CONSUMERS ON THE EDGE: THE OPPORTUNITY FOR PREMIUM HOME WI-FI SOLUTIONS - AirTies ...
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CONSUMERS ON THE EDGE:
T H E O P P O RT U N I T Y F O R P R E M I U M H O M E W I - F I S O L U T I O N S
Author: Colin Dixon, Founder and Chief Analyst, nScreenMedia | Date: Q4 2017
www.nScreenMedia.com
This paper is made possible
by the generous contribution of
www.AirTies.com
“High-speed Wi-Fi in every corner of your home”
1 Abstract
The home network is undergoing a transformation from a means
“
to connect devices to the Internet to a critical service delivery
platform. It is a profound shift that the gathering pace of Internet The Internet will
of Things applications and the migration of media delivery to disappear. There will
streaming is accelerating. be so many IP
Bearing the brunt of this transformation is the home Wi-Fi addresses, so many
wireless access point. To meet the needs of consumers and the
devices, sensors,
services they want to run on it, home Wi-Fi needs to deliver the
reliability and consistency of any other home utility service. It is things that you are
not making the grade. wearing, things that
The problems with home Wi-Fi are twofold: you are interacting with, that you
1. Equipment is struggling to cope with household-wide access won’t even sense it. It will be part of
in the hostile wireless home environment. your presence all the time. Imagine you
2. Consumers are asked to install and manage the home network walk into a room, and the room is
even though they lack the knowledge and desire to do so.
dynamic. And with your permission and
Solutions to these two overarching problems are emerging.
all of that, you are interacting with the
”
These solutions improve home Wi-Fi performance and
reliability, and allow third parties to relieve consumers of the things going on in the room.
onerous installation and management of the network. Fixing
Eric Schmidt, Google Chairman, speaking
both of these issues promises to move Wi-Fi toward the
at the World Economic Forum
utility-level performance and reliability required for the new
connected home.
Consumers On the Edge: The Opportunity For Premium Home Wi-Fi Solutions Page 2
2 Introduction
2.1 Massive Increase In Wi-Fi Devices
There has been a massive increase in the number of From thermostats to washing machines, pedometers
mobile devices over the last several years. Worldwide to heart-rate monitors, everything that can be
there were 8 billion mobile devices and connections in connected will be. Many of these devices connect to
2016, up from 7.6 billion in 2015. These devices have a smartphone or smart hub via low-energy, low-
also caused a huge increase in the amount of mobile bandwidth connections such as Bluetooth or Zigbee,
data traffic. It increased by 63% in 2016 to reach 7.2 and then those devices connect to the Internet
exabytes per month.i However, far more data traffic over Wi-Fi.
was delivered to those connected devices by home
The second major trend is
Wi-Fi than cellular networks, as consumers worked to
the move from physical
remain below their data caps. This Wi-Fi offload
connectivity to wireless.
activity delivered an estimated 10.7 exabytes a month.
Most connectable devices
Over the next four years, the number of connected consumers purchase
devices per person in the U.S. will almost double. It require a Wi-Fi network to
was 7.8 per person in 2016 and will grow to 13.2 by connect to the Internet.
2021. 1 What does this mean for the home? The Devices like Chromecast or
average U.S. home will have between 20 and 50 Roku streaming stick rely
connected products by 2020. 2 on Wi-Fi to deliver video to
Figure 1. By 2021, there
will be 13.2 devices and the television. Laptops
Three trends drive this huge increase in connected
connections per person which once came standard
devices in the home: in the U.S. with an RJ45 connection for
• The growth in use of Internet of Things technology network connectivity have
• The abandonment of physical connectivity for abandoned them in favor of Wi-Fi. Tablets and
devices smartphones, of course, have always relied on Wi-Fi
• The migration of media consumption to wireless exclusively.
devices
Figure 2. Streaming media player usage is exploding in the U.S.
i
1 exabyte is equivalent to one million terabytes, one billion gigabytes, or 1018 bytes.
