Managed Wi-Fi for Apartments & MDU Buildings

Managed Wi-Fi for Apartments: The Challenge

Multi dwelling unit buildings — apartment complexes, serviced apartments, student housing, and residential towers — represent a significant opportunity for ISPs and property technology companies. Rather than running a separate ISP connection to each unit, managed internet for buildings delivers service to every floor and room from a single upstream connection, with per-unit billing managed centrally.

The challenge is delivering the same privacy, reliability, and performance that tenants expect from individual home internet service — over shared infrastructure. Each tenant must see only their own traffic. Bandwidth must be enforced fairly. A noisy neighbor streaming 4K video should not degrade service for the unit next door. And when tenants move in or out, service activation must be instantaneous and remote — no technician visits, no physical cable changes.

Property managers and ISPs without purpose-built MDU wifi infrastructure often attempt this with consumer Wi-Fi routers in each unit — a solution that creates management nightmares, inconsistent coverage, and interference from overlapping SSIDs across floors.

Our Approach

MossLink’s MDU network architecture places the intelligence at the building edge rather than inside each unit:

Corridor Access Points: The AX3000 Ceiling AP mounts in hallway ceilings on each floor, typically one AP per 4–6 units. Its Wi-Fi 6 OFDMA radio serves all units on the floor simultaneously without the throughput degradation of older Wi-Fi 5 equipment. In-hallway mounting means no wiring inside individual units — the corridor AP signal penetrates through the wall to each adjacent apartment.

Building Gateway Router: The WR3011GP serves as the building-edge gateway, managing VLAN assignment, per-unit bandwidth shaping, captive portal authentication, and upstream connection to the ISP’s network. Its hotspot engine handles tenant authentication via voucher, RADIUS, or web-based login — whatever the ISP’s billing system uses. A single WR3011GP typically serves a 50–100 unit building.

Floor Distribution: The Port series managed PoE switch on each floor IDF aggregates all corridor APs with a single uplink to the building core. PoE output powers every AP on the floor through existing Cat6 cabling — no separate power runs needed.

Entry-Level Alternative: For smaller residential buildings or budget deployments, the MossLink 6 dual-band router functions as a combined gateway and AP for buildings up to 20 units, simplifying the infrastructure at reduced cost.

Per-Unit Service Model

The VLAN architecture enables precise per-unit service:

• Each apartment is assigned a VLAN and corresponding SSID or RADIUS credentials
• Tenant onboarding activates their VLAN through the management portal — no physical work
• Bandwidth limits (e.g., 50 Mbps, 100 Mbps) are enforced at the gateway per VLAN
• Usage reporting and billing data flows from the gateway to the ISP’s BSS/billing system
• Tenant move-outs deactivate the VLAN credentials instantly without network changes

Results

ISPs and property managers deploying MossLink MDU infrastructure report faster tenant onboarding, elimination of per-unit router provisioning visits, and significant installation cost savings from PoE-powered corridor APs without in-unit wiring. The centralized management platform enables a single technician to manage dozens of buildings across a city from one dashboard.

MDU Wi-Fi Cost Per Unit

Managed wifi for apartment buildings pays for itself when the cost per unit stays below the monthly revenue per subscriber. Here are typical hardware costs for a managed internet deployment:

Component	Cost per unit	Notes
Corridor ceiling AP (shared)	$15-25	1 AP per 4-6 units, Wi-Fi 6
PoE switch port	$6-10	Floor-level PoE switch, shared
Gateway router (shared)	$1-3	1 per 50-100 units, amortized
Cat 6 cabling per AP	$8-15	Corridor run to floor IDF
Total hardware per unit	$30-53	Hallway deployment

At $15-30/month per subscriber, the hardware investment pays back within 2-4 months. Ongoing costs are minimal — managed wifi for apartments requires no per-unit maintenance, and tenant turnover is handled via software activation.

For ISPs deploying across multiple apartment buildings, MossLink supplies MDU networking equipment factory-direct with OEM customization — custom firmware, branded captive portal, and private-label packaging. Contact us for volume pricing, OEM program details, and technical consultation.

Related Solutions

• Hotel Wi-Fi Solution — captive portal, VLAN, and ceiling-AP coverage for hospitality properties
• ISP CPE Solution — subscriber-side gateways for last-mile operators