A discreet Wi-Fi solution for a national treasure

01 June 2018

Portmeirion is one of Wales’ premier visitor attractions, welcoming 250,000 visitors every year. The village was built to show how a naturally beautiful setting could be developed without spoiling it, and is also famous as the setting for the cult 1960s’ TV programme, The Prisoner.

Portmeirion is equipped with one large network that runs both the Wi-Fi and TV system. It gives blanket coverage to various local hotels as well as 72 rooms including cottages in the village.

The solution was designed and deployed by Criccieth TV which, as well as offering a wide range of TV sales and repair services, is also an ISP that is approved and accredited to supply and install satellite broadband. Solwise supplied the equipment which included products from EnGenius as well as other hardware for guest internet solutions.

According to Solwise, EnGenius’ Neutron Series of wireless management products can be mixed and matched to create ideal wireless connectivity solutions for hotels, resorts, sports stadia, etc. It says Neutronoffers a scalable solution for operations that occupy large properties and that need to deploy, monitor, and manage numerous Neutron APs from a browser-based platform.

Whilst theNeutronsolution offers a captive portal hotspot built in, Criccieth TV decided to use the WAS R80 Guest Internet Solutionshotspot as it gives
the additional functionality of multiple levels of user access, Facebook login for users, and Paypal and credit card billing services.

Portmeirion is a Grade II listed site and every single cable is therefore hidden. APs on the outside of buildings are mounted flat with Neutron dual-band managed units painted the same colours as the walls that they are mounted to. There is even an AP hidden in the top of Telford’s Tower which overlooks the village.

All guest cottages have their own ‘mini hotspot’ which is named after the cottage making it simple for guests to log on to the Wi-Fi system. For guest Wi-Fi access there is a Guest Internet Solutions hotspot which is designed specifically for use in venues where there are a large amount of users.