5 Common Wi-Fi Issues in Senior Living Communities

Reliable Wi-Fi® has become a must-have in senior living communities—not just for entertainment, but for residents’ safety as well as their physical and mental health.

More of today’s residents are tech-savvy and expect reliable, high-speed internet like they had in their own homes. Below are the five most common Wi-Fi challenges in senior living and how RUCKUS Networks provides easy-to-deploy solutions to keep your residents and staff connected, secure, and satisfied.

Inconsistent coverage in resident rooms and common areas  

Senior living facilities situated in older buildings may have thick walls or outdated infrastructure that affects Wi-Fi coverage. This can lead to frustrating buffering, frozen video or dropped connections for online access or streaming services.

Fix it with: High-performance access points (APs) that are purpose-built for dense, complex environments. RUCKUS® APs offer our BeamFlex+® adaptive antenna system capabilities that deliver property-wide reliable, seamless coverage that can even extend to outdoor areas.

Congested networks   

Today’s seniors are more connected than ever: 68% of baby boomers own smartphones^[1], while adults 50-plus possess an average of seven tech devices, which they use daily^[2]. Unfortunately, traditional legacy networks can’t intelligently prioritize traffic or manage bandwidth effectively across hundreds of connected devices. This is especially concerning when residents are conducting a telehealth Zoom call or losing signal to their smart watch that’s monitoring them for AFib.

Fix it with: Smart traffic management and QoS controls designed for high-density environments. RUCKUS solutions support high device density and smart traffic management so networks can automatically prioritize critical applications while offering fair bandwidth distribution to all users.

Complex onboarding and access management  

Providing access for residents, guests, and staff can become a logistical headache, especially when it requires manual setup or IT intervention. What’s worse is that, when private passwords are shared, revoking permission later causes a whole new basket of issues.

Fix it with: Cloud-managed networking and self-service onboarding portals. RUCKUS offers several options such as the Cloudpath® Enrollment System that enables secure, easy logins and that separate user groups to simplify administration.

Privacy and data security  

In senior living environments, privacy matters. But weak Wi-Fi security, such as outdated encryption or unsecured devices, puts sensitive medical data at risk, making it vulnerable to breaches. Legacy guest devices, staff tablets, IoT sensors and facility medical systems often coexist on the same network, exposing all of them if one is compromised.

Fix it with: Our Dynamic PSK™ (pre-shared keys) and role-based access control that isolates traffic based on user type—residents, guests, staff, and IoT. Built-in security features like network segmentation, policy enforcement, and configurations help keep data secure across devices and users. This helps reduce risk and give your staff peace of mind.

Limited IT resources  

Many senior living properties don’t have a dedicated IT team on-site—which means troubleshooting, setup, and updates can overwhelm staff time or cause delays.

Fix it with: Simple, centralized network management with zero touch provisioning. RUCKUS offers several cloud-based solutions that allow for remote oversight, automation, and AI-driven troubleshooting that can identify and fix issues, often before residents even notice, so your team can focus on care and not connectivity.

Smarter Wi-Fi = happier residents  

Wi-Fi isn’t just about connectivity; it’s about the quality of life it offers. It not only impacts resident happiness but also staff performance, operational efficiency and even safety. Modern senior living facilities need connectivity partners who understand these unique challenges and can deliver solutions that transform Wi-Fi from a source of complaints into a competitive advantage. RUCKUS delivers a smarter, stronger, and more secure solution tailored to the unique needs of multi-dwelling senior communities.

To learn more, download our Senior Living Network Checklist or visit our Senior Living Network page.