Woi’s fast and reliable satellite internet impresses both the owners and the guests as Sunset Waterfront Lodge.
Leigh and Lynley Johns own and operate Sunset Waterfront Lodge on Great Barrier Island, 100km off the coast of Auckland. You can get there by ferry or plane. The 30-minute flight takes you to this hidden gem, which attracts tourists who mostly want to connect with and immerse themselves in nature. However, most guests still need to connect with home or the office. You would think that this would be fairly easy these days – well, not for Sunset Lodge guests, at least.
This nine-room hotel has joined several other businesses on the island to connect with Woi satellite internet, a new player in the satellite internet space with a focus on rural communications.
Sunset Waterfront Lodge
“Prior to the Woi installation we were with one of our country’s largest Telcos; their system was not good, their service was poor and they didn’t care about us – we were just another account. If we complained about the poor internet their reply was ‘oh well, that’s just the way it is in remote locations’. They never offered any solutions,” Leigh Johns said.
Woi designed and installed a satellite solution that divided 50MBps of speed into the Johns’ home, office and the nine guest rooms. They installed a firewall to provide remote support and installed an access point in each room so every guest has a unique ID. The hotel is now able to issue vouchers to guests and set speed and quantity limits.
The Johns discovered Woi on the Barrier Chat’s Facebook page and it seemed like a good fit for their needs.
“I’m not a tech guy. I don’t like discussing stuff over email, so my first phone call was to Richard about our needs, and he talked me through everything. It was in plain and simple terms, so no confusion. Straight away I had a good feeling that we were doing the right thing, communication was excellent. Something I have found lacking since our time on the island,” he said.
“The members of the Woi team were great, easy to talk to and took us through everything step-by-step.
“We have their contact details, so if there is ever anything in the future we need, we can get help straight away, (and) not go through an electronic voice service and then speak to someone who has no idea of our situation. These guys have been onsite personally and know exactly what we need.
Woi satellite internet dish installed at Sunset Waterfront Lodge
“As you would expect, handover was easy peasy, as they were onsite for several days doing the install. We were kept up to speed with everything and the staff went out of their way to help us understand the system in simple terms.”
With an excellent internet connection, Sunset Waterfront Lodge can now offer guests first-world service. With the advent of digital television and streaming, a reliable internet service has become even more crucial to the lodge operations. A good connection also allows them to host a range of guests, including business guests who need to keep in touch with the outside world. Leigh says their first guest to utilise the internet TV watched the Blackcaps play Aussie in a T20, utilising his personal Spark Sport account, and commented that the quality he got was better than his fibre connection in Auckland, which reiterated that we had made the right choice. “I would definitely recommend Woi to anyone looking at getting internet in remote locations,” he said.
“Richard and his team are real people, who understand the needs of rural residents, are easy to talk to and not a corporate bully like some service providers have become.”
Do you want the best rural internet on the market with a friendly service to match? Check out Woi’s reliable, high-speed, and unlimited plans – you won’t look back.
