The Challenge
Awaroa Lodge sits deep within the Abel Tasman National Park — accessible only by boat or on foot, with zero mobile coverage across the entire site. Despite an adequate incoming internet connection, guests were often limited to around 1 Mbps due to the challenge of distributing that bandwidth across a dispersed collection of buildings surrounded by dense native bush with virtually no line-of-sight between structures.
The lodge’s footprint spans the main admin and restaurant building, four accommodation blocks, staff quarters 400 m away, a beach house 400 m in another direction, and a pizzeria 300 m from the main building. The pizzeria required reliable connectivity for tills, EFTPOS, CCTV, phones, and guest Wi-Fi. And with no cell coverage anywhere on site, in-room phones remained essential — not a legacy convenience, but a genuine operational necessity.
“Guests were barely getting a megabit of speed.”
— Julz Glass, Awaroa LodgeThe Solution
What began as a PABX replacement brief expanded into a full site communications overhaul. Teltrac reused existing infrastructure wherever practical — including the copper telephone pairs already running to outlying buildings — while introducing modern networking, Starlink internet, and remote management tools that could be administered from Nelson without requiring a boat trip to the lodge.
Key Elements
- Replaced the legacy PABX with an on-premises IPECS UCP100 system; all room handsets upgraded to IP phones
- Used existing copper telephone pairs to deliver VDSL to outlying buildings — lifting speeds from ~1–2 Mbps to up to 100 Mbps without new trenching
- Ran new fibre between the main admin building and the largest 12-room accommodation block; all rooms re-cabled with Cat6 for a gigabit backbone
- Re-terminated in-room Cat5e cabling; PoE switches and access points mounted above existing phone jack locations for a tidy finish; PoE also powers the new IP phones
- High-power access points installed for staff accommodation; outdoor AP at the pizzeria for day visitors and water taxi passengers
- Standardised on Grandstream hardware across routing, PoE switching, and Wi-Fi — managed via Grandstream’s cloud portal for remote monitoring and firmware updates
- Commercial Starlink integrated as the primary internet feed, distributed via VLAN across guest, staff, admin, and POS subnets
Why This Solution
| Component | Why it was chosen |
|---|---|
| IPECS UCP100 on-premises PBX | Delivers reliable internal telephony with local call control even when external connectivity is disrupted — critical on a site with no cell coverage |
| VDSL over existing copper | Rapidly increases bandwidth to remote buildings without new cable trenching, conserving both budget and time on a remote, access-restricted site |
| Fibre backbone to largest block | Future-proofs the busiest accommodation block with full gigabit capacity for guests and internal services |
| Grandstream router & PoE switches | Cost-effective, robust platform providing power and data to APs and IP phones with VLAN segmentation across site subnets |
| High-power indoor/outdoor APs | Ensures strong Wi-Fi coverage across dispersed buildings and outdoor visitor areas including the pizzeria and water taxi landing |
| Grandstream cloud management | Enables remote firmware updates, configuration, and troubleshooting from Nelson — avoiding a 1-hour drive to Kaiteriteri plus a 1.5-hour sea shuttle each way |
| Starlink via VLAN | Provides a resilient internet feed distributed securely across guest, staff, and POS subnets regardless of geographic isolation |
Installation
Teltrac executed the upgrade with minimal disruption and a deliberate emphasis on reusing existing cabling wherever sensible — an important consideration on a remote site where every additional cable run adds complexity and cost. Works were carefully sequenced to prioritise high-impact upgrades first, keeping the lodge operational throughout the installation.
- Detailed site survey and sequencing plan to prioritise high-impact upgrades
- PABX replaced with IPECS UCP100; all room handsets swapped to IP phones
- Copper pairs terminated and tested for VDSL modems to all outlying buildings
- New fibre link run between main building and largest accommodation block; Cat6 installed to every room in that block
- In-room Cat5e cabling re-terminated; PoE switches installed at distribution points; access points mounted above previous phone jack locations
- Outdoor and high-power APs deployed to cover the pizzeria, staff housing, and public access points
- Starlink integrated as primary internet feed; VLANs configured to segregate guest, staff, admin, and POS traffic
- Multiple SSIDs and captive portal/voucher workflows configured; QoS rules set; EFTPOS and CCTV connectivity validated at the pizzeria
- System commissioning completed, staff training delivered, and remote management access handed over via the Grandstream cloud portal
Outcome
Awaroa Lodge now has a modern, fully managed communications infrastructure that works reliably in one of New Zealand’s most remote and logistically challenging locations. Guests enjoy fast, consistent Wi-Fi throughout all accommodation and common areas. The pizzeria operates with reliable connectivity for EFTPOS, CCTV, and guest Wi-Fi. And the in-room phone system — still very much in daily use — continues to serve guests and staff where mobile coverage simply doesn’t exist.
“Many overseas guests still prefer making phone calls, and there’s absolutely no cell coverage at the site. Some cell phones don’t support Wi-Fi calling, so the in-room phones are still very much in use.”
— Julz Glass, Awaroa LodgeWith Grandstream’s cloud portal, Teltrac can monitor, update, and troubleshoot the entire system remotely from Nelson — meaning the lodge gets enterprise-grade support without the logistical challenge of a boat trip for every service call.