I need some one to educate me how young millennial tenants watch TV without Cable or a satellite dish system installed. I sort of know what WiFi is,...but is WiFi a service that a tenant or LL has to pay a monthly fee to enable a Smart TV to receive a signal?

Roy, Its like radio. Once you or tenant has the right equipment, it finds the signal and info flows. With radio the signal is processed and the speaker vibrates to change this into sounds we hear. With wifi, the signal is a series of pictures as well as sound, like tv.

Netflix, download the app to your phone. The TV either needs to be a smart TV or have a Chromecast type device. The movie basically streams from router to Chromecast on the TV.

With phone going to 5G, I look for a lot cable companies to get dropped. Fast downloads, save a bill.

Thanks Mickie and others for opening the back door to 21st century technology.

Roy...the others have explained WiFi pretty well. I'll walk thru it once more just to be sure it's clear, then address the comment from your tenant and what it may mean for your business.

An Internet connection comes to the house (or business) from an Internet Service Provider (ISP), such as MediaCom, AT&T, satellite dish which is popular in rural areas, but slower. There is a line for this just like your cable TV that brings the signal to the building.

Inside the building somewhere is a modem. That picks up the signal and modulates/demodulates it as needed to communicate with other devices...hence the clever name: MO (modulator) DEM (demodulator) = Modem.

Back in the old days (10 or so years ago), we had to run a hard line to every device. This is all that "blue spaghetti" you'd see plugged into the back of your computer, etc. It also really stunk because you had to have a wall jack close by, just like a TV cable wall jack or a phone jack. But then a smart person said, "Hey, that's a really inconvenient mess...let's just make everything wireless." Enter, the wireless router.

A wireless router's job is to take that signal from the modem and broadcast it all throughout your house just like a small radio station. It does other stuff too, but for now we'll keep it simple.

So now instead of having wires strung all over your house and tripping all over them, you simply enable the "WiFi" setting on your devices. That allows the device to "see" the routers just like when you turn on a radio to catch the signals all around you, and you can log into the network. Presto: your device is now connected to the wireless router which is connected to the Internet.

As tech has moved along, more devices have the ability to connect to WiFi. Smart phones are the big ones, obviously, but also TVs, refrigerators, home security systems, smart thermostat, etc. They can also "talk" to each other via another wireless technology called "Bluetooth". That's how your fridge can use a special sensor to test the air inside for your milk spoiling and send you an alert on your smartphone as you drive past a grocery store..."Hey Roy, your milk is getting sour. Buy some more ASAP! Btw, there's a grocery store on your left...." ;-)

So how does this impact your business?

Younger people EXPECT "free" WiFi wherever they go, as do more older folks like yours truly. In apartment complexes, it's a given amenity. I would not provide it as a single family home or a duplex, but anything bigger than that I would highly consider. It can cost anywhere from free to $300 to get a full new install, depending on what plan someone chooses. Of course, you and I know nothing is free--not WiFi, not Internet installs. Someone is paying for it. So you might give your tenant "free internet" and bump your rent $X per month? If she stays a year, it's more than paid for itself.

Funny thing: I've heard stories of land lords who couldn't get their tenants to pay the rent. But oh boy, when their INTERNET gets shut off, the rent gets PAID! So LLs who controls the Internet may have some leverage with tenants. I don't think it's illegal to shut off Internet service like it is water, gas, and electric. But as always, check your state and local laws before attempting to use no internet as leverage on slow paying tenants.

WMH,

Thanks Sid,

You have given me the information I need to get rent paid on time,...ie. take control the internet/Wifi connection! Priceless.

In my area, there are always specials going on to get internet and cable tv. Free hookup is usually included, and that is running a line from the street, to the unit, then putting in the necessary boxes. TV and internet are different. Phone can be included. There are all sorts of packages. Do you have "cable" in your area. At least where I am, internet does not have download limits as far as data, but it goes by speed. Faster is more expensive. We also have multiple providers to chose from in most places.

