The number of people who say they couldn’t live without the internet is growing. Care homes are also using and relying on their WiFi system more than ever. Every year we see an increasing amount of residents and family members that don’t just want WiFi, but expect it and even favour care homes that can guarantee WiFi in all bedrooms.
WiFi is also becoming increasingly important for care home staff too. With the rise of computer and tablet based care planning software like Care Docs, Person Centered Software, and Nourish, a solid WiFi network helps care homes provide higher standards of care, in less time.
However, in our experience of helping over 400 care homes, we’ve seen these common issues:
- WiFi stops working in certain parts of the building
- WiFi is tediously slow
These two issues can have a number of implications including; unproductive staff, frustrated residents, family members & staff and generally make it harder to deliver a high quality of care.
On the other hand, when WiFi works, it can help by;
- Making staff more productive
- Saving staff time
- Providing residents and families an additional method of communication – Skype and other online video calling
- Residents can take advantage of online movies and TV, such as Netflix
- Use it as a unique selling point that you’re one of the first care homes to offer whole care home WiFi.
Here’s the good news, something can be done about poor WiFi and it will help you make your residents happier, while increase the success of your care home.
Let’s find out how!
How does WiFi work?
First let’s start with the basics.
So we all know what WiFi is, but how does it actually work?
WiFi works by using radio waves to wirelessly send data to and from a device, such as a laptop, tablet or mobile phone, to a router that is connected to the internet.
Common Problems:
You may experience problems with your WiFi for the following reasons;
- The distance you are from the router
- The power of the signal given out by the WiFi device
- Things getting in the way (like thick walls in your care home)
The further away from the router that you are, typically the worse your WiFi connection will be and if you move too far away, the connection will cut out completely. The average WiFi signal will cover is just over 30 meters (about the length of 7 cars parked in a row).
With this in mind, imagine you are in the furthest end of your care home – does your WiFi reach you there? Probably not. If your router is in your main office, chances are it won’t reach across your whole building. That’s an issue.
On top of this, your building could actually be complicating the issue if you have thick old walls.
WiFi waves that travel through your care home can be redirected, weakened or even stopped by your walls. The thicker the walls, the bigger the WiFi-stopping effect is.
Getting a WiFi extender or ‘booster’ is normally seen as a quick fix for these problems. However, don’t be fooled – they often don’t work as well as you hope they will.
Wireless extenders rarely even work in small buildings – let alone in large buildings, like your care home. If you’ve already tried this you’ll know the connection will drop in and out and be painfully slow.
How the Yo Telecom WiFi System works!
At Yo Telecom, we do things differently.
We are the only company that can guarantee WiFi coverage in 100% of your Care Home. Here’s how.
We create a structured network of hidden data cables from where your main router is, to strategically located points throughout your care home – we call these areas WiFi Access Points. These WiFi access points send and receive WiFi signals and because they are physically hard wired into your main router, they send out clean data that isn’t deteriorated in any way.
One of our professional engineers will then ensure that the signal given out by each device overlaps and that it is all on one WiFi network. So you can walk around your care home with your smartphone, tablet or laptop and it will automatically connect to the access point with the best connection.
The result of having a Yo Telecom professional WiFi system is having the best WiFi that reaches every room in your entire care home. Meaning you, your staff, your residents and visitors can browse happily with no annoying interruptions!
Why choose Yo Telecom for your care home’s WiFi system?
Now you know how it works, let’s look at some of the features you can benefit from by having a Yo Telecom WiFi system;
100% WiFi Coverage guaranteed across your entire care home
As I previously mentioned, having a Yo Telecom WiFi system means you will get full coverage WiFi throughout your whole care home. Meaning no matter where you in the building you’ll have connection with no disruptions!
Prioritise Traffic
Without getting into complexities, you can give your staff priority over other people in your network, for example visitors. So if a member of staff needs to access a care plan online, but you have a family member visiting who is also checking their Facebook at the same time, in a split second your staff member will get their information first. In a nutshell, your staff’s work will not be slowed down or compromised because of other users being connected to your internet.
Up to 4 network names
This feature will go hand in hand with prioritising traffic. You can have a seperate network name for your staff and your residents, plus an additional network for visitors so that everyone knows which network to connect to! For example, you could have;
[insert care home name] staff WiFi
[insert care home name] residents WiFi
[insert care home name] visitors WiFi
This also ensures that visitors can not access information on the staff WiFi network
Business grade security (Firewall)
A firewall is a security system that will prevent unauthorized access to or from a private network. This is important in businesses, like your care home, as often you will have databases that contain confidential information. A firewall will protect this information from hackers so it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.
3 Step Plan to Increase the Success of Your Care Home
1. Book a Demo
Book in for a FREE demo of our phone systems by calling us on 02381 103195 or completing the short form below.
2. Sign up for the Option that Suits the Needs of Your Care Home
One of our specialist consultants will come to your Care Home and discuss all of your options until we have come up with the perfect solution that meets your requirements.
3. Let us Take Care of a Hassle Free Installation & Training
Your delivery and installation date will be booked on a day that suits you. We’ll take care of the whole switch over and will train you to make the most of all of the features on your new WiFi system!
