The Bandwidth Lie
When perfect internal network meets terrible upstream ISP
The Problem
85-room alpine ski resort with enterprise-grade internal network—Ubiquiti Dream Machine Pro, UniFi switches, 24 APs. Professional installation in 2020. On paper, flawless.
Yet every evening during ski season (19:00-23:00), the internet would slow to a crawl. Guest reviews: "Unusable internet despite 5-star prices."
The Discovery
Internal network performance was excellent (gigabit LAN speeds). But external internet was catastrophic during peak hours. We ran speed tests throughout the day:
- 08:00-17:00: 85-95 Mbps (acceptable)
- 19:00-23:00: 8-15 Mbps (catastrophic with 85 occupied rooms)
- 01:00-07:00: 90-100 Mbps (everyone sleeping)
The Bandwidth Lie
The resort ISP was a WISP serving 8 properties from a mountaintop relay. Total capacity: 500 Mbps shared among ~600 guests across the valley. During ski season, all properties peaked simultaneously. The WISP was overselling by 300%.
The Solution
Primary: Fiber (€25,000)
Regional telco installed dedicated 300 Mbps fiber line (12-week installation, 2.3km trenching). €950/month.
Secondary: Starlink (immediate)
Starlink Business as failover and load-balance. ~150 Mbps average. €250/month.
Results
Performance Gain
500%
Peak hour speeds: 8-15 Mbps → 60-80 Mbps
Total Investment
€25,000
Fiber installation + equipment
Key Lesson
You cannot fix ISP problems with better Wi-Fi
The resort internal network was perfect—the problem was upstream. Documentation was critical: 72-hour logs with timestamps proved irrefutable evidence of ISP overselling. Sometimes the solution is not configuration—you need better pipes.