Plume said it added two senior executives to its management team, naming Valerie Buckingham as chief marketing officer and Adrian Fitzgerald as chief revenue officer.

“Valerie and Adrian bring a wealth of experience and knowledge to the executive team at Plume,” Fahri Diner, founder and CEO of Plume, said. “These senior-level appointments enhance Plume’s go-to-market strength as the company continues to scale and innovate for customers around the world.”

Buckingham had been with Palo Alto Network, Drop and Microsoft after a decade at Nokia.  

“Plume is leveraging data and AI to enable people across the world to live more connected lives while empowering them with the tools to provide privacy, security, and control over how they interact with technology,” Buckingham said. “This is an exciting time to be joining the team as we raise the global visibility of Plume and its game-changing consumer services for homes and small businesses. We have big plans for Plume.”

Fitzgerald was chief revenue officer at Sandvine and group VP, global sales, at Oracle Communications.

“Plume is taking the smart home and small business markets to the next level and the significant growth it has experienced over the past few years is testament to this,” Fitzgerald said. “As Plume continues to build a global presence, my team and I will ensure that we are primed to support the next phase of its expansion.”

Midco, which offer high-speed internet to 480,0000 homes, said it is introducing Midco Wi-Fi, using Plume’s HomePass technology.

The cloud-based, open-source technology delivers faster, smarter and more reliable Wi-Fi service throughout the home, the companies said.

“Our goal has been to bring the industry’s best-managed Wi-Fi solution to our customers,” said Tom McAdaragh, Midco president & COO. “As customers continue to demand higher speeds and the number of connected devices grows, home networks demand a flexible, adaptive Wi-Fi solution. Midco Wi-Fi is just that. It’s your home Wi-Fi network, designed to keep you connected and put the power in your hands.”

Midco services customers in Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

Midco Wi-Fi leverages an advanced Saas Experience Platform that includes OpenSync smart home framework in conjunction with Plume’s recently updated HomePass mobile app.

“Plume is extremely proud to help Midco deliver an unparalleled internet experience by laying the foundation of fast, reliable, secure, and adaptive whole-home Wi-Fi, and layering highly personalized user and guest controls, AI-driven cybersecurity, and more on top,” said Erdem Mustafa, VP, sales, at Plume. “In partnership with Plume, Midco has introduced a market-leading solution that, through the trifecta of cloud, AI, and open-source, will keep pace with the ever-changing needs of the modern consumer.”

By 2025, Midco expects to deploy 10G broadband while expanding its fiber network to rural areas. The company also delivers TV services including the Midco Sports regional sports network, phone, data center and advertising services, plus wholesale networking solutions. ■

Personalized communications services company Plume named three executives to its senior management team.

Iman Abbisi becomes chief human resources officer, Shari Piré was named chief legal and sustainability officer and Kiran Edara takes on the title of chief development officer.

“We are thrilled to welcome Iman, Shari, and Kiran to Plume,” said Fahri Diner, founder and CEO of Plume. “All three are incredibly talented individuals, exceptional leaders, and subject matter experts who will propel us to new heights.” 

Abbasi was most recently chief human resources officer at Symbotic. Before that she was at LexisNexis Risk Solutions and Thomson Reuters.

Piré was chief legal officer & global head of sustainability at Cognate BioServices. She also worked at law firms Skadden Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Willkie Farr & Gallagher.

Edara most recently was director of software development and GM Connectivity Services, EC2 Edge at Amazon Web Services. Before amazon, he was at Motorola Mobility and holds more than 60 patents.  ■

Despite having announced adoption of managed WiFi technology, Charter Communications is, increasingly, an outlier among U.S. telecoms for having yet to launch an actual service.

The eighth-largest cable company in the U.S., Atlantic Broadband, recently became the latest MSO to launch managed WiFi based on a cloud-based technology developed by Plume, OpenSync. 

Atlantic Broadband, which reported 492,212 broadband customers as of the end of September, is now offering these subscribers “WiFi Your Way.” Powered by Plume’s HomePass technology, the new service includes AI-driven optimization features, which adapt router settings to customer usage patterns to deliver better speed and performance over time. There are control and personalization features that let parents shut down and enable their kids’ devices from their iOS and Android smartphones. 

ALSO READ: WiFi Gets Its Biggest Upgrade in Decades

There are also online security features, as well as home security enablements, such as motion detection. 

