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Question

Dongle Solution for Community Meeting Room?

Oct 11, 2018 5:59AM PDT

Hello

We are a small charity group of volunteers who have rescued an old building in the village and turned it into a community hub. We hope to attract local groups and businesses to our meeting space but recognise that we need to provide wifi facilities. Problem there is that there is no phone line into the building and to get one would mean digging up the road.

We are looking at a mobile wifi solution which would seem to offer the access we require (but with a 10 device restriction) and at a decent annual cost.

See

https://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/phones-broadband-and-sat-nav/broadband/mobile-broadband/4gee-mini-pay-as-you-go-mobile-wifi-10148773-pdt.html

The meeting space can accommodate up to 18 people so we need to think whether or not the 10 device limit will be a problem. We need also to think about the issue of folk in meetings using the facility for downloading large files. This may not be a problem as we think the facility will be used for smaller local groups but just thought it worth asking.

Can anybody spot a potential problem with the EE approach?

Other than the EE solution mentioned above, has anybody any alternative suggestions?

I ask this as it is likely that there are other groups such as ours facing the same issue and who would benefit from some advice.

Discussion is locked

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Clarification Request
I'd ask why you must provide this.
Oct 11, 2018 9:45AM PDT

This will cost so with all the folk with smart phones why would you provide what they carry in themselves?

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A Good Question!
Oct 11, 2018 10:36AM PDT

I suppose one of the reasons is that there may well be regular IT Awareness sessions aimed at older folk and it would be important to demonstrate the hows and whys of Wifi as many of that age group are confused with networks and how costs are accrued.

Also, it may well be that organisations might want to rent the room for presentations and may welcome the ability to have a laptop wifi connected.

A less quantifiable reason is that if we are to 'compete' for business against other venues of the area, the lack of the provision of Wifi might count against us.

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I might expect WiFi in a presentation room at
Oct 11, 2018 11:58AM PDT

Say a hotel or business center but the need has been reduced over the years with a huge uptick in smart phones with data plans.

Another reason I might not do this is the charity aspect. Budgets are usually tight and this area could soak the charity's budget.

So why not just get some hotspot smart phone for the one room?

Free WiFi is something I wouldn't expect at a charity business.