Win, lose or draw, Hitchin Town Football Club attracts a loyal community following. Attendances at their historic ground ‘Top Field’ are above average for their league tier, especially during key fixtures or local derbies where in excess of a thousand supporters pass through the matchday turnstiles.
High visitor numbers, while commercially very welcome, does put pressure on site infrastructure. Match days are staffed mostly by volunteers and over the last few years operations management has inevitably become increasingly reliant on digital technology. Whether its credit card takings at the bar, merchandise shop, or electronic ticketing at the turnstiles ensuring robust wireless internet coverage across Top Field became a necessity rather than a ‘nice-to-have’.
IDNet – A local internet service provider and club sponsor were called in to take stock of the site’s connectivity requirements. Infrastructure specialist Steve Waters takes up the story and, working alongside Mick Docking and Paul Sprague from the Club, a solution was presented.
What were the unique networking challenges across the entire site?
“The site has clearly grown organically using a ‘grow-as-we-need’ methodology. For example the shop is set up in a professionally converted shipping container but positioned standalone from the clubhouse adjacent to the pitch. The physio block is positioned on the far side of the pitch with no modern infrastructure in terms of data cabling, so our solution needed to try to cater for these challenges.
In networking terms the site was disjointed. It consisted of separate elements not interconnected. They had two separate FTTC internet connections, one in the clubhouse, one in the physio block, on different WiFi networks but using the same network IDs and a CCTV system that could not monitor all areas because the network was not a single entity. Additionally, a public entry turnstile that could not be used reliably to admit supporters. The shop had a patchy internet connection making the ability to make payments hit or miss – the same issues were apparent in the clubhouse bar.”
Turnstiles Solution
What was the specific problem at the Turnstiles?
“The turnstile requires internet connectivity for handheld terminals to validate tickets and also to use credit card terminals for payments. The positioning of the turnstiles made it difficult to provide WiFi from the main clubhouse”
What was malfunctioning?
“A test using a WiFi mesh node positioned in the clubhouse function room was trialled but the distance and obstructions to the turnstiles proved too great to support a reliable connection. There were mesh nodes within the turnstiles providing local coverage but these just added more hardware and more complexity to a set up that did not need to be overcomplicated with multiple points of failure. Hence the terminals kept failing to work causing problems especially on match days”
What solution / equipment did you install and what were the results?
“The key to solving the issue is reliable coverage over the turnstile area using one robust device – speed or bandwidth are not essential since all the terminals want is a good connection to send small bursts of data. We used an architecture used before at another club to operate handhelds at a remote location/carpark using a Ubiquiti Nanostation LocoM mounted high up on the clubhouse to broadcast directional WiFi towards the turnstile. No requirement for additional local mesh nodes and the transmitter was hard-wired to the router and configured as a broadcast device so permitting the connection of multiple client devices rather than a single point to point connection as for the physio block.”
Why did you chose the specific piece of equipment?
“Ubiquiti Nanostation outdoor CPE have proven reliable and after configuration are an easy to manage low-overhead devices.”
Bar / Merchandise Shop Solution
What were the specific problems at the Bar / Shop?
“The bar needed reliable WiFi connectivity to run the EPOS system and the credit card terminals. Frequent dropouts meant processing a sale was not reliable. For the shop its location inside a converted shipping container also created signal challenges for WiFi and they also had an EPOS and credit card terminal.”
What was malfunctioning?
“The location of the main router in relation the bar and shop created a challenge to WiFi signal connectivity with frequent drop outs. Also, it didn’t help that the main connection to Top Field was running on an unreliable old copper FTTC connection which we replaced with an all fibre solution.”
What solution / equipment did you install and what were the results?
“A TP-Link EX820v was used as a main router with two HX510 WiFi6 mesh nodes installed one in the bar the other in the shop. Along with the router these are AX6000 WiFi devices have more transmit power to cope with challenging environments. The link speeds now run at 100Mb to the shop and 300Mb in the bar.”
Why did you chose the specific piece of equipment?
“Our field-tests have shown the reliability and performance of the EX820v and the HX510 which is the matching companion mesh node for this TP-Link Aginet series router. Aginet also provides metrics and monitoring data which use for support purpose.”
Physio Block Solution
“The Physio block stand had a requirement for internet coverage to facilitate:
- Connectivity for a new bar/retail facility.
- Media connectivity
- VoIP connectivity for telephony.
The original connectivity was a separate FTTC copper broadband connection which was standalone and primarily could not provide a CCTV feedback to the CCTV recorder housed at the clubhouse.
A dedicated wireless link back to the clubhouse meant that area could retire the old FTTC and use the clubhouse connection for internet access making the set up less complicated and easier to manage.”
What were the unique challenges?
“Needed a receiver to be mounted high enough to provide a clear line of site to the clubhouse and a transmitter at the clubhouse.”
What solutions did you deploy?
“A pair of Ubiquiti Nanostation 5ACs using airMax technology to create a a wireless encrypted point to point connection.
Within the block we installed a TP-Link HX 220 WiFi6 mesh node, via the new link this communicated with the main router to create a WiFi6 mesh network. The node created a main WiFi network for club use but also a guest WiFi network for the media centre.”
What were the overall results? What speeds are they getting now?
“The link is a robust and encrypted 200Mb connection passing over the pitch!”
Find Out More
If you would like to chat to Steve Waters about internet connectivity around your venue or place of work please contact him on Tel: 01462 656 700 or email steve.waters@idnet.com
Further information about IDNet’s services can be found at www.idnet.com
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