Aussie startup wants to burst the bubble of expensive hotel internet

Slow, expensive and often unreliable internet services in hotels have long been a thorn in the side of many a tourist or business traveller.

It’s such a problem that last year Tourism Australia called on Australian hotels to offer free Wi-Fi to their customers.

The 2013 Hotel Chatter Hotel Wi-Fi report noted that Hilton Surfer’s Paradise on the Gold Coast was charging $A29.95 a day for Wi-Fi, while another the Novotel, St Kilda, Melbourne offered two hours of Wi-Fi access for $US10 ($A10.60), or $US27.95 ($A30) for the whole day.

Australian internet service provider Broadband Solutions has partnered with Reivernet, an Australian-based internet gateway to provide a solution.

The duo is offering burstable bandwidth on demand to the Australian hospitality sector.

What this means is hospitality venues can now access bandwidth that they can pay for on demand, a development that Broadband Solutions managing director Sam Bashiry says could lead to cheaper internet for hotel guests and more efficient internet pricing for the hospitality industry.

“Our new service promises to dramatically reduce the broadband and telephony costs for hotel operators by instantly opening up additional bandwidth for hotels when and if they need it,’’ he says.

“Hotels have a unique need for short term bandwidth flexibility.

“Prior to our solution this could only be done on expensive, long-term contracts, often taking months to approve and install.”

Hotels can pay for speeds ranging between 2Mbps and to 1000Mbps, with bandwidth automatically varying as needed.

“This means that they will only ever pay for the bandwidth they use, providing a better value service to their customers,’’ Bashiry says.

“It’s a superior and more stable product than those currently on the market and is just a fraction of the price – a win-win for customers and operators.”

Entrepreneur and inventor Mark Pesce welcomed the move but said the product was already used widely in IT and, as such, wasn’t really innovative.

The technology is already being used in some Langham and Marriot properties.

“Some of Australia’s leading businesses are already harnessing the value of burstable broadband,’’ Bashiry says.

“Their guests enjoy simple, secure and fast broadband, while the venues operate at the most efficient price point possible.”