As a company with roots in Europe and investment from the US, we at ASK4 often find ourselves comparing the approaches to student housing on both sides of the Atlantic. While differences in land prices, building regulations, and cultural expectations account for many divergences, one aspect stands out: connectivity.
While free WiFi has now become the norm in US student housing, the European experience has accelerated someway beyond that, unhindered by any historic experience of the cable networks and bundled Internet that dominated the US market in the past. While conversations around bandwidth and download speeds still happen regularly in the US, those metrics all but disappeared in the European market nearly a decade ago. Why? Because the expectation of European students now is that it should just work. But ‘working Internet’ means much more than an available connection.
The expectation is that no matter how many devices a student brings, they will all connect and “talk” to each other easily and seamlessly while remaining totally secure from other residents, and that their connections will deliver the high-definition streaming and gaming experience they want, any time of day or night, without fail.
Edward Walters , Global IT Director at Yugo, which operates more than 18,000 beds in the US and a similar number in Europe, puts this down in part to the difference in how connectivity is commissioned:
“In the US, discussion about connectivity is all about inputs – how much bandwidth, how many access points, what hardware, what cabling etc. We work with partners to design an installation and contract against that, so the risk of the design not meeting future needs is all ours. By contrast in Europe, we focus on outputs – what the experience for students should be. We then contract against that target experience and it's for our connectivity partners like ASK4 to design the system and bear any risk. If service standards for students fall below what is contracted, it’s their responsibility to bear the costs of resolving the issue. The advantage for us is that both customer experience and costs are guaranteed, keeping both our students and our investors happy.”
The benefits of this output-driven model are clear. Data from the Global Student Living Index reveals European students rate their connectivity satisfaction at 7.8/10, compared to 6.9/10 in the US. The impact of partnering with a managed service provider like ASK4 is also evidenced in the annual Global Student Living Awards, where 19 of the last 20 the winners of Best Student Broadband have been ASK4 clients.
The output-driven model becomes even more critical as the proptech landscape evolves. The sheer number of suppliers and the rapid proliferation of startups in proptech can overwhelm asset owners. Many solutions focus on innovative features but stop short of providing a managed service that takes full accountability for outcomes, leaving asset owners bearing the risk of integration, maintenance, and performance over time.
By contrast, the European approach to connectivity - prioritizing measurable service standards and long-term accountability - provides a pathway for proptech in the student housing sector. Whether it's energy monitoring, smart building controls, or student-focused digital services, asset owners must demand partnerships built on delivering outcomes rather than selling products. Solutions that align with this philosophy mitigate risk for operators, ensuring a seamless experience for residents while maintaining investor confidence.
ASK4's primary role will remain as providing the robust and future proofed underlying networks that enable students to live life and work productively, alongside underpinning the outcome-focussed proptech solutions that will ultimately win out in this sector.
By Andrew Dutton, CEO, ASK4.
