Hotels & Resorts: Nanny Cay Marina

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Nanny Cay Marina in the British Virgin Islands is one of the most popular sailing destinations in the Caribbean. It is also the only marina in the British Virgin Islands to offer free wireless internet access.

Adrian Sinton at Nanny Cay had been trying to build out a wireless Internet service for boat owners in order to meet their increasing demand for WiFi. He had tried different wireless technologies from various vendors, but had difficulty with signal interference and limited options for where he could deploy access points. Boat owners, who paid as much as $100 a month for the amenity, complained of unreliable signals and big dead zones. “It was the bane of my existence,” Sinton said.

Sinton needed a better solution. Some research alerted him to Meraki, and he wondered if it might address some of the marina’s unique challenges. One week later, Sinton had deployed 10 Meraki repeaters “at the cost of one from any other vendor,” without the help of integrators or professional installers.

“The nodes were nice and small and easy to deploy,” he said. “And I liked that I could use Power over Ethernet. There were just no outdoor options like Meraki. Nothing else was even comparable.”

Sinton can now move and add Meraki repeaters as necessary to ensure ubiquitous coverage to the boats in their slips as well as those in the bay. “Filling in spots that lack coverage is really simple,” he said.

Other marinas in the area are beginning to offer Cisco-based wireless as well, but most boat owners have to pay at least $100 a month for access so marina operators can recoup some of the massive up-front costs other vendors charge. Sinton can now offer WiFi at Nanny Cay as a free amenity to attract boat owners and tourists.

The Nanny Cay Marina features 19 Meraki Outdoors powered by two ADSL lines (6mb and 4mb). Three of the Meraki repeaters are connected to the ADSL lines, using either wired or 802.11a wireless links. The other 13 Meraki Outdoors act as wireless repeaters.

Sinton was so satisfied with his marina deployment that he has decided to create another Meraki network in the new 40-room hotel on the property. Four Meraki Indoors in the building were enough to blanket the hotel with a strong and steady wireless signal.

Here's the recipe that Nanny Cay Marina used to build their network.