Property owners are learning how to provide fast internet at their communities for good reason. According to a 2024 renter preferences survey by the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) and Grace Hill, high-speed internet is one of the top requirements for renters today. Ninety percent of respondents said they would not rent without it.
Lisa Clark, senior director, MDU sales, with Lumos goes a step further, calling internet the “fourth utility,” behind water, electricity and gas.
Consistently strong internet doesn’t just power remote work and streaming services, it’s the fuel for the most in-demand, high-performance amenities in multifamily buildings themselves. These tech-enhanced living features include smart home appliances, access control systems and electric vehicle charging.
About half the respondents from the NMHC survey said a positive experience connecting to Wi-Fi during a property tour would influence their decision to rent. Some 87 percent of respondents also indicated that they want their internet up and running upon move-in because they believe immediate connectivity is essential.
Yet only about 16 percent of renters live at communities that offer property-wide, managed Wi-Fi, according to Sandy Jack, director of strategic relations with Nomadix, a Woodland Hills, California-based internet company.
In March 2024, then-Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel proposed a ban on bulk billing arrangements, which required tenants in apartments, condos and public housing to pay for broadband, cable and satellite services from a specific provider.
The proposed ban aimed to enhance competition. Those in favor of banning bulk billing said such arrangements would favor large providers, lock out smaller businesses and limit consumer choice.
However, in January 2025, FCC Chair Brendan Carr withdrew the proposal under concerns that it could increase service costs for apartment residents by up to 50 percent.
Housing industry groups, including the National Apartment Association (NAA) and NMHC supported Carr’s decision, stating that bulk billing agreements help secure discounted rates and reduce internet costs for residents.
Some nonprofit, public interest groups still support the ban, arguing that it would allow tenants to opt out of paying for services they did not need or want.
“The FCC’s decision to drop the proposed bulk-billing ban is a game-changer for multifamily owners and residents alike,” says Jack.
Many owners expect this ruling to change how they provide internet at their properties. “We think building in managed Wi-Fi will certainly increase,” says Angie Atkins, senior vice president of community management with Indianapolis-based developer Thompson Thrift. Approximately 40 — out of a total of 89 — of the company’s owned properties currently offer managed Wi-Fi.
“A managed Wi-Fi solution is always our first preference,” says Doug Pearce, executive vice president, information technology, at Waterton, a Chicago-based multifamily and hospitality investor and property manager.
According to Bryan Rader, president, MDU, with Pavlov Media, a broadband and video services company based in Champaign, Illinois, managed Wi-Fi has been standard practice at most new construction communities over the past decade.
“We also are seeing a rapid expansion of retrofitting existing communities that want to shift from a retail model with multiple ISPs to one that includes an upgraded network with a fiber backbone and a managed Wi-Fi service covering all amenity spaces and apartment homes,” says Rader. “This is where the market is seeing its fastest adoption and where we expect to see growth over the next five to 10 years.”
Clark says bulk agreements are becoming popular because they simplify connectivity for residents and property managers while ensuring predictable costs. “These agreements are especially attractive in luxury apartments, student housing and senior living communities, where seamless, high-speed internet is an expected amenity,” she says.
Benefits of Managed Wi-Fi
Proponents say bulk buying allows property owners to offer their tenants more affordably priced internet compared with the cost of individual contracts. Jack reports that most landlords with managed Wi-Fi charge rates that are 50 percent lower than standard retail pricing.
Most property owners will add a mark-up to that discounted fee to recoup ROI on the costs to build the fiber network and run internet. This margin is typically large enough to generate revenue for the owner, but not so high that it eclipses local going rates for individual service contracts. In some cases, a resident’s internet costs are baked into the monthly rental fee. Sometimes owners pass along a separate technology fee.
“It is difficult to say how many owners charge a technology fee,” says Rader, “as it varies by location and market conditions. We see many property owners charge a fee that is at or below the total charge for a similar retail product, which might include a deposit, an equipment rental fee, an installation fee and at least one gigabit speed. When you add all these fees up, it can be as high as $90 to $100 per month. Thus, a tech fee below this range is considered reasonable.”
In addition to adding an upcharge to the bulk fee, owners also can earn income in other ways. Some ISPs offer revenue-sharing programs where property owners receive a portion of the monthly service fees collected from residents. These agreements vary by provider and property size, explains Jack.
“Most owners pass along the costs to residents through bundled fees,” Jack says, “but those who negotiate well-structured agreements can also secure direct revenue streams [from the ISPs], making managed Wi-Fi a win-win for both owners and tenants.”
Units wired and ready for internet on day one of a lease term are attractive to prospective tenants. “They don’t have to wait for the install, pay a deposit, an equipment rental fee or worry about a promotional rate that will burn off quickly,” Rader says.
Building owners can leverage bulk Wi-Fi to support smart-home tech, such as automated HVAC, smart locks and security systems. “These features can lower operational costs and increase property value,” says Jack.
Atkins says the biggest users of internet at Thompson Thrift’s properties are smart-home appliances, access control, electric vehicle charging and residents’ in-unit streaming activities.
According to Clark of Lumos, which builds fiber networks for multifamily properties, fiber-backed managed Wi-Fi allows owners to incorporate internet as an amenity within rent and even offer tiered service upgrades.
Because of the need for high-speed internet inside the units and throughout common areas, most concur managed Wi-Fi will be standard operating procedure going forward.
“The trend has shifted to providing whole-building managed Wi-Fi at multifamily communities,” says Pearce. “The seamless ‘curb to couch’ experience for our residents, the ROI and the ability to introduce smart building functionality using the connectivity provided all are difficult reasons to ignore.”
Managed Wi-Fi’s Potential Downsides
While the consensus may be in favor of managed Wi-Fi, there are still a few bugs. Commentary on Reddit threads about managed Wi-Fi isn’t always complimentary.
“This community Wi-Fi stuff is garbage,” posted one anonymous Reddit user in August 2024, “and it should not be legal for landlords to require it. It has all kinds of disadvantages compared with a dedicated Internet connection.”
Another anonymous poster was displeased when their apartment switched from individual contracts to managed Wi-Fi.
“My husband and I have had Xfinity Wi-Fi for years, and then the apartment complex we’ve lived in for over a year recently switched to a bulk community Wi-Fi. They were somehow able to cancel our usual Xfinity plan and put us on the bulk Wi-Fi account. It has caused significant negative impacts on our security and with my home small business. This Wi-Fi signal connection is very poor.”
Elie Rieder, founder and CEO of Castle Lanterra, a Suffern, New York-based multifamily investment firm, points out that an investment in managed Wi-Fi can be risky as technology becomes outdated.
“It can also restrict resident options especially as other, more popular technology and internet companies enter the market,” says Rieder.
“A community’s reputation is often tied to the technology it offers,” continues Rieder, “especially when the residents are forced to pay for owner-provided internet. While you can recoup and monetize ROI when offering bulk packages, this needs to be pointed out during the leasing process so that prospects understand the additional fees and how they compare to properties that do not offer bulk packages.”
Whether a resident can opt in or out of the managed Wi-Fi varies by community, by market and by the terms a landlord negotiates with an ISP.
Some companies brand their Wi-Fi network with the name of the property, while others leave the ISP’s company name as the network name.
“Property owners generally do not want to brand the network in their name. Instead, they prefer to leverage their ISP’s brand in an effort to create some distance between the owner and the service,” explains Rader.
Building the physical network to provide property-wide internet can be costly. In a new construction project, including the cabling, access points and other infrastructure can be more cost-effective compared with retrofitting an older, existing building.
The total capital expenditure to upgrade to a managed network ranges from $300 to $500 per unit, according to Education Superhighway, a national nonprofit. The group based this cost estimate on 50 real-world competitive bids for apartment Wi-Fi installations collected between 2021 and 2024. The bids were gathered from projects in Oakland, California, Boston and Dallas.
Waterton focuses on value-add investments, and the properties it acquires typically do not feature managed Wi-Fi. “Most do have some semblance of common area Wi-Fi support in place, but nothing more than that.”
“Adding managed Wi-Fi is not a simple installation and does require a heavy capital infusion, access to every unit and reliance on the work of third parties, including telecom vendors,” notes Pearce. “These vendors also require a lot of oversight to ensure the impact to the onsite team and residents is kept to a minimum. Any down time does reflect on the reputation of the property, so ensuring that the service is always up is key.”
Pearce explains that if a property is locked into a long-term exclusive retail arrangement at the time of acquisition, the new owners are often unable to change the in-unit experience for residents. “Our focus in that scenario would be on improving the common-area and leasing-office Wi-Fi experience.
— By Lynn Peisner. This article originally appeared in the January/February issues of Multifamily & Affordable Housing Business.