Not all production companies are the same, and not all of them have the same connectivity needs. A two-person documentary team shooting in remote Patagonia has a fundamentally different infrastructure challenge to a 40-person commercial production in central Paris. A social media content house running daily shoots has different data rhythms to a feature film unit that goes dark for 10 weeks.
This guide maps connectivity solutions to production company type — because the answer to ‘what WiFi do we need?’ depends entirely on what kind of company you are and what you’re making.
Key Takeaways
- Small independent productions often rely on ad-hoc solutions that create problems at scale
- Commercial and advertising productions have predictable, manageable connectivity needs
- Documentary and factual productions often have the most challenging connectivity environments
- Content studios with high-frequency output need consistent, repeatable solutions
- Hospitality and event production companies have distinct needs: reliable WiFi at client venues
Type 1: Small Independent Production Companies
Profile: 1-10 person teams. Typically documentary, short film, music video, branded content. Lean budgets, often working internationally for lower costs. Typical connectivity problem: personal phones as the entire production network. Director’s hotspot running out of data during a critical location day. What actually works: a single portable WiFi device with unlimited or high-cap data plan covers communication, script sharing, video calls, and moderate file uploads.
Type 2: Mid-Sized Commercial and Advertising Production Companies
Profile: 15-60 person productions. Advertising, branded content, catalog shoots. Agency clients attending or reviewing remotely. What actually works: multiple portable WiFi devices — typically 2-3 for a 40-person shoot — segregated by use case. One for client-facing use (reserved bandwidth for review calls), one for production department communication, one as backup. eSIMs for agency clients and directors of photography.
Type 3: Documentary and Factual Production Companies
Profile: 2-20 person teams. Observational documentary, investigative, travel factual. Often working in remote or difficult locations internationally. What actually works: eSIM is critical for documentary productions — the ability to switch between local networks as you move through different regions of a country is genuinely useful. Multiple backup data plans via eSIM profiles. Portable WiFi for base camp. Satellite connectivity (Starlink) for truly remote productions.
Type 4: Social Media Content Studios
Profile: 3-20 people. Daily or near-daily content production for brand clients. High output, fast turnaround, often urban. Multiple shoots per week in different locations. What actually works: eSIM is the most practical solution for content studios — lightweight, no hardware to manage. For studios shooting internationally, country-specific eSIM plans activated as needed are far more cost-effective than roaming.
Type 5: Event and Hospitality Production
Profile: varies widely. AV production, live events, conferences, hospitality installations. Often working at client venues with unreliable or inaccessible existing infrastructure. What actually works: portable WiFi provides the production team with an independent network that doesn’t depend on venue infrastructure. ConnectPls portable WiFi is well-suited to this use case — it can be placed at a fixed location within a venue, provides multiple simultaneous connections, and can be configured for the event’s specific duration.
Type 6: International Co-Productions
Profile: multi-country productions. Often drama, documentary, or commercial with talent and crew from multiple nationalities. What actually works: standardized eSIM plans from a single provider that covers all production territories. This means the Italian gaffer and the British director have the same network setup, managed from the same platform. Centralized data management: one provider, one invoice, one point of contact for support.
ConnectPls and GoBox WiFi together cover the full range of production connectivity needs — from individual eSIMs and SIM cards for documentary filmmakers to multi-device WiFi solutions for large commercial units, across 100+ countries.
