Giving Tenants Internet Access

[geoffw]

This thought started when my Property Manager mentioned that they rarely advertise in newspapers any more- they get most clients from the internet. This prompted me to asdd desks to the furnishings for the last two units in my block of flats- most people have some internet access. I suspect that almost all tenants of my furnished units (6 out of 9 now) need internet access.

Someone mentioned that for a student share house, they provided internet access for all rooms- and that they also earned a small profit from this.

I was wondering whether it might be possible, feasible and profitable to:

1. Get an ADSL line for the block. This would probably require an extra phone line
2. Set up ADSL account (unlimited) with subaccounts.
3. Get wireless router and receiver cards.
4. Charge each tenant say $5 pw.

This obviously would need a few tenants to set up. But an ADSL connection which is cheaper than current dial up may be attractive to them.

But it would depend on providers and techincal feasibility (eg, range of wireless router)- I have no experience of this at all,

 

[Aceyducey]

Geoff,

Look at whether you can get Telstra cable in....dunno if it's in Queanbeyan though.

And their policy may be to not do small blocks - but as you own the entire thing it might be easier

Cheers,

Aceyducey

 

[geoffw]

ACDC,

It won't be cable (as in TransAct)- that's not even ion the horizon- so it would have to be ADSL.

Would they have to know it's a block? Could it be set up without that having to be known? Would just a phone line in the underfloor, with router (and perhaps server) be enough to give all tenants wireless access?

 

[Aceyducey]

Would they have to know it's a block? Could it be set up without that having to be known? Would just a phone line in the underfloor, with router (and perhaps server) be enough to give all tenants wireless access?

Tricky - could work, but speed would suffer

If brick it could be hard to get the signal throughout, depending on the transmitter power...

Cheers,

Aceyducey

 

[Rickardo]

Hi geoff,

This is a good idea, it could get tricky to implement though.

I would first research if you are able to get unlimited ADSL and to see how many sub accounts could be connected to this, as not too many are actually totally unlimited and it can get quite expensive to get this.

If it's not economically feasable to get unlimited it could become complicated to monitor useage and charge accordingly, but it all depends on how much bandwith you can get at what price.

12 months ago it would have been very hard to set up because most big ADSL providers had serious download caps, recently it's gotten a bit better though.

 

[Apocalypse]

There are a number of unlimited ADSL providers - may have to pay a little more than the $29.95 plans though...with their 200mb download limits before slugging for extra data costs.

Try www.whirlpool.net.au and go to the discussion forums and see what people say about various ISPs.

 

[Lplate]

Adsl

Geoff
For home I have two pairs of phone lines but only use one line for three handsets and a router. The router has three networked PCs. They don't have to be networked (kids play games).

However I have kids (very early teens) who have superfast PCs (for gaming, never schoolwork) and they are forever playing Counterstrike or downloading music.

Now let me tell you that under those conditions with a 256+ ADSL pipe and 8+8 gigs of download, the ADSL can really slow down by the time yours truly gets in the queue.

How will you get on with some of the adult gamers, music buffs and website designers in your units? How do you cater for the video streaming and downloads for their preferred XXXXX sites? They would want a far faster ADSL pipe and huge downloads. Bigger cost.

The other point is that you could get tagged for anything naughty they do on the net because the contract with the ISP is in your name. You could have some explaining to do.

With ADSL they only need one phone line for their unit - serves both phone and PC. But let them contract if they wish for the supply. I'd stay out of that.
cheers
Lplate

 

[paul_s]

If it's not economically feasable to get unlimited it could become complicated to monitor useage and charge accordingly, but it all depends on how much bandwith you can get at what price.

12 months ago it would have been very hard to set up because most big ADSL providers had serious download caps, recently it's gotten a bit better though.

yes I could see that being a potential problem also, students especially tend to download large voumes so it would need some kind of system to share things in a fair manner.

 

[Elizabeth L]

Hi Geoff
We provide internet access to a couple of our IP's which are rented to students. Net access is included in the rent. We went through Optus - 24 hr connection that can be used for cable also. Yes it's a bit slow at times, but generally we've had no complaints. We had the one line installed, and then got a technician to put in the router to the four bedrooms.
It's an extra that we thought might give us the edge over other properties.
Cheers
Elizabeth L

 

[amokk20us]

Hi Geoff,

Some suggestions if you're still thinking about giving tenants internet access.

1. Generally ISP's will not give technical support for your tenants if they incounter problems with the DSL connection, because this connection is been shared through some kind of network. So unless you are able to give tenants support when things go pear-shaped. I would stay away.

2. Using a wireless router sounds like a good idea, but in reality they are still quiet figidy IMO and quiet difficult to setup for older PC's. (usually involves opening the tenants desktop box up and installing the adaptor card.) If you are thinking about sharing the DSL line I would suggest using plain old CAT 5 cabling. (cheap!)

3. DSL will work like a waterpipe, contention ratios will apply. IE when one of your tenants decides he wants to download a few Movies/mp3's this will mean other users on the network will suffer from very slow connection speeds. much like a sharing 1 hot water system between 5 blocks and everyone decides they want to take a hot shower at the same time
Unless you set up a system where the bandwith(speed) is limited to each one of your tenants , this will be a problem.

4. IMHO I wouldnt bother about this, it will bring you more trouble then it is worth. Unless you are doing this for a block of 100+ apartments at $5 bucks a pop. You are probbaly better off setting up cable TV and charging clients extra per-month.

Let me know if you need some more info on this, happy to help.

 

[qaz]

I used TPG for my ADSL and its unlimited time and downloads. Its bout $50 per month for 265k speed and bout $80 p/m for 512k. I use the 256k and have no problem with it.

 

[likewow]

Heres a cabled apartment broadband company. It was a business model i was looking at a while back until i realised wireless ISP networks will make it obselete long term. But heres the url anyway.

http://www.e-partments.com.au

Cabled apartments will be outdated with wireless networks covering whole cities. Companies like Unwired and Iburst are doing this already but looks like Sydney only at this stage with ACT coming online a bit later.

www.iburst.com.au

www.unwired.com.au

 

[geoffw]

Hi Geoff,

Some suggestions if you're still thinking about giving tenants internet access.

The original post was six months ago, and I did decide not to go ahead. But the feedback is appreciated- it may well become an issue more in the future for landlords.

 

[cheezal]

I provide internet access.
Comments

1. Get an ADSL line for the block. This would probably require an extra phone line
>>> The phone line and adsl account holder need to be in the same name

2. Set up ADSL account (unlimited) with subaccounts.
>>> Yes needs to be unlimited. , I use a TPG account . prices for TPG unlimited range from 50 -> 150 mo

3. Get wireless router and receiver cards.
>>>>>I got permanent cables, there are people who will do it for u.
If u use wireless router make sure u have appropiate security and i would limit to certain mac address's

4. Charge each tenant say $5 pw.
Yes , I divide it it. - but it is a flat charge, with fair access relying on peer pressure and disconnection if they persist.

Managing Bandwidth.
As mentioned by others , one person can suck up all the bandwidth. I looked into to get a bandwidth sharing device. They are not cheap. Cheapest I found was $300. However , I very live close by. So how I handle the bandwidth problem is like this. I tell tennets to contact me if their is a problem , with bandwidth. I determine who is hogging bandwidth , by looking at router, and then I just disconnect them for a while. They are warned, before hand.

Tenants love it.