Consumers On the Edge: The Opportunity For Premium Home Wi-Fi Solutions Page 3
Finally, consumers are switching an increasing Video streaming is the most bandwidth hungry
amount of their media consumption from traditional application consumers use on home Wi-Fi networks.
distribution networks, such as broadcast media and Almost three-quarters of 96 exabytes a month of
cable TV, to streaming media sources received over worldwide IP traffic was video in 2016, and this is
Wi-Fi. Streaming media players like Roku and Apple forecast to increase to 82% of 278 exabytes a month
TV are the rising stars of the American home. Overall, by 2021. What’s more, home Wi-Fi will deliver much
40% of American homes have a streaming media of that traffic. 51% of worldwide IP traffic was
player, an increase of 14% in just one year. Usage is delivered over wired networks in 2016, with 41%
doubling and tripling in some age groups. For example, delivered over Wi-Fi. By 2021, wired connections will
those aged 50–64 years boosted usage 227% between carry 37% and Wi-Fi 46%. 4
Q1 2016 and Q1 2017. They use the devices for 3.7
hours a week. Even the lightest users, those over 64,
use streaming media players for 1.7 hours per week. 3
2.2 Wi-Fi Becoming a Utility Service
These trends illustrate how important Wi-Fi has Simply put, Wi-Fi is becoming a critical home utility,
become to the consumer. In fact, it would be fair to say replacing the lifeline status formerly assigned to
that for many consumers Wi-Fi, not broadband, is wireline phone service. However, the sad truth is that
synonymous with home Internet access. it is a long way from delivering the same reliability
and consistency as other utility services.
Increasingly, consumers are putting their faith in Wi-Fi
to deliver some of their most critical services. Home This paper looks at the usual methods for delivering
security, heating and cooling, lighting, and home Wi-Fi services in the home. It looks at how Wi-Fi
medical monitoring are examples of the applications typically performs in that environment, and what
that increasingly rely on Wi-Fi to function. happens when things go wrong. It then discusses what
needs to change to move Wi-Fi toward the reliability
and consistency of a utility service.
Consumers On the Edge: The Opportunity For Premium Home Wi-Fi Solutions Page 4
3 Wi-Fi In Today’s Home
3.1 How the WAP Gets In the Home
There are nearly 100 million households in the U.S. with
broadband access. 5 Of those, 77 million have Wi-Fi
access in their home. 53% of those with a Wi-Fi access
point (WAP) got it from their broadband provider. The
other 47% bought their WAP at a retailer.
There are clear signs that consumers are struggling to
get complete coverage in their home. 56% of those
with Wi-Fi have a single access point. The rest have
added a wireless extender or switched to a new mesh
Wi-Fi router in an attempt to get better performance. 6
Wi-Fi extender — a device that is placed
between a WAP and an area of poor
coverage in a home to boost the Wi-Fi
signal in that area.
Mesh Wi-Fi Access Point System —
multiple WAP nodes placed around the Figure 3. Over three-quarters of broadband homes
have Wi-Fi access.
home work together to fully cover the
home with Wi-Fi.
3.2 Managing the Wi-Fi Network
Whether the WAP is provided by the broadband a self-install kit and had to set everything up
provider or purchased at a retail store, the first line of themselves.
management is the consumer. For those that purchase
Both groups end up having to deal with the day-to-day
a WAP from a store, they must install the hardware
management of all the devices, which can be
correctly, set up network (SSIDi) name, change security
a challenge. Assuming the consumer got the WAP
passwords, and get all the devices in the home properly
installed and operating correctly in the first place, the
connected. These installation and management tasks
conditions of home Wi-Fi are constantly changing.
require a fair amount of technical knowledge.
Devices are joining and leaving the home network
For those that got a WAP from their provider, some creating a constant ebb-and-flow of activity. The
may have had a technician come to their home and set changes made by neighbors to their network also
everything up for them. Others may have been sent affect performance on the consumer’s network.
i
SSID — service set identifier. This is the name of the local Wi-Fi network.