Usually the contract is for a fixed fee per month, and sometimes they have a length of time. But one company is always offer to buy out the contract of the other if you sign up.

You can also stream and have internet access through your cell phone. That usually incurs a higher charge, but it is pretty portable as you can be anyway there is a cell signal to get it. Hence the streaming while walking down the street.

It might be worth it for you to explore the companies and their offerings. You might be able to get away with a fixed cost per month that you just add to the rent and call it free. OR you can at least tell those millennials how much it would cost them (hookup might be free)

"Why do millennial kids think modern technology is supposed to be free?"

Because internet ranks somewhere above electricity, above water, above food, and below air in their I-need-this-or-I'll-die list. :)

Roy, it's a funny quirk of 20th/21st century western thinking that technology advances, services get cheap to the point where they are a baseline expectation. Some call it "entitlement" but think about a few similar things that impact most of us...

1) Restaurants give free water, but the cost is simply included in the meal.

2) We drive on interstate highways,most of which are not toll roads. They're included in our tax bill and/or gasoline tax. No one asked you if you wanted them: it's just included.

3) TV signal. Major networks and local stations broad cast a handful of stations for no direct charge...you just have to endure commercials. Ditto radio. Paid for by taxes and surcharges for cable TV subscribers and ads.

Back to the topic of expecting "free stuff." It's not that they expect it for nothing--if you sit down and ask them they know they're paying for it via the rent--but what they want is for it to be included. They're telling you what they want as part of their housing package. The same way apartment dwellers expect lawn service and garbage "for free" (i.e. no extra bill) these tenants are telling you they're okay paying a little more for rent provided the WiFi is "free".

I think Mr. Taylor summed it up best..."You want fries with that?" Maybe you don't even need to ask. Just give them the fries and charge a little more. Or do what the restaurant does: give water without asking and bake the cost into the rent price. I think in SFH there's no need, but multi-units probably it's a given.

Two ways to do this:

1) Rent Option 1 - Basic Package. Rent is $600/month.

2) Rent Option 2 - Upgrade Level 1 Package. Includes WiFi. Rent is $675.

3) Rent Option 3 - Deluxe Level 2 Package. Includes Wifi and Netflix. Rent is $710.

4) Rent Option 4 - Executive Level 3 Package. Includes WiFi, Netflix, and a partridge in a pear tree... Rent is $XXX???

See where this goes? Seems silly, but look at professional marketers: they "bundle" stuff all the time and make more money. And the names of the packages...hoo boy! "Executive"...or "Top Notch"....or "Best Value".

I forget which presenter it was (Al Williamson?) a few Conventions ago who said, "Your house is just getting people into a place where you have the opportunity to sell them more stuff." He's right. What if a tenant has to pay $60/month for basic internet, but you and I can negotiate a discount with the provider for $30/month because we will purchase service for 20 units. Then we add $45 to the rent. Tenant saves $15/month; we make $15/month more. Win win.

GKARK,

Just to throw it out there, I actually do this sort of thing as part of my job -- install and manage internet (wireless and wired) for businesses. (I don't install the internet itself -- I handle everything beyond that point -- managing the router, security, and wireless access throughout the building.)

One client is a large landlording business in a college town. Their smallest complex is 24-bedrooms spread across 2 buildings. Their largest is around 50-bedrooms spread across 6 buildings. In each complex, they include internet access -- wireless everywhere and also wired in some. It is simply expected in our area (again, college rentals everywhere) if you have more than a duplex in size.

Note that most of that age group today doesn't even care about cable TV. This company had signed 7-year cable TV agreements with Charter about 5 years ago and REALLY regret that now. No one cares about Cable TV that rents from them. Most never hook anything up to it at all -- but they are locked into paying for it for another two years.

What they want now is internet -- and they want it fast and with lots of bandwidth. So, that is what we provide. We're having Gigabit Fiber links dropped everywhere. They are changing all of their advertising from "Free Cable TV!" to "Free Gigabit Internet!" and it is WORKING WELL.

