Henley Regatta, established in 1839, is the most prestigious rowing competitions in the world. The one-mile course sees the best-of-the-best athletes competing for the coveted win.
For six days each summer, the banks of the River Thames are transformed. A 3km stretch of Henley riverside plays host to competitors, VIPs, spectators, supporters and party-goers. It’s a great British tradition.
But attendance keeps growing, and the Henley Regatta connectivity had become one of the biggest operational headaches on site. Demand was outstripping the available bandwidth on site, and the gap was widening. For the event production teams, enabling revenue generation wasn’t optional. It was event-critical.
Several of the event production teams turned to us, knowing our reputation for delivering reliable WiFi in complex outdoor environments. Each were hosting its own event and audience along the river, and each needed a connectivity partner who could deliver without compromise.
A Connectivity challenge as unique as the event itself
We brought the requirements of multiple production companies together to build a clear picture of the bandwidth, coverage and scope needed across the whole event footprint. It was a complex brief, and the stakes were high. Nightclubs and bars take thousands of pounds every hour, so any disruption to payments hits traders and production companies immediately. Getting it right was a commercial priority as much as a technical one.
Network design started six months out, giving us time to design, test and be ready for the live event in June.
The existing telecoms infrastructure and 4G/5G coverage had reached their limit. Without more bandwidth on site, connectivity would be unreliable, with too much contention for the available WiFi.
Satellite alone was too risky given the site’s limitations. So we brought in a fixed fibre connection from the opposite bank of the river, and combined it with satellite and 4G/5G. Every event zone got extra capacity, with headroom for the growing demands of 2023.
The Henley Regatta WiFi itself demanded enterprise-grade hardware. We installed two network cores along the length of the river to handle the traffic without restriction. Trader devices were pre-authenticated, so they stayed connected. High availability meant that if any hardware failed, the secondary core would take over without interruption.
The high availability solution worked exactly as designed. Each morning we walked the whole site and checked in with every production company. No connectivity issues were reported, and our on-site monitoring centre confirmed it live.
That meant our time went on supporting extra WiFi requirements during the event, not fixing problems.
The real win was at the tills. Traders reported a 25% increase in revenue, thanks to faster payments and 100% uptime.
More devices connected seamlessly, and for the first time, the general public could get online too.
“Wireless Solutions has delivered a truly impressive WiFi service. They get where we’re trying to go with our events, and we can have good discussions about what is achievable. I am 100% confident that if they say it’s achievable, they will deliver it to perfection. They’re dependable, honest, brilliant at what they do and a member of the team now. I recommend them to anyone looking for event connectivity.”
With the network proven, we’re now using it to bring in more revenue for the event. Sponsorship, data capture, marketing and footfall monitoring can all run off the WiFi network, adding revenue for very little effort.