Consumers On the Edge: The Opportunity For Premium Home Wi-Fi Solutions Page 5
Unfortunately, the tools at the consumer’s disposal to
manage this constantly evolving environment are
weak and difficult to access. For example, to configure
a different SSID or change a Wi-Fi password, the
consumer often needs to access the router’s
configuration screen (see Figure 4). Accessing the
router requires knowing the router’s IP address,
typing it into a browser, and then wading through all
the technical jargon in the configuration interface. Not
an easy task even for the tech-savvy.
Most people are not up to even this level of basic
management. In the U.K., just 30% say they have
changed the Wi-Fi password, and only 19% have
accessed the router administration controls. 7
Figure 4. Changing anything in the WAP So, the typical environment in the home is a single
settings is not for the faint of heart. WAP, provided by an operator, with the network
mostly managed by the consumer. Is this arrangement
up to the challenge of delivering a fundamental utility
of a 21st century home?
Consumers On the Edge: The Opportunity For Premium Home Wi-Fi Solutions Page 6
4 Is a Single WAP Up To the Task?
Wireless access points have come a long way in the last decade. The early devices were restricted to the heavily
congested 2.4 GHz band and had a single 1x1 antennai broadcasting uniformly in all directions. Today, typical WAPs
have added the 5 GHz band, have a 4x4 antenna, and utilize more sophisticated techniques like beam-steeringii and
bandwidth reservationiii to help improve performance.
4.1 A Simple Test of WAP Performance
Given that most consumers get a single WAP from The test procedure was very simple: we ran an
their operator, is the device up to the task? To answer Internet speed test using speedtest.net on each device
this question, nScreenMedia employees ran a simple from a variety of locations inside the home and in the
test in a wood-frame, single-story home on an eighth- backyard. The AT&T U-verse broadband speed,
of-an-acre lot in a suburban residential area. We pitted measured using a wired connection, was
an operator-provided advanced home Internet approximately 50 Mbps download and 5.7 Mbps
gateway against two Wi-Fi mesh solutions to see how upload. The wired connection speed did not vary more
successful each was at delivering the maximum than 3% throughout the testing.
broadband speed available.
The Wi-Fi access points used were:
• Arris 5268AC provided home gateway (location
WAP 1)
• 2 AirTies Air 4920 mesh WAPs (locations WAP 1,
WAP 2)
• 2 Google Wi-Fi AC1200 mesh WAPs (locations
WAP 1, WAP 2)
Each WAP supports 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequencies.
Google Wi-Fi is a consumer retail product. Operators
normally provide the Arris or AirTies WAPs to the
consumer.
The client devices used for the testing were:
• Samsung Spin 9 2016 laptop running Windows 10
• LeEco LePro 3 smartphone running Android 6.0.1
Figure 5. The nScreenMedia Wi-Fi test house
i
A 1x1 antenna has an antenna attached to a single transmitter and receiver. A 4x4 antenna has four of these
antenna/transmitter/receiver chains.
ii
Beam-steering allows the WAP to direct more transmission energy in a specific direction to improve coverage for a specific device.
iii
Some WAPs reserve a fixed amount of bandwidth to a specific application (like video streaming) or a specific device. This helps
guarantee a certain level of performance for them.
Consumers On the Edge: The Opportunity For Premium Home Wi-Fi Solutions Page 7
We always started the test
sequence from the same place and
proceeded to each location in the
same order. There were nine
other clients connected to the
Wi-Fi network, though none of
them were doing bandwidth-
intensive tasks like video
streaming or file downloads
during the testing. Though this
test approach does not look at the
maximum performance of the
WAP, it does test the metric
consumers care most about —
raw Internet speed.
