Business travellers leave home laptops an bring iPads

Business traveller tend to leave their laptops at home and prefer travelling with an iPad. A survey by iBahn among business travellers shows that less people checking in with laptops, and instead bring an iPad or a different tablet-type product. The trend will require hotels to upgrade their Wi-Fi networks.

USAToday reports that iBahn operates Wi-Fi in thousands of hotels for brands such as Hilton, Marriott, Ritz-Carlton and Holiday Inn. Based on surveys of 230,000 customers each month, the company reports that most still carry laptops, but the numbers are slipping for the first time.

The reported trend is a challenge to hotels, as tablets consume more data than laptops because they constantly are seeking updates in the background. Many hotels have created high-speed Internet systems built for laptop use (meaning work instead of running videos) and already are trying to deal with the fast-growing demand for Wi-Fi. Adding to high demand for broadband Wi-Fi is the fact that travellers are carrying multiple mobile devices with them and using them for more than just e-mail.

Hotel Wi-Fi facilities are likely to become more congested. Tablets' communications antennae are smaller than laptops, putting a greater burden on the individual wireless access points within a hotel. Future generations of tablets will require more data to fill up the screen, because the resolution is higher and pixels are smaller.

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