How Internet Connectivity Can Impact Your Community

The importance of internet connectivity in our lives today goes without question and has been considered by many a “technical utility” a common offering as water and electricity to most residents. It’s difficult for many to imagine not having access to internet in our daily routine. As Jenn Cassidy, Senior Vice President of student housing operations at the Cardinal Group, has stated, “You could probably get away with no power or no water, but not with no internet.”

What Is The Resident Experiencing While Connected?

Owner/operators need to know if their community is meeting the digital demands of today’s renters along with understanding what their residents are experiencing. In 2020, the quality of connectivity’s strain was noticed immediately when many office dwellers were forced to work from their homes and campuses closed forcing students to remain in their apartments, bringing to light many faults within technology offerings at many communities.  From the many virtual meetings being dropped at the most inopportune time or students taking timed finals and losing their work due to failing or slow connections and so on. Were the issues a cause of outdated technology, an askew resident/bandwidth ratio or congested network? The answer is detrimental to all owner/operators trying to gain a clear understanding of each community’s network performance in their portfolio. 

Do Renters Care About Quality Internet? 

A recent survey from J. Turner Research states that 9 out of 10 residents rank internet connectivity as their number one amenity. Providing a positive resident experience at each community goes beyond the management of the community and is typically rooted in items residents interact with daily, like internet connectivity. Disappointed with constant poor-quality internet, renters tend to voice their frustrations in the public environment of online review sites and social media.

Consumers refer to online reviews before buying a product and the same goes for prospective renters. Residents shop around while looking for their next home. In fact, 98% of apartment shoppers rely heavily on review sites and 79% did not visit a community solely because of poor ratings and reviews, according to the NMHC/Grace Hill Apartment Resident Preferences Report. Most renters place a significant value in experiences, seeking convenience and quality connectivity in their day-to-day community living. Continual quality community experiences for residents, lead to increased renewal rates, higher referral rates which provide higher occupancy rates and increased NOI. 

Producing A Satisfying Resident Experience

Improving the quality of network connectivity is a critical factor to create a positive resident experience and attract future renters. Community technology enhancements or upgrades will prove to net a strong ROI.

Using a technology with the ability to monitor network performance portfolio wide: including technology infrastructure, the age of equipment, end-to-end services and more, gives owners a more accurate view of what residents are experiencing day to day.