As can be seen in Figure 6, when
testing from the laptop, the Wi-Fi
mesh solutions outperformed the Figure 6. Internet download speed to a laptop using AirTies, Arris, and Google WAPs
single WAP in all locations except
the office (D), where each
performed approximately the
same. In the more distant
locations from the single Arris
WAP (E, near backyard), its
performance plummeted, while
AirTies and Google Wi-Fi held up
well. At the most distant point (F,
far backyard), AirTies delivered
23.1 Mbps, Google 21.8 Mbps, and
Arris just 0.8 Mbps.
Testing using the smartphone
revealed a very different picture.
The Arris single WAP performed
much better. It turned in roughly
equivalent performance to AirTies
in all locations but one, the Figure 7. Internet download speed to a smartphone using AirTies, Arris,
and Google WAPs
furthest point in the backyard.
There, AirTies delivered 38.8
much better at locations C and E with the laptop. We
Mbps, Google 17.5 Mbps, and Arris 2.2 Mbps.
also noted that when a device was performing poorly
We repeated the testing several times at different at a location, turning the Wi-Fi off and back on again
times of the day and were surprised to find a wide sometimes improved performance. In general, AirTies
variation in performance from the Arris and Google performed more consistently throughout the testing.
WAPs. In one test sequence with the smartphone,
The factors causing the extreme variability of
Google Wi-Fi performed much more closely aligned
performance include the following.
with AirTies. In another, the Arris WAP performed
Consumers On the Edge: The Opportunity For Premium Home Wi-Fi Solutions Page 8
4.1.1 5 GHz versus 2.4 GHz operation 4.1.3 The impact of many Wi-Fi devices
on performance
It matters very much which frequency a device uses to
connect to the WAP. The heavily congested 2.4 GHz The number of devices accessing the home Wi-Fi
frequency band gives much worse performance than network impacts the bandwidth available to each of
5 GHz operation. Once a device is connected using the them. As can be seen in Figure 8, adding just one more
2.4 GHz band, it is usually stuck there until it client to a WAP can have a dramatic impact on the
disconnects and reconnects again. The inability of the bandwidth available to both. Simply put, the more
WAP to change how a device is connected while it is clients on the network, the less bandwidth available
still connected could be the reason why the Arris WAP to each. 8
gave such poor performance in our testing with the
laptop. The device simply connected to the 2.4 GHz
network and was stuck there for the duration of the
test. During another test run, it may have connected
to the 5 GHz network and subsequently performed
much better.
4.1.2 Hand-off between mesh nodes
Wandering around the house with a connected device
in hand is very common behavior in today’s digital
home. That makes ensuring that a smartphone or
tablet is connected to the best WAP no trivial task for Figure 8. The number of clients connected to
newer mesh Wi-Fi solutions. Deciding to force a device an WAP affects performance for all.
to switch to another WAP node is not just a question of
connecting to the physically closest WAP. The solution
must consider the entire path to the Internet. Clients at the edge of reception not only get slow
performance, but they also degrade performance for
For example, consider the situation for a device at all the other devices. For example, if a device is
location C in Figure 5. The closest Wi-Fi node is WAP2. downloading a 100 Mb file and is connected at 50
However, connecting to WAP1, which is still relatively Mbps, it will take about 16 seconds to complete the
close, might be better because the client traffic avoids download. If it is connected at 1 Mbps, it will take 50
the extra step from WAP1 to WAP2. times longer (800 seconds). In other words, it is taking
How the mesh solution handles the hand-off between up 50 times more Wi-Fi airtime, time that would
nodes is very important in providing a consistent, otherwise be allocated to other devices.
optimal experience for users.
