bits are represented by a small letter b, while bytes are represented by the large B. So...8Mb = 1MB.
To explain it further (at the risk of being more confusing), bits reflects the speed of the transmission (e.g., a YouTube video that streams at 512kbps [that's kilobits per second] isn't going to be as high of a quality stream). In fact, you can make a case that anything under 1Mbps isn't good enough for today. Bytes reflect the size of the pipeline (e.g,. my cable company is giving me 20MB of connectivity).
As a practical example, from the Netflix website, here's what they recommend.
- Standard movie viewing - 1.5Mbps
- Watching in SD - 3Mbps
- Watching in HD - 5Mbps
- Watching in Ultra HD - 25Mbps
So an Ultra HD movie, at 25Mbps, will require > 3MBps of connectivity, at a minimum. (Remember: 8 bits = 1 byte.) Confused? Hope not, but I wouldn't obsess on remembering this, either.
9. Can I assume the number of devices in a room?
Like always, assuming is a dangerous proposition. But I would tend to agree with the sentiment that for most somewhat tech savvy groups in 2015, you should expect around two devices per person in a room (two phones, or a phone and a tablet, or any combination).
10. What’s the difference between upload and download speed?
For most groups, the one to focus on is download speed. That's getting stuff from the Web onto your device. Upload speed, as the name indicates, is when you're sending material up from your device onto the Web. Examples of uploads include sending files/photos to Facebook, Dropbox, etc.
Also, if you have a large meeting and use a presentation management system, there will be the need for a lot of upload speed to move the presentations to the various rooms. Notoriously, even if you have a great amount of download speed, upload speeds can be quite slow.
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