80+% of the traffic is Netflix. Another 10% is other streaming like Hulu and Amazon Prime. Only the last tiny bit is everything else.

Just to give an idea of where things are headed...

- John...

With my larger apartment building I offer "Free Basic Cable" to all of my tenants. Under a contract with the provider, I get a deep discounted rate for the Basics. And then the tenant pays for additional channels.

The when I advertise a unit for rent, I list "Free Basic Cable"!

AllyM,

Like you, I remember the 80's very well. I was young then too. Back then, every house or apartment had a phone jack in the wall or baseboard. The tenant had to call the phone company if they wanted service to that phone jack. things have changed since then,...phone jacks are a thing of the past even though I still use one in my home for my landline.

Fast forward to today, which I am still fuzzy on,...to get a WiFi only connection to an apartment or house, does the house still have to have a coaxial TV cable connecting the house to the power pole? My office desktop computer with an Xfinity modem here has WiFi but I have a Comcast cable connection also which I pay $185.00/month for (cable TV, Internet, landline bundle).

Getting WiFi at a house means have some kind of physical WIRE run to your house.

There's really no way for you to pay for running the wire. The installer will come out and see what needs to be done. They will balk at someone else's work that doesn't meet their requirements.

I've had a few applicants ask if the house is "cable/internet ready." I tell them that they would call comcast/at&t/whomever and they will come out and run the wires to whatever rooms the tenant asks for. I tell them that this is what all my tenants have done and none of them have complained about cost.

One caveat about providing "Free" WiFi. People can do bad stuff on the net and it's YOU who is providing them access - your name on the account.

Had one tenant illegally download Spiderman II back in the day - worse, he shared it with friends. We got a warning letter from the Feds. That was scary.

Child Porn: I don't know the laws, but if you have someone who is into that or other Dark Web stuff, does it come back on you? I don't know.

WMH I think in this day and age, it is too risky is give a tenant access to wifi that's in your name. Maybe if it had individual account access, rather than just one or two wifi passwords.

At best, you'll be hassled and have a black mark on your name in some database.

At worst, you'll be arrested and have to pay $$$ for an attorney to clear your name.

You will still need to have a cable come into the building. Some are coax, some are fiber. Doesn't matter to you. Somewhere after it comes into the building (usually the basement or utility room) will be a box and a modem to give you the wifi. There is no need to wire every room, that modem sends out the wifi signal that the computer, phones, tablets and TVs pick up. If the signal is strong enough and there are no passwords, someone could sit on the street and use that wifi. SO set up different users and different passwords and only give one or two to the tenant. We have 2 set up in our house, one is what we give guests when they visit, but easy enough to change that password without affecting our computers.

Call comcast, and any other company that might service the area and ask for the information and specials and bundles. Ask about free install if they don't offer. If it requires a contract of say a year, then you pay for the year (included in the rent) and the tenant gets "free wifi" for a year. Then when you cancel, the tenant can easily sign up for a special rate. After that, you have the wire installed and it is only a matter of the tenant getting service or even transferring service from their old place.

For a single unit, I would probably not include cable tv. There are so many better streaming services, cable tv is becoming old school.

Roy:

The best way to describe it is WiFi is like a cordless phone that plugs into a phone line.

It has several parts:

1. Cordless handset that wirelessly communicates to the base by antenna.

2. The base has an antenna and a phone jack plug. It uses the antenna to communicate with the wireless handset, and the base also plugs into a phone jack to get a dialtone.

3. All jacks in the house are wired to the demarc, the phone junction box where phone service enters the house.

4. The phone service provides the dialtone to the house.

Wifi is similar:

1. WiFi capable devices (computer, phone, thermostats, door locks, garage openers, iPads, etc.) are like cordless handsets that communicate by radio frequency to the base.

2. The WiFi Access Point (AP) works like the wireless phone base. The AP plugs into the wired local area network (similar to all your land line phone jacks all wired to one demarc.