Consumers On the Edge: The Opportunity For Premium Home Wi-Fi Solutions Page 9
4.2 A Single WAP Is Not Enough
Parks Associates found that 45% of households with
Wi-Fi also own a Wi-Fi extender or mesh networking
product (see Figure 3 above). nScreenMedia staff’s
testing shows why so many consumers have
augmented their WAP to try and fill in gaps in their
home coverage. Even in a relatively friendly Wi-Fi
environment, a single WAP does not give consistently
good performance throughout the house. It also shows
that mesh Wi-Fi solutions can provide consistently
good performance in the same environment. Some of
the factors giving mesh the edge over a single WAP
include: Figure 9. Conventional in-home Wi-Fi:
Inconsistent quality and speed
• Mesh nodes are physically closer to all the clients,
The next issue to deal with is the consumer as Wi-Fi
reducing the number of them at the edge of
network manager. Whether the operator or the
reception.
consumer provides the WAP solution, someone in the
• Each mesh node can optimize performance for the
home is taking on the burden of keeping everything
micro-conditions around it.
working. Are they up to the task?
• Each time a client moves between nodes is an
opportunity to optimize its connection to the
network.
Consumers On the Edge: The Opportunity For Premium Home Wi-Fi Solutions Page 105 Are Consumers Up To the Task?
Two-thirds of Americans consider themselves tech- no surprise that 20% end in failure. 11 If a consumer
savvy. 9 That is a good thing because with all the new cannot install the device, they will likely return it.
devices coming into the home they need to be.
With the expected huge increase in in-home connected
Unfortunately, all the configuration and maintenance
devices, the consumer is liable to be much less happy
of connected devices is taking its toll.
in the very near future.
It is also clear that most consumers
simply don’t understand the limitations
of Wi-Fi in the home. For example,
a major European operator told
nScreenMedia that it frequently
receives calls from angry customers
claiming they are not receiving the
broadband speed for which they are
paying. Upon further investigation, the
call center employee often discovers
that the customers are running
a broadband speed test from an older
Figure 10. A third of consumers value ease of use
Wi-Fi connected device in a room
for intelligent devices above all else.
distant from their router. As our testing
Installing and maintaining wireless devices in the shows, it would be surprising if the
home has become a major headache for consumers. customers were getting anywhere near their full rated
A third of them said ease of use is the key factor when broadband speed. 12
buying an intelligent device, beating out other factors When the consumer is left to purchase their WAP or
like features and design. At the same time, 83% said Wi-Fi extender, they can be their own worst enemy.
they have difficulty using Frequently price is one of the biggest factors in the
their intelligent devices. 10 device selected. A decision
Further, 2-in-5 negative based on price impacts
With typical device installations taking performance in two ways.
reviews of smart home
devices stem from initial ten steps, it is no surprise that 20% end The confusing, highly
setup and connectivity technical language used to
in failure. If a consumer cannot install
issues. Easing the burden of sell many routers can be
the device, they will likely return it. bewildering to even the most
installation of devices and
WAPs is an industry-wide tech-savvy consumer. It also
effort. Moreover, the makes it difficult for
industry has every reason to be focused on this issue. a consumer to assign a value to one feature over
With typical device installations taking ten steps, it is another. In many cases, consumers will end up buying
the cheaper of two similar devices.
Consumers On the Edge: The Opportunity For Premium Home Wi-Fi Solutions Page 11Unfortunately, buying cheaper routers
often means the quality of the
components used in the device is not
as high. That can have a big impact on
the performance of Wi-Fi in the home.
Figure 11 shows the results of testing
with three different WAPs. AP1 and
AP2 use the same wireless chipset,
and AP3 uses a different one. AP3
performs considerably worse than
AP1 and AP2 in all cases. There is also
much variability between AP1 and
AP2, even though they both use the
same chipset. The variability could be
due to the quality of the antenna,
quality of other components, even in
the software that runs the functions of Figure 11. Impact of component quality on WAP performance
the device.
5.1 Wi-Fi Is Always the Operator’s Problem
The challenges a standard single WAP setup has router on these calls. Further, later analysis of the old
delivering reliable, full-bandwidth service is a major router by a technician at the operator’s facility most
factor driving consumer frustration and confusion. often results in a “no fault found” diagnosis.
