If you’re running a festival, then providing WiFi to your vendors and staff is often challenging. With little to no existing broadband infrastructure and with short-term requirements, fixed line and other broadband options are usually out of the question.
We all know how important WiFi is to the modern business—from card payments to laptops, tablets and ticketing offices, having WiFi at your festival is often as vital as the marquees and tents.
So, what are the best options available for your festival?
What types of WiFi are available for festivals?
There are a few different types of WiFi solution available for festivals. Each comes with their own set of features and fits a slightly different use case.
Plug-n-play festival WiFi
One of our most popular options is our ‘plug-and-play’ festival WiFi solution. This solution is ideal for single vendors who need reliable WiFi to take card payments and connect laptops, tablets and phones to the internet.
With nothing but a generator, you can create your own fully fledged WiFi network, turning your marquee, stall or tent into a mini office—even in the middle of a field.
Our technical team pre-configure a ruggedised router and sent it directly to you. All you need to do is plug it in and connect your devices, just like you would with a home or office WiFi network.
Site-wide festival WiFi
Many festival organisers like to provide WiFi to their vendors and staff across the entire event or festival grounds. This is what we call ‘site-wide’ WiFi.
Our site-wide festival WiFi solution takes a WiFi signal and spreads it across your entire location. Using a series of mesh access points, you can create a seamless connectivity across your festival, with staff vendors and even guests being able to roam around the site without losing connection.
Point-to-point festival WiFi
For festivals in the grounds of a building (for example, a Christmas market in a Cathedral grounds), point-to-point may be the best solution.
Point-to-point WiFi takes the power of an existing broadband connection from a nearby building and converts it into a powerful WiFi signal. Whether you just need it in the ticket office, or you require an entire site-wide connection.
Point-to-point does provide reliable and fast speeds (assuming the broadband connection on the other end is substantial). With many festivals out in the countryside, the cellular data signal can often be patchy, which is why point-to-point can be the better option.
Marquee WiFi for festivals
Vendor marquees are often the places that require the most robust WiFi at festivals. These marquees, often stretching dozens of meters in every direction, require a particular setup.
Our marquee-wide WiFi solution provides one single network for your vendors and staff across the ensure marquee, no matter the size. With strategically placed access points and equipment, we can maximise coverage to ensure every vendor has strong WiFi.
Many festivals rely on marquees to provide a base station for businesses that are selling their products. Providing these businesses with good WiFi allows them to take card payments, and helps your festival secure repeat business from happy vendors.
How much does festival WiFi cost?
The costs of festival WiFi vary, starting at £100 for a router hire, and increasing with the scale and complexity of the solution.
However, having a dedicated WiFi network for staff and vendors allows them to stay connected with their card machines and devices—offering a better experience to both guests and staff.
Larger events with site-wide WiFi often require more setup and higher-specification equipment, which means seamless connectivity across your entire festival. Our technical team can conduct site surveys, heat maps and more to ensure complete coverage and provide an accurate quotation for your event.
Why does my festival need WiFi?
There are a few reasons why your festival. The main reason is to ensure that vendors and staff can connect their devices securely.
We’ve had lots of experience helping festivals and events whose previous WiFi was insufficient and led to poor reviews and sometimes negative PR, with vendors unable to take card payments and queues from the ticket office leaving guests miserable and frustrated.
Our Managing Director, Paul Astle, spoke with BBC Radio Gloucestershire about these events and how our solution was able to improve their connectivity—improving guest happiness and overall delivering a more positive experience for vendors and staff on site.