The Atlantic Broadband announcement comes about 14 months after Charter, the No. 2 U.S. cable operator, said its Spectrum operations would deploy managed WiFi based on Plume’s core technology, the open-sourced, cloud-based software OpenSync. 

But Charter still hasn’t deployed the managed WiFi service, which it calls “Advanced In-Home WiFi,” to key markets such as Los Angeles. 

For its part, Charter just published a self-produced Q&A with its top technology executive, Stephanie Mitchko-Beale, who said the company is “in the process of launching” Advanced In-Home WiFi “throughout our footprint.”

The service, she said, will enable Charter’s more than 28.6 million home internet customers “control over their security and privacy by letting them see every device that’s connected to their network and how it’s being used.

“Throughout the year, we plan to make Advanced WiFi available in more markets, and we continue to expand the availability to our own Spectrum-branded WiFi Pods to enable customers to maximize network connectivity throughout their home,” Mitchko-Beale added. 

ALSO READ: Netgear Debuts Pricey WiFi 6E Router

Asked which Charter markets have seen Advanced In-Home WiFi deployments,
a representative for the MSO referred Multichannel News to the Mitchko-Beale statement. 

Notably, top U.S. cable operator Comcast, an early investor in Plume, has been offering managed WiFi services based on OpenSync to 30 million-plus broadband customers for several years. 

For now, the limited penetration of managed WiFi doesn’t appear to be curtailing Charter’s overall proliferation of broadband services, with the cable operator adding 537,000 high-speed internet customers in the third quarter.  

Earlier this week, the eighth largest cable company in the U.S., Atlantic Broadband, announced that it has become the latest MSO to launch a managed WiFi service based on a cloud-based technology developed by Plume, OpenSync. 

Atlantic Broadband, which reported 492,212 broadband customers as of the end of September, is now offering these subscribers the managed WiFi service “WiFi Your Way.” Powered by Plume’s "HomePass" technology, the new service includes AI-driven optimization features, which adapt router settings to customer usage patterns to deliver better speed and performance over time. There are control and personalization features that let parents shut down and enable their kids’ devices from their iOS and Android smart phones. 

There are also online security features, as well as home security enablements, such as motion detection. 

The Atlantic Broadband announcement comes about 14 months after the No. 2 U.S. cable operator, Charter Communications, announced that it would deploy managed WiFi services based on Plume’s core technology, the open-sourced, cloud-based software OpenSync. 

But Charter still hasn’t deployed the managed WiFi service, which it calls “Advanced In-Home WiFi,” to key market such as Los Angeles. 

Also Read: Charter Promises 200 Mbps Base Speeds in 17 More Markets

Earlier this week, Charter published a self-produced Q&A with its top technology executive, Stephanie Mitchko-Beale, who said the cable operator is “in the process of launching” Advanced In-Home WiFi “throughout our footprint.”

The service, she said, will enable Charter’s more than 28.6 million home internet customers “control over their security and privacy by letting them see every device that’s connected to their network and how it’s being used.

“Throughout the year we plan to make Advanced WiFi available in more markets, and we continue to expand the availability to our own Spectrum-branded WiFi Pods to enable customers to maximize network connectivity throughout their home,” Mitchko-Beale added. 

When asked which Charter markets have seen Advanced In-Home WiFi deployments, a Charter rep referred Multichannel News to the Mitchko-Beale statement. 

Notably, top U.S. cable operator Comcast, an early inventor in Plume, has been offering managed WiFi services based on OpenSync to 30 million-plus broadband customers for several years. 

For now, the limited penetration of managed WiFi doesn’t appear to be curtailing Charter’s overall proliferation of broadband services, with the cable operator adding 537,000 high-speed internet customers in the third quarter. 

Today’s home WiFi network has become a true point of contention with residential customers. As device usage increases, so too does network strain and customer frustration. This means more support calls, truck rolls and even subscriber churn.

Significant increases in simultaneous streaming, work from home, virtual classrooms and video conferencing have exacerbated the demand on the network. As families shelter at home, device usage has skyrocketed, adding to the barrage of heavy traffic and unprecedented pressure on our home internet gateways.

In fact, we’ve seen device usage at home more than double during the workday in the United States since Jan. 29.

But this also presents an opportunity — a new way for service providers to differentiate their offerings and better serve subscribers. The bottom line is consumers’ homes, habits and connected devices are evolving, and