Little wonder that home Wi-Fi is the single biggest
The calls, the truck roll, and the (often needless)
issue generating calls to the operator’s customer
router replacement are costing operators a lot of
support. Moreover, consumers call operators even if
money. Assuming 30% of support calls are Wi-Fi
they purchased their WAP at retail.
related, 1 in a hundred results in a truck roll, and just
Customer support can often resolve the consumer’s 30% of those result in the replacement of the router,
Wi-Fi issues over the phone. However, some problems an operator with 10M subscribers is spending €4M
require the operator to dispatch a technician to the a month on home Wi-Fi issues. 13
customer’s house. One operator told nScreenMedia
that the technician frequently replaces the home
Consumers On the Edge: The Opportunity For Premium Home Wi-Fi Solutions Page 126 Delivering Bullet-Proof Wi-Fi
6.1 Better Hardware
The rule of thumb for Wi-Fi range is
that a 2.4 GHz router can reach 150
feet indoors and twice that outside.
Older 5 GHz WAPs may only reach
a third of that. 14 However by
combining 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz in
a single WAP, a centrally placed
router should adequately cover the
average home. However, there are
many factors negatively affecting
the performance.
Brick or metal frame walls can cut
Wi-Fi reach by 25% or more, with
5 GHz networks more affected.
Many devices such as microwave
ovens and remote-control toys use
the 2.4 GHz frequency, causing
frequent conflicts. Antenna Figure 12. A mesh Wi‑Fi solution could be a better option for dealing with the
orientation can also have a big extreme variability in conditions within the home.
impact, resulting in poor coverage
in basements and attics. Client device antenna The farther away from the WAP a device is, the more
performance is also a big factor. For example, when neighboring networks can affect performance. That
running on battery, many laptops automatically problem can become extreme in multiple dwelling
reduce the power to the Wi-Fi antenna to keep the units (MDUs) such as apartment buildings and inner-
computer running longer. Using reduced power can city neighborhoods.
dramatically weaken the Wi-Fi performance of the
Given these challenges, it would be surprising if
device regardless of the performance of the WAP.
a single WAP could handle the task of delivering high-
performance, reliable Wi-Fi.
A mesh Wi Fi solution could be a better A mesh Wi-Fi solution could be a better option for
option for dealing with the extreme dealing with the extreme variability in conditions
within the home. It allows the homeowner to place
variability in conditions within the
a WAP node to fill in trouble spots. Once there, the
home. It allows the homeowner to system can adjust better to the micro-conditions as
place a WAP node to fill in trouble they change on a day-to-day basis.
spots. Once there, the system can
adjust better to the micro-conditions as
they change on a day-to-day basis.
Consumers On the Edge: The Opportunity For Premium Home Wi-Fi Solutions Page 136.2 Smarter Client Management
As discussed in section 4.1, it is not just a question of solution to continuously monitor and optimize the
having the best antenna or highest power transmitter. performance of each device connected to the network.
How client devices are managed by the WAP solution It is clear from nScreenMedia testing that some Wi-Fi
to optimize performance is of critical importance. solutions do not do this, resulting in a great deal of
There are two critical functions where a smarter variability and inconsistency in delivered
approach can have a huge performance impact: performance.
• How a client is connected to an SSID when it initially Optimizing the performance of each device is an
joins the network extremely complicated process, particularly when you
• How device performance is optimized over time consider that improving performance for one device
while connected to the SSID may well be to the detriment of another. For example,
if a WAP optimizes performance for a Roku player
In the case of a single WAP, deciding how to connect
streaming 4K video in a poor coverage area, there may
a device comes down to assigning it to either the
be no meaningful bandwidth left for any other devices.
2.4 GHz or 5 GHz band. For the mesh WAP solution,
the decision on how to connect a new device is much Again, with multiple Wi-Fi nodes, as in mesh solutions,
more complicated. As discussed in 4.1.2 above, it is not the opportunity to do a better job for more clients is
just a matter of connecting to the nearest WAP node. greater. However, smart client management is one of
the areas of sharpest differentiation between Wi-Fi
Howsoever a device is connected when it first
solutions and should be taken into consideration
associates to an SSID, network conditions are sure
carefully.
to change over time. It is essential for the WAP
6.3 Remove the Consumer From the Equation
The consumer is one of the weakest links in the necessary to make good decisions where the
reliable operation of home Wi-Fi solutions. As we saw performance of their home network is concerned.
in section 5, they do not want the responsibility of Simply put, removing the consumer as much as
managing the home network, and prefer devices that possible from the management of the home network is
are simpler to install. They lack the knowledge the best way to make it more reliable.
Consumers On the Edge: The Opportunity For Premium Home Wi-Fi Solutions Page 147 An Opportunity For ISPs
The simplest way to remove the consumer from the sophisticated management tools that work from
Wi-Fi equation is for a third party to take over much of a mobile phone or Xfinity set-top box. Customers can
the installation and management. Since 78% of quickly see which devices are connected to the
consumers in the U.S. and U.K. want their ISP to network and control Wi-Fi access from the network to
provide their WAP solution, it makes good sense for the device level. Later this year the company will
the ISP to take on the responsibility. provide WAP nodes to fill in holes in Wi-Fi coverage.
However, Comcast still requires the customer to be an
The ISP is likely best placed to manage the home
active participant in the management of the
network for consumers for the following reasons:
network. 16
• ISPs already provide half of home WAP solutions as
Danish operator Waoo provides its upper tier fiber
part of broadband service.
customers its Smart WiFi product, based on AirTies
• Consumers already call the ISP when Wi-Fi
mesh WAPs. The solution includes two Wi-Fi mesh
problems occur.
nodes and advanced remote management tools which
• The ISP has the infrastructure in place to provide in-
allow the customer to see and manage devices on the
home installation and management, if needed.
network. These tools can also be used by Waoo’s
• The ISP already has a trusted relationship with
support personnel when a customer calls in with
consumers that includes billing and support.
a problem. 17 The objective of Smart WiFi is to allow
There are also solid revenue reasons why it could be the customer to enjoy full fiber broadband throughout
in the best interest of the ISP to seriously consider the home. Specifically, Waoo recognizes the
stepping up its management of the in-home network: importance of delivering reliable, top quality video
• Over two-thirds of U.S. and U.K. consumers are streaming. According to Peter Bernard Kummerfeldt,
willing to pay between $5 and $10 a month for the Senior Business Development Manager at Waoo:
better in-home Wi-Fi. 15 “They should be able to get this service at every corner
• The ISP can begin to reduce the costs of support of the house. We see today that multiscreen streaming
calls and in-home visits with better remote is driving that need.” 18
management.
Comcast and Waoo recognize that helping make home
Some operators are already moving in this direction. Wi-Fi more reliable and easier to manage is a key
Comcast provides an enhanced WAP to its customers selling point for consumers. They also recognize that
as part of its Xfinity xFi service. For $10 a month extra, investing in better Wi-Fi solutions is good business
broadband customers get an advanced WAP and sense for them.
Consumers On the Edge: The Opportunity For Premium Home Wi-Fi Solutions Page 158 Conclusions
Wireless access in the home has come a long way over It is encouraging to see operators begin to provide
the last 20 years. It has won the trust of many consumers with much better installation and
consumers who now run their most valued management tools. However, most consumers will still
applications on it. In some ways, however, it is a victim not know how to interpret the information being
of its success. As performance and reliability have provided. Consider the map of home devices shown in
improved, people have placed greater demands upon Figure 13. Some devices have clear names, like Apple
it. In turn, this has raised their expectations of TV, that a regular consumer will understand. However,
performance and reliability. what will a consumer make of a name like android-
4af3e497708? How will he or she be able to connect it
This cycle of improvement, usage growth, followed by
to a device on the network?
further improvement has helped bring the end goal
into sharper focus. It is to deliver Wi-Fi access as Operators need to take a more active and proactive
reliably and broadly as home electricity. Though there role in managing the network on behalf of their
is still some way to go toward that goal, the tools to get customers. Vendors are providing them with better
us there are beginning to appear. However, there is hardware and the remote management capabilities to
one area where we need to make more progress. detect and fix issues before they become problems.
Consumers say they are ready to pay for better home
networking. In other words, there is an opportunity,
and a means to address it.
Figure 13. Showing consumers all devices connected to the network may not help them manage it.
Consumers On the Edge: The Opportunity For Premium Home Wi-Fi Solutions Page 16References
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Cisco, Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update, 2016-2021, Cisco, 7 Feb 2017, p1
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Cirrent, Connected Products: Emerging Trends, Challenges, and Solutions, Cirrent, Q3 2017
3
Nielsen, The Nielsen Total Audience Report: Q1 2017, Nielsen, 12 July 2017,
www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/reports/2017/the-nielsen-total-audience-report-q1-2017.html (accessed on 7/30/17)
4
Cisco, VNI Forecast Highlights Tool – Global, Cisco, www.cisco.com/c/m/en_us/solutions/service-provider/vni-forecast-
highlights.html (accessed on 7/30/17)
5
Leichtman Research Group, About 960,000 added broadband in 1Q 2017, Leichtman Research Group, 19 May 2017,
www.leichtmanresearch.com/press/051917release.html (accessed on 7/21/17)
6
Brett Sappington and Glenn Howe, Modern Broadband: Actual and Virtual CPE, Parks Associates, Q2 2017,
www.parksassociates.com/report/modern-bb-cpe (accessed on 7/2/17)
7
Broadband Genie, Half of British broadband users at risk from insecure wireless routers, Broadband Genie, 10 Jan 2017,
www.broadbandgenie.co.uk/blog/20170109-router-security-survey (accessed on 7/21/17)
8
Thomas Send and Anthony Zuyderhoff, Delivering Television-Quality Video Over Wi-Fi, Arris, Q2 2015, p10
9
Jeff Goldman, Two-Thirds of Americans Think They’re Tech Savvy…But They’re Not, eSecurityPlanet, 26 Oct 2016,
www.esecurityplanet.com/network-security/two-thirds-of-americans-think-theyre-tech-savvy...-but-theyre-not.html
(accessed on 8/28/17)
10
Accenture, Engaging the Digital Consumer in the New Connected World, Accenture, 2015, p6-7
11
Cirrent, Ibid.
12
Colin Dixon, The Perils of Multiscreen Pay TV: and the $10B cost of making it all work, nScreenMedia, Q3 2015,
eepurl.com/bolvzP
13
Colin Dixon, Ibid.
14
Bradley Mitchell, The Range of a Typical WiFi Network, Lifewire, 22 July 2017, www.lifewire.com/range-of-typical-wifi-
network-816564 (accessed on 7/31/17)
15
AirTies, New AirTies Survey Finds Nearly 80% of Consumers Would Prefer In-Home Wi-Fi Gear Be Provided by Their
Internet Service Providers, AirTies Press Release, 22 Feb 2017
16
Jeff Baumgartner, Comcast Tacks on xFi Features, Multichannel News, 8 Aug 2017, www.multichannel.com/news/cable-
operators/comcast-tacks-xfi-features/414416 (accessed on 8/6/17)
17
Waoo, Waoo Smart WIFI, Waoo, www.waoo.dk/udstyr/smart-wifi (accessed on 8/6/17)
18
LightReading, AirTies & Waoo Discuss In-Home Wi-Fi: Managed Mesh, LightReading, 8 November 2017,
www.lightreading.com/broadband-world-forum/airties-and-waoo-discuss-in-home-wi-fi-managed-mesh/v/d-id/728124
(accessed on 8/6/17)
www.nScreenMedia.com
For more information contact:
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