3. Either the WiFi AP is combined with a router (WiFi Router) or it is wired to a router by a physical ethernet cable. The router would represent the demarc in this case since one side has internet provider line and the other side of the router has all the house wires going to computer network inside house. The router does lots more, but for this example we'll just stick to that. Think of it as a gate that only lets local traffic in, but keeps everyome else out. This function is called a firewall.

4. Your internet service provider connects your house to the internet.

WiFi is a method of connecting devices by radio signals and transferring information. There is no service for this but you have to buy the equipment. Without internet, you could still communicate to anything inside your house on WiFi or wired to the house's local network.

WiFi is basically a wireless version of an ethernet cable.

Sorry, forgot to answer rest:

Once connected to internet by either WiFi or network cable, you can stream Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and other subscriber services. They cost about $7-$25/month. There are a few services that stream TV channels like YouTubeTV, and others.

These services are not tied to any device. They're tied to the login id so a subscriber can access the service on their phone, ipad, computer, smart TV, or dumb TV with a smart box (appleTV, Amazon has one, and Google too.)

WMH,

Even if it's not legally on you, if they popped a guy for porn, you can bet "LANDLORD" would somehow be prominently featured in the news article.

That said, we DO provide "internet included" to the studios and apartment that are on our personal property. And hope for the best.

Large Apartment complexes often offer free wi fi.

Roy, my internet bill for the rooming house is around $ 80.00 a month. I keep the modem in the secure location and occasionally, I've had to install extenders to get more coverage. As far as porn and etc, you can block access via the router settings if you feel you need to. I've not bothered nor do I worry about it. If someone is doing something illegal, it can be traced to the device they used to do it thereby establishing the guilty party.

test - having trouble posting

LTD,

Trouble posting? May want to check that free WiFi connection. You only get what you pay for,...LOL.

Unless you get a deal and have a building with multiple units.

Let them handle it.

Everyone wants it but some may not want to pay extra.

Others may want the cheaper slower service or the higher speed.

And they may even get it cheaper than you if they want cable TV and get a bundle.

In most cases it is really no different than getting cable TV.

Same cable feeds in TV and or internet.

Then the cable is connected to a cable box for TV. Or a modem box for internet and wifi. They can buy a cheap modem or rent one from cable company.

The local cable company has the best internet in my community. I don’t provide. The cable company always has a new customer special, and has a student discount. I tell my students that we recommend they contact the cable company and have it brought in on their own, so they can get their own node at their desired price point and speed.

LOTS of good info here already, but I just want to emphasize one thing for clarity. A couple of you have mentioned a "router", but most are saying the "modem" provides wifi.

To clarify:

The "modem" is between the outside wire coming in, and the indoor wire going to your device. The inside wire may be plugged directly to your computer or TV to get you on the internet, or it may be plugged into a "router" that turns the signal into a radio-wave-type signal that is the wireless (wifi) part. Often today, the modem and router come packaged conveniently in one box - but not necessarily.

Just wanted to make 2 points.

I have always been concerned that if you as the landlord offer the service from you, the tenant can make the argument, especially in rent controlled jurisdictions, that they have had a reduction in services and claim justification for rent reduction anytime their internet service is down. I much prefer that they make the arrangement directly with the internet provider although you might very well want to own the building wiring that brings the signal into their apartment, that would be fine. The wiring is likely to be fine for many years without problem.

The second point is that if you have a tenant that is expecting something for nothing where they expect free internet service, my opinion is that you've got a real loser that is likely to become a problem on one issue or another in the future. Those that feel entitled to whatever they want have no personal responsibility and are a disaster waiting to happen. You are much better off that they decided to leave your place because they didn't want to pay for the service themselves. As an example, if they get fired from their job, and can't pay the rent, don't be surprised when you hear that it would have to be the landlord's fault because their internet service was not working. One of the main issues I try to screen for is always personal responsibility. I would much rather offer the apartment for a little less rent to take into account that the tenant will want to obtain internet service and be willing to pay for it.