Starting next month, Shaw Business will launch an upgraded managed Wi-Fi platform for its existing and new hospitality customers.
Shaw’s turnkey Managed Guest WiFi service includes a complimentary site design and analysis to determine the optimal Wi-Fi offering for each property.
“Consumers rank Internet connectivity and Wi-Fi availability as a critical factor in making hospitality choices, and poor Internet experiences dramatically lower the chances a guest will visit a hotel or conference centre ever again,” said John Piercy, senior vice president, business, Shaw Communications. “Our Managed WiFi product meets these hospitality needs by providing clients with an industry-leading scalable WiFi solution tailored specifically to their business.”
Shaw Business’ Managed Guest WiFi product includes splash pages, analytics and improved management tools to help hotels, inns, resorts and conference centers scale their Wi-Fi services as demand increases.
After initially dabbling in building its own LTE network, Shaw Communications decided three years ago to build a Wi-Fi network across its Western Canada footprint. Today Shaw Go WiFi is the largest Wi-Fi network in the country, consisting of 45,000 hot spots between Victoria and Sault Ste. Marie.
Shaw Business provisions Wi-Fi services to businesses of all sizes, and can also offer public, private, or hybrid public/private Wi-Fi networks to customers and employees, depending on their business needs. The Wi-Fi signals can be delivered off of cable modem devices, through managed router/firewalls or through dedicated Wi-Fi access points
“We see a natural evolution for Wi-Fi in business spaces as demand for wireless connectivity outside of work and at home continues to increase, as does the proliferation of sophisticated handheld mobile devices which are used for business applications,” Piercy said in a previous interview with CED. “With this demand, Shaw Business’s expertise in deploying and managing Wi-Fi networks will become even more of a boon for businesses looking to offer Wi-Fi to their customers.”
Shaw Communications has reached out to the CableWiFi alliance in the United States to express its interest in becoming a peer to the consortium in Canada. The CableWiFi partnership consists of Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications, Cablevision and Bright House Networks. Shaw didn’t provide an update on its CableWiFi effort by deadline this morning.
In a similar vein, Comcast and Liberty Global struck a Wi-Fi roaming agreement earlier this year that allows their respective subscribers to access each other’s hotspots when traveling.
