Non-Profit Conference Prospers with a 5G-Centric Peplink Network
An American non-profit organization focused on providing social services to mainly vulnerable populations organizes an annual conference. The event aims to bring together staff, volunteers, partners, and local communities for collaboration, professional development, and fundraising. With growing attendance each year, their most recent conference was expected to host around 1000 guests.
Challenge
It was a clear necessity for the non-profit organization to have free Wi-Fi for attendees. However, at the selected venue for the conference, the non-profit was offered a Wi-Fi package. The package was too costly for a one-time use network and it did not secure enough bandwidth for the number of attendees.
The non-profit needed an affordable solution to build a network that would be able to cater to attendees’ personal internet use, but also the non-profit’s equipment for the event. These included communication tools, registration and check-in systems, and apparatus for presentations and live demonstrations.
Solution
The non-profit discovered Peplink after hearing about Peplink’s work with T-Mobile, and reached out to a Peplink partner to get started. Since the conference venue was within the city and 5G coverage, BR2 Pro and BR1 Pro 5G routers were selected for this deployment. With dual and singular cellular modems, these devices leverage the high availability of 5G connectivity in the area, with each device able to support over 100 connected devices.
Both the BR2 Pro and BR1 Pro 5G boast of slim form-factors and plug-and-play capabilities. These make this line of routers a cost-efficient option for the non-profit as they can continue using this solution for future conferences and events, regardless of the venue. Even with several devices, management was made convenient with the use of Peplink’s own management platform, InControl.
Result
With their own connectivity infrastructure, the non-profit was able to avoid the steep one-time pricing for their conference. Even with a high density of 1000 attendees, no congestion or significant delays were experienced by online applications. They were also given the flexibility to scale their solution according to the number of attendees and bandwidth demands for future events and conferences.
Deployment
- Deployed to the conference venue
- Supports network with dual cellular modems
- Provides attendees with Wi-Fi 6 connectivity
- Installed at the conference location
- Adds additional cellular connections
- Slim form-factor for portability