College Wi-Fi Budgets Span from $750K to $1 Million

According to the Association of College and University Housing Officers-International (ACUHO-I), Connectivity on college campuses, connectivity is growing in capacity and speed. The organization’s annual ResNet Report showed 2 out of 3 colleges provide full campus coverage.

Mary DeNiro, CEO of ACUHO-I says that Wi-Fi and connectivity are vital to student engagement, satisfaction, and success. She adds that in some cases, ubiquitous Wi-Fi and connectivity are an essential criterion for prospective students’ college decision.

In a seventh edition of the study, 312 colleges/universities participated. In this survey, 64% of the schools offered Wi-Fi to 81% to 100% of their campuses.

Smartphones took up the most bandwidth for the first time. Laptops were second, and smart TVs were third.

As a result, the majority of Wi-Fi budgets were between $750,000 and $1 million with 28% of schools considering outsourcing to residential networks.

New campus Wi-Fi trends found that 36 universities joined Comcast’s Xfinity on-campus connectivity program last year.