Overview
Located on the north sea coast near the East Frisian Islands, the Dornumersiel campsite is a vacationer's paradise. At this four-star campsite, guests can recreate, relax and recharge – and now, they can connect to reliable Wi-Fi. Increasingly, it is expected that a good Wi-Fi connection be offered by hospitality establishments. Whether it's to check the weather, plan excursions, send updates to family and friends, or stream a movie if the weather takes a turn, vacationers need a stable internet connection. That's why "Campingplatz am Nordseestrand" searched for a solution to expand its wireless infrastructure to offer the best possible service.
The Challenge
IT WAS IMPORTANT for the “Campingplatz am Nordseestrand” in Dornumersiel to offer a high-performance IT infrastructure to its guests. With 100 permanent camper sites, 200 pitches for caravans and mobile homes, and 60 tent pitches, the campsite needed the ability to support hundreds of WLAN users and devices.
However, establishing a stable WLAN connection that completely covered the extensive campground proved to be a major challenge. In addition to covering the campsite and tent pitches, they also needed to connect the sanitary facilities and registration area. In addition to complete coverage, the connectivity needed to be high bandwidth to accommodate a high number of potentially simultaneous users. To find the right solution, the campsite operators consulted IT service provider 1top.IT.
The Solution
DUE TO THE TERRAIN, it was not possible to install cable at the campsite. So, Wi-Fi access points (AP) needed to be connected via a 60 GHz cnWave™ fixed wireless broadband network. 60 GHz is often expected to have issues with rain and fog due to its short wavelengths; however, Terragraph-enabled mesh networks can reroute signals to avoid cutting off connectivity. In this case, cnWave components offer a high level of protection against the ingress of dust particles and water.
For Wi-Fi connectivity, 1top.IT installed Cambium Networks cnPilot™ e700, e510, e501S and e502S Wi-Fi APs. In total, the campsite’s IT service provider installed 18 outdoor Wi-Fi APs and four indoor Wi-Fi APs for WLAN coverage of the entire site. The provider installed and commissioned the network within two days. The entire network is monitored through cnMaestro™, Cambium Networks’ wireless network manager which offers full network visibility and zero-touch provisioning.
The Results
NOW, GUESTS RECEIVE a personal WLAN code in the form of a printed voucher and are able to surf the internet for work, Wi-Fi calls, streaming media and more. Despite the harsh weather conditions on the North Sea coast, the cnWave V5000 distribution node and cnWave V1000 client nodes work reliably and are well suited for the outdoor campsite deployment. Up to four additional distribution nodes or 30 client nodes can be connected to the cnWave V5000 distribution node, enabling an expansion of the WLAN infrastructure. The deployment can be easily and inexpensively extended in the future.