How can huge buildings (hotels, skyscrapers, etc.) have WiFi throughout them but a moderate sized house has trouble with the WiFi signal reaching the other side?
In: Technology
A hotel for example, doesn’t just have a single wireless access point (basically a wireless router) – it has anywhere from a half dozen to hundreds depending on size and layout.
Hotels can live and die based on their internet access, and many chains have brand standards on internet access and can fine franchisees if they get complaints. They also have corporate IT which sets those standards.
So, if you had a new hotel built, your chain’s IT department would have one/a few different providers they would allow you to get equipment installed and supported by. That company would come in, inspect the hotel in a site survey, and make recommendations on equipment based on the layout and material. Then, they come out and install those, do a post-install survey to ensure that the installation is meeting brand standards for coverage.
Source: Worked 6 years for a major HSIA provider for the hospitality indurstry. Your small 40-room EconoLodge might have 4 Access Points, while a sprawling 2000 room resort might have many hundreds.
Usually the large buildings have stronger central servers and/or signal boosters positioned throughout the building. Homes have a small hub with a limited signal strength.
What materials were used in the construction of the building also plays a factor. Older homes are often small but constructed out of Stone or other thick materials that can block signals. Whereas newer, larger buildings are sometimes built with WiFi or even phone signals in mind.
Large commercial buildings don’t use just a single cheap home wireless router to distribute their signal. Instead they use commercial grade routers and repeaters to extend the network as needed, with professionals determining placement to prevent dead spots instead of tucking it behind the home AV equipment.
They have many access points, mounted systematically to provide good coverage, wired to a high speed connection in a comms room in the basement. Homeowners aren’t willing to cut into walls to run wires to put their access points in the best places.
Range boosters? Like cellphone towers, but for Wi-Fi connection
I’m pretty sure those buildings have expensive set-ups with multiple routers and extenders and they probably pay for a higher network-bandwidth than the average home.
Dozens of routers throughout the building, vs just one in your home. And that one in your home is probably someplace convenient to have it sitting, not where it might distribute best.
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