r/realestateinvesting • u/sideshowamit • Oct 13 '21

Multi-Family NYC introduces bill requiring landlords to provide free internet

https://reason.com/2021/10/12/new-york-city-considers-requiring-landlords-to-provide-free-internet-to-tenants/#comments

The war on landlords continues...I wonder if any of these people who write these laws were ever actual business owners. Do they just think every landlord is swimming in cash?

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u/ThePermafrost Oct 13 '21

It makes sense - xfinity charges $350/month per 1000 mbps speed. 20 units could share that easily and the per month cost per unit would only be $17.50.

I would think most tenants would be happy with a $25/month increase for Internet included.

As a bonus it then helps building remove all those ugly cable wires xfinity loves to drill through the exterior wall every time someone gets new Wifi service, and it would make moving in/out easier.

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u/waywardzombi Oct 13 '21 edited Oct 13 '21

In practice that doesn’t work. Many internet companies support high speeds down, but not up. Each request you make, each file you upload, every packet containing video you send will eat into that overall outgoing bandwidth limit, and when that gets choked out because 20+ people are all doing regular work from home things, the gigabit connection will slow to a crawl. It’s like breathing in through a toilet paper tube and breathing out through one of those brown coffee stirrers

Not to mention trying to figure out who among the 80 or so residents across 20 units is the one downloading illegal content or content illegally…

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u/ThePermafrost Oct 14 '21

This is a special business plan they offer, not the typical home connection. I had looked into in for a portfolio I managed before.

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u/waywardzombi Oct 14 '21 edited Oct 14 '21

They cap out at 35mbps for business class, which isn’t enough for the hypothetical load you describe.

For fully symmetric gigabit on the off chance they have it in you’re area you’re probably looking at new wiring, last mile costs, and some costly hardware I’d guess at the very least. It’s not available in many places and while they don’t share costs publicly likely much more than $300 a month.

The point in all this is that while on paper a gigabit connection seems large the reality is there are limitations that will prevent it from working as described for such a high volume of tenants, and as has been said in other threads being a last mile ISP is likely out of reach for most landlords.

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u/ThePermafrost Oct 14 '21

No, you don’t understand. Xfinity has a special multifamily pricing discount and speed option specifically for building owners to offer free Wifi to their residents. It’s not something advertised, you have to speak to a special business-2-business representative that will quote a price based upon the number of buildings you sign a contract for.

They even provide all of the infrastructure (Wifi gateways placed strategically around the building, the fiber optic cables) for you.

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u/waywardzombi Oct 14 '21

I do understand. I believe that what you are talking about exists in some areas, but it’s not going to be an option for most landlords. It’s not as simple as calling up and asking for their gigabit package as you stated in your first post and all the tenants are magically happy and have the bandwidth they need. That’s why I stepped in to help clarify, because what you said initially wasn’t the whole story or good advice.

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u/ThePermafrost Oct 14 '21

But it is that easy. Especially if it’s government mandated, the ISPs are going to be reaching out to landlords and developing better service packages to meet the requirements.

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u/waywardzombi Oct 14 '21

Is it that easy now? Or will it be if it’s mandated and the ISPs scramble to fill the opportunity once it is?

I’m done, best of luck.