Best Practices: Installing Vilo in MDU Spaces

The purpose of this guide is to provide best practices, suggestions, and prerequisites to be aware of when installing Vilos in multiple dwelling units such as apartments, hotels, condos, etc. While we lack POE support and an official Vilo-licensed wall mount, we believe our hardware and software are primed for installation in these environments. We recommend scanning your Vilos into inventory as soon as you receive them and updating the firmware before deployment.

How can this help you and your customers? 

We’ve introduced multiple features to help maximize your time when it comes to the installation process. Utilizing our remote configuration suite in combination with our separate pre-mesh feature, ISPs can complete most of the leg work prior to installing Vilos on-site at a customer's home. Once the Vilo has been configured, it can be installed remotely (as long as you are using a DHCP configuration, the firmware is on version 5.16.0.195; and the Vilo is plugged in and connected to the modem via the WAN port).

Pre-Setup & Installation

This section will help prepare you for the installation process:

1. Be sure to scan all Vilos into the Vilo inventory. We suggest doing this as soon as you get your inventory.
2. If the firmware version of the Vilo (WiFi 5) is lower than 5.16.0.195, you will need to manually install the Vilo via the app. This must be completed to configure Vilos remotely. It is a best practice to fully update the Vilos firmware before deployment
3. If you are using a DHCP configuration, our remote configuration feature allows you to set up a Vilo network with a Custom SSID and password prior to installation, eliminating the need for the Vilo app. You can do this for multiple Vilos using our Bulk Actions option. 
4. If you are using PPPoE or Static IP, the remote configuration feature will not be an option. We suggest setting up the Vilos in a testing environment first when upgrading the firmware, eliminating the need to be completed once on site. With the Vilos scanned into inventory and the firmware up to date, this will cut back on installation times so that end-users can connect to the network without first having to wait for the firmware upgrade to complete. Other bulk actions that may be useful:
   
   1. Update Note: The "Update Note" feature allows you to create notes for different Mac addresses, such as addresses or customer information that you may find on the customer's page. 
      

Scenarios & Reminders

This section will provide helpful reminders, as well as scenarios to keep in mind:

• If you opted for one network that is shared between multiple customers, we suggest adding additional sub-Vilos where necessary to meet coverage demands. Reminder: Setting up a network in this particular scenario would disallow service for everyone on the network. The only workaround would be to block connected devices of the customers who have not paid. 
• If you opted to install a single network per unit (hotel room, apartment, etc), then we suggest optimizing the Wi-Fi to address any Wi-Fi interference issues that may arise. This can be done in the Vilo ISP Portal or the Vilo App. 
• While there is no official Vilo wall mount, we encourage the use of third-party options to get around this. 

Post-Setup: Wi-Fi Networks & Bulk Actions

This section will cover the different ways in which our portal can help you manage your customers after installation. 

While there are more individual settings that can be viewed by clicking into each network, our bulk actions provide a list of tools to help with network maintenance and troubleshooting, while also making it easy to disallow service if necessary:

• Network maintenance: Upgrade Firmware, Turn on/off Automatic Firmware Upgrade
  • Wi-Fi Interference Page: displays Wi-Fi channels for each frequency band and their quality. 
  • Band Steering (located on the Wi-Fi Networks Page): With this setting turned off, you can lower the power on both the 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz bands. We recommend setting the 2.4 GHz to "Standard(" 75%) to reduce interference while setting the 5GHz to "High". 
• Troubleshooting: Run Speed Test, Restart Vilos (Optimizes Wi-Fi networks) 
• Billing issues: Allow/Disallow Internet Access  
  

Upcoming features:

• VLAN Support
• Setup Without Internet Connection

With more awareness of how our Vilo ISP Portal can help decrease installation times for MDU setups, we hope these best practices can help you reach more customers in less time, increasing your user base while ensuring your customers have hardware and service they can rely on.