By Nellie Day
For nearly all renters, Wi-Fi, that four-letter word, has evolved from a nice-to-have perk into a necessity.
“Wi-Fi is now treated like the fourth utility,’” says Taylor Jones, co-founder, president and chief technology officer of Elauwit Connection. The other three vital services, of course, are electricity, water and gas.
“It is as essential as hot running water,” adds Sandy Jack, vice president of strategic relations, multifamily, at Vingcard and Nomadix, two brands that fall under parent company ASSA ABLOY Global Solutions.
Jack views Wi-Fi as such for good reason. “Without it, people cannot work, learn, apply for jobs or fully participate in daily life.”
A strong, reliable Wi-Fi connection has become so crucial to daily life that many would likely rather forgo a bathroom door than their signal. At least, that may be the case for the 80 percent of workers who either work from home or enjoy a hybrid work schedule, according to Jones.
As expectations shift, so have the implications for multifamily owners.
“Today, many renters evaluate communities primarily on location and the quality of the internet,” says Richard Laing, president and chief operating officer of STELLAR Broadband, based in East Lansing, Michigan.
“Poor connectivity leads to negative property reviews, increased demand for tech support and higher resident turnover, while consistent, high-quality broadband builds trust and long-term competitiveness. It’s critical to resident satisfaction, operational efficiency and sustained asset performance,” explains Laing.
This has caused a second shift: how Wi-Fi is treated. If it’s no longer an add-on or a nice-to-have, what is it? Some say it’s core infrastructure. Others believe it’s a utility.
Adam Szymkowiak, president and CEO at Pittsburgh-based IQ Machines, advises owners to treat connectivity as a longterm asset. “Resident expectations for performance and functionality have fundamentally changed,” he emphasizes.
Once Wi-Fi is viewed as an asset-level decision, the question turns to how that investment is structured and supported over time — especially within the context of today’s cost constraints, existing infrastructure and scalability demands.
Jettison Old Wi-Fi Playbook
For years, multifamily owners were able to adopt a largely hands-off approach when it came to internet service. Residents were responsible for selecting, installing and managing their own internet service providers (ISPs), properties offered limited shared access in common areas, and Wi-Fi wasn’t a part of the core operating conversation.
That was in the early to mid-2000s, when connectivity demands were lighter and expectations were lower. Today, this approach often fails to deliver for a few reasons.
“In a multifamily environment, it’s no longer possible to deliver the coverage, speeds and reliability residents expect with a single cable modem in each unit,” emphasizes Szymkowiak.
As Wi-Fi has become foundational to how residents live and how properties operate, the “everyone-figures-out their-own-internet” approach has shown its cracks, especially when it comes to scalability.
“In buildings with hundreds of simultaneous users, consistent speeds and full coverage are only possible when multiple access points work together, with power levels and channel assignments carefully engineered for the environment,” Szymkowiak points out.
That’s why one of today’s most effective solutions is a managed Wi-Fi network, which gives owners centralized control over performance, coverage and ongoing support at the property level. Managed Wi-Fi also provides instant access to residents from Day One.
“Convenience has become nonnegotiable today, and residents want Wi-Fi the moment they move in,” says Szymkowiak. “They don’t want to schedule installations, wait for equipment or navigate multiple service providers. A managed Wi-Fi infrastructure eliminates that friction entirely.”
In many instances, this strategy is paired with a bulk Wi-Fi model, allowing owners to offer community-wide service at a discounted rate while they benefit from recurring revenue, improved operating income and a more competitive offering.
Kevin Crook, director of business development at Los Angeles-based Investors Management Group, notes his firm decided to implement a bulk internet program across its communities in late 2024.
“Given where rents and affordability stand today, we saw an opportunity to ease some financial pressure for residents by offering discounted internet and cable services while simultaneously upgrading the quality of the product,” explains Crook. “Residents are paying less for a better product, so the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.”
Jones believes both options are most effective when paired together. “Bulk can standardize the experience, but the ‘win’ only happens if the provider owns the performance end-to-end (including network monitoring and support) and proves support outcomes, not just installs hardware.”
Owners need to understand this important distinction before opting for bulk Wi-Fi, managed Wi-Fi, or all of the above, notes Bryan Rader, president of MDU (multi-dwelling unit) at Champaign, Illinois-based Pavlov Media.
“Calling a bulk internet product a true managed Wi-Fi network will frustrate an owner who wants that type of system to do things it isn’t set up for,” he explains. “A cable modem move-in ready solution is not managed Wi-Fi.”
Assumptions are where lots of owners go wrong, adds Logan Roy, director of business development at College Station,Texas-based WireStar Networks. That starts with the assumption that all internet is created equal.
“One major mistake is thinking ‘internet is just internet,’” says Roy. “That’s like saying, ‘a car is a car.’ There are huge differences in performance and features between providers and technologies.”
Cost Versus Control Versus Scale
Another mistake multifamily owners tend to make when it comes to Wi-Fi is letting cost lead.
“Connectivity decisions most often fall short when they are made reactively or purely on initial cost, rather than as part of a long-term operational strategy,” says Christiana Ritchie, director of asset management at Miami-based PXV Multifamily.
Things can go south quickly if Wi-Fi isn’t viewed as infrastructure, the fourth utility or, most importantly, a long-term investment that needs to be nurtured.
Outdated infrastructure or subpar provider selections driven by short-term savings tend to create challenges down the line, including increased resident complaints, higher turnover and operational inefficiencies, notes Ritchie.
The fix isn’t a new product or service. Rather, it’s a mindset shift.
“We evaluate connectivity like any other core building system, prioritizing reliability, scalability and total cost of ownership,” notes Ritchie.
In practice, this can be easier said than done when cost, control and scale are major considerations. Ritchie acknowledges that cost matters — particularly in mixed-income communities — but reliability matters more.
“We focus on solutions that support leasing, retention and efficient operations, and we avoid short-term cost savings that create long-term operational issues,” she emphasizes.
These operational issues often fall on the onsite teams, thereby reducing efficiency, increasing frustration and diverting attention away from core responsibilities.
Oh, and for anyone assuming lower-income communities don’t value a strong, reliable connection, think again. Rader notes that usage rates at lower-income properties have recently doubled and tripled.
Szymkowiak argues that a better approach is to evaluate Wi-Fi options through four distinct considerations.
“While cost is always a driving factor, owners are increasingly aiming for models that provide the most control, predictability, reliability and value,” he says.
“In a modern property, the community’s network is not just used for internet access. It’s also the connectivity backbone that allows critical systems and services to be delivered to residents and staff. When the network is unreliable, a variety of operational disruptions can arise,” adds Szymkowiak.
Casey MacMaster, senior vice president of investments at Alexandria, Virginia-based Bonaventure and portfolio manager at Bonaventure Multifamily Income Trust (BMIT), notes that prioritizing current pains over ultimate gains is another issue that arises when Wi-Fi isn’t treated with the respect it deserves.
“Having a short-term lens when designing and installing the infrastructure can result in long-term issues,” he says, noting that networks are often sized for current bandwidth needs and average device counts, not for growth.
As residents add more devices and use higher-bandwidth applications, the network can quickly become congested. This is where many owners make another critical mistake.
“They have to prioritize reliability and coverage alongside speed,” continues MacMaster. “Internet providers tend to highlight speed with less attention paid to coverage and reliability. However, outages and inconsistent performance tend to frustrate residents more than speed.”
It frustrates staff, too. That’s why MacMaster encourages owners not to underestimate their ongoing support and management needs. They are essential for effective and efficient operations.
“Without a strategy in-place, onsite teams can quickly become a connectivity help desk,” he adds.
Jones refers to this breakdown in support as the “hidden labor” associated with poor Wi-Fi choices.
“Every ‘internet issue’ becomes unpaid onsite help desk work, plus vendor chasing, plus reputation management,” he explains. “Leasing and property managers become the de facto ‘router therapists’ who must deal with constant interruptions, angry walk-ins and complaints that get escalated to higher leadership that shouldn’t exist in the first place.”
Build It Right the First Time
Naturally, the best way to mitigate Wi-Fi issues is to build the infrastructure correctly to begin with. Szymkowiak believes owners should take great care in reviewing and approving wireless access point (WAP) locations during design and construction. This includes accounting for building materials like HVAC ductwork, concrete or ceramic tile that can block or weaken signals.
“Without a sufficient number of access points — strategically positioned for the community’s layout — properties inevitably end up with dead zones and inconsistent performance,” he says. “And once those gaps exist, the remedies are disruptive, expensive and often only partially effective.”
For Rader, smart planning also includes developing the proper method to support future enhancements and “getting it right the first time.”
Roy adds that fiber to the unit (FTTU) is becoming the standard, yet many owners choose older technologies to save a few dollars upfront. While fiber-to-the-unit architecture is increasingly viewed as the long-term standard, some owners continue to rely on coax-based DOCSIS (data over cable service interface specification) systems, ethernet-over-copper risers or Wi-Fi overlay models to limit upfront capital costs.
“This short-term thinking leads to costly retrofits later. Cutting sheetrock to install fiber is expensive and disruptive,” he says.
Instead, Roy recommends installing fiber from the start, creating a 50-year infrastructure that supports future technologies. He also suggests working with ISPs that offer flexible billing models and upgrade plans that “give owners both the best technology and economic flexibility.”
Laing adds that scalability and capacity planning must be foundational to any proactive Wi-Fi plan. That’s because bandwidth demand will only continue to grow as remote work, cloud services, streaming, AI-driven applications and smart-building technologies become more prevalent. Building fiber infrastructure that is scalable in both capacity and device count enables future upgrades to happen at the electronics level, not through expensive, disruptive retrofits.
“Looking ahead, owners and operators should approach connectivity decisions with the same long-term mindset they apply to their core building systems and design for scalability, resiliency and adaptability over the life of the asset,” explains Laing.
This means networks should be purpose-built to deliver ultra-high-speed broadband for resident internet access while also supporting building management systems through segmented, scalable and resilient network design.
This article was originally published in the February issue of Multifamily & Affordable Housing Business.