How to Ensure Strong Outdoor WiFi for Your Summer Events
On a beautiful day, no one wants to be indoors—connecting with others outside beats sitting in a stuffy conference room any day. In fact, the number of people participating in outdoor recreation in the US grew 4.1% in 2023 to a record of 175.8 million participants (a number that represents more than 50% of the US population!).
More and more people are spending their discretionary time outdoors, so it’s no surprise they want to attend events outdoors too.
Whether it’s a corporate conference, a music festival, or a company retreat, summer is the perfect time to take advantage of hosting events outdoors and keep guests out of conference rooms and caverness arenas. However, attendees expect your outdoor event to run just as smoothly as your indoor event would—and that’s not possible without reliable outdoor WiFi.
There are so many logistics to consider when pivoting an event from indoors to outdoors, and some are easier than others—like bathrooms, outdoor screens, and sound systems. Unfortunately, reliable outdoor WiFi continues to present challenges for many event organizers.
What causes poor outdoor WiFi?
Large, open spaces require extensive coverage—and during peak event hours, event hosts often run into network congestion causing slow outdoor WiFi. Not to mention, diverse weather conditions and varying terrains deflect signals between the source and the receiver, weakening overall connectivity.
Why is strong outdoor WiFi important?
The reality is, an event in 2024 cannot run without reliable WiFi. Beyond the need of guests to stay connected to their day-to-day (which lives entirely within their mobile device), it has become a backbone for today’s event operations.
What is more frustrating to an event attendee than not being able to reach someone when they need to?
Consider that cellular service is not always strong in remote areas and open spaces (i.e. summer festivals, race tracks, beaches). With robust WiFi, business communications won’t come to a halt—ensuring reliable email and call functionality for attendees, event staff, and vendors.
What’s more, food, beverage, and merchandise sales are made possible by strong outdoor WiFi—it supports POS systems and facilitates smooth e-commerce experiences for attendees. When a POS transaction is interrupted, you run the risk of leaving revenue on the table.
Plus, any event professional knows the importance of social media for promoting events—it encourages engagement and enables attendees to share their positive experiences in real-time. Have you ever been to a football game or concert and uploading a photo took the entire duration of the event to complete? That's oversaturated connectivity, a common issue in high-density events. Without strong outdoor WiFi, social media sharing and promotion remains limited, which is not only bad for your brand, but it also frustrating for your attendees.
How do I strengthen my outdoor WiFi for events?
Simply relying on your existing network and routers to power WiFi for a large outdoor event is not enough. Instead, consider partnering with an event internet provider, so you can rest assured that your WiFi will not fail when you need it the most.
To ensure your event runs smoothly, you want to find a partner that is:
Flexible: With customized approaches tailored to the unique requirements of any event
Prepared: With solutions designed to handle the high-density demands of events
Cutting-edge: With technology and infrastructure designed to withstand the rigors of outdoor use
Supportive: With on-site support staff who can provide real-time solutions to minimize the frustration of everyone involved
Trust Xpodigital for your outdoor WiFi needs
Xpodigital has powered Internet and WiFi networks for large indoor and outdoor events for over 20 years—ranging from music festivals to sporting events and corporate gatherings. Our services include:
Architecture and Documentation
Rapid Installation
Operations and Management
Network Security
Network Redundancy
Connectivity for POS Systems and Security Cameras
Comprehensive Monitoring and Reporting
Onsite Staff and Full-Service 24/7 Technical Support
Don’t let poor connectivity be the reason your summer event fails. When you partner with Xpodigital, you can focus on what you do best while Xpodigital handles all things outdoor WiFi by way of strategic placement of wireless access points, dedicated private networks, and on-site support.
We can go where your cell signal can’t—speak with someone about your unique outdoor WiFi needs today.
