Options for providing internet in holiday let property

Mr.Boy

I'm just about to complete on the purchase of an apartment in Cornwall which we're buying as a holiday let.

It seems WiFi is increasingly viewed as expected, especially as mobile signal is likely to be patchy, rather than a luxury but I need to keep my costs as low as possible so I'm wondering what the best options are.

As a holiday let we expect it to be fully booked for 2-3 months in the summer and then sporadically the rest of the year, so paying for wired internet with a phoneline seems a bit wasteful especially as the phone isn't needed - but then PAYG dongles can get very pricey.

Another aspect is it needs to work, so if one week's guests spend all week on Netflix it's no good the allowance is all used up for the rest of the month. Equally, I do not want to find I suddenly have a £50 bill because they downloaded loads of films.

Fibre is an unnecessary luxury if half-decent ADSL is available - say 4Mbps or more - being able to stream in 4k is not needed though I would prefer Netflix to be usable.

And then there are security issues - I don't want to find I'm getting in trouble because my guest pirated films or downloaded kiddie !!!!!!.

Any thoughts on products are welcome, equally if any of you run holiday lets I'd welcome your thoughts and experiences.

teddysmum

Is it really expected in self catering accommodation ?


Hotels provide it, but they usually charge a very high price and have internet 'on tap' for internal use anyway.

Mr.Boy

What hotels do you stay in? Every hotel or B&B I've been in anytime in the last few years has had WiFi, except some chains like Hilton... even cheapo £35/room places!

I think when people are paying £800 a week they expect a pretty high-end product... things have changed from the days you'd get some slightly grimy cottage with peeling wallpaper it seems. Everyone expects fruit-baskets and flatscreens!

iammumtoone

Last time I stayed at a B&B they had 'free' WiFi but you could only browse my son was unable to watch you tube or download anything. I don't think people expect much more than that.

If you include a dvd player with perhaps a selection of cheap dvds (charity shop) then those who want to watch films can do so that way. Also a cupboard of board games would be a nice touch. Take away the need to download large files from the net as long as people can check Facebook / emails they will be happy.

Mr.Boy

Yeah I don't think anyone can reasonably complain that iPlayer won't work but then who makes a product matching that requirement? "Free ADSL" with a phoneline seems to be getting common now, the way "free dialup" used to be. I don't know if you can get cheaper than £20pcm on that basis - I guess in reality this is fine even if it isn't used most of the time. And ADSL easily will handle streaming on one device - the issue would be if it was a B&B with 6 rooms all sharing one connection.

Maybe I just get the cheapest option I can find and turn the security to 'highest'. Or find which flat doesn't secure their WiFi (joking)

Your DVD/book/games library suggestion is a great one, I'm hoping to do that anyway.