The #1 Amenity Your Residents Need

Over the next six months, only about 40% of residents plan to stay in their current apartment. And, as inbound leads and new leases have decreased by 50-70% in high-density markets like New York City, property managers have the herculean task of ensuring buildings are fully occupied in the days, weeks and months ahead.

Industry experts agree that successfully managing attrition means having to increase resident satisfaction and experiences within apartment communities. "It’s pretty simple: the happier and more connected residents are, the less likely they are to leave," says TriBridge Residential regional manager Brittany Barclay in a recent interview with Yahoo. One way of enhancing resident experience is by equipping buildings with technology and connectivity services that allow them to live, play — and most importantly, work from home.

“Internet connectivity has always been an important strategy...but the lesson of the past few weeks is that from now on, increased bandwidth will be a must for many residents,” says Chicago-based CityPads founder Andy Ahitow in an interview with Bisnow. Plus, a recent study RVA Market Research conducted for the Fiber Broadband Association shows that fast, reliable broadband is the #1 amenity residents require in apartments and condominiums, and is quickly becoming a major differentiating factor.

Fast and reliable internet connectivity is a necessity. With approximately 8 in 10 households telecommuting, today’s residents require bandwidth to meet working/learning-from-home, video conferencing, and telemedicine needs. Property managers and owners are already looking to equip residents with better broadband options as working-from-home becomes the new norm. The truth is, not all internet providers are created equal. In fact, in February 2020, research from the Benton Institute found that 52.8% of the U.S. had average download speeds that did not meet the FCC’s minimum criteria to qualify as “broadband” connectivity. More than ever, property managers and owners — from Class AA to affordable housing — must consider the quality of networks available to meet their residents’ increased needs.

MEETING THE DEMAND

Over the past few months Starry has seen, as expected, significant increases in our network traffic, driven by changes in consumers spending more time at home and online. As a broadband-only provider, delivering a reliable, high-quality, high-capacity connection is our priority. Our network self-monitors to accommodate for increased demands and the way we’ve built it creates elasticity for our network to be responsive in real time. Plus, our network is symmetrical, which means we provide equal upload and download speeds — critical for applications like videoconferencing. Here’s what we have seen and serviced since stay-at-home orders began.

Starry’s network noted record-breaking activity shifts over the last few months. The dramatic spikes in both download and upload traffic show an indisputable change, up 3x-4x from pre-COVID months, in broadband consumption.

Downstream Trends

The traffic running downstream on our network to our consumers is up over 3x since the beginning of March. The pre-COVID trends are typical, as consumers are home more on the weekends and tend to consume downstream content. Since COVID, the downstream traffic is higher than previous peaks, and has stayed high almost consistently since mid-March.

Upstream Trends

The traffic running upstream on Starry’s network, from consumers to the wider web, is up 4x over pre-COVID time periods. This marks a considerable change in consumer behavior and use. Ordinarily, upstream traffic is relatively low and peaks during the weekends, but as customers spend more time at home during the week working, video conferencing, and gaming, Starry’s network has seen a significant increase. Because Starry's has symmetrical upload and download speeds, we were ready.

Putting The Service In Internet Service Provider

Our teams, from our installers to our Starry Experts, continue to provide all of our subscribers with world-class, personalized care, 24/7. And since this time is challenging for everyone, we’re expanding free access to the best-in-class technical support of our Starry Experts—not just to Starry subscribers, but to anyone in our five markets who needs it. Call 866-497-4916 any day, any time for instant access to free troubleshooting and tech help.