The Frontis Housing Group manages key worker accommodation at the Countess of Chester NHS Foundation Trust hospital, accommodating more than 140 of the hospital’s staff. The accommodation forms 5 of the buildings on the extensive grounds of the hospital.
Before INS approached Frontis, there was no broadband connectivity for the key workers staying at the accommodation, meaning the key workers were becoming more and more isolated, and unable to interact with internet applications such as Facebook, Twitter, and Email.
INS offered to provide the necessary WiFi infrastructure for the workers to access the internet at no cost to Frontis, however INS charges a fee to the users of the system.
INS designed a plan to provide fast, reliable internet to all 5 of the accommodation buildings. This plan included bonded ADSL to the main house of the accommodation so the network is hardy and reliable, and will not fail if one of the ADSL lines drops. The flats in the main house are served by access points the users connect to, whilst the other houses are served by radio links from the main house. Each of these houses take the signal delivered from the radio links, where the data is dispersed through a switch with wired connections to the access points that the users can connect to, meaning all the houses are connected to the WiFi.
The users connect to a web portal where they can pay for the service, and if there are any problems with setting up their connection or with the connection itself over the time they are using it, they can call INS for support.
The network has been a great success, and has been very helpful for Frontis as they have not needed to set up the WiFi network themselves, as it would have been a costly endeavour employing network engineers, whereas INS provided all the necessary knowledge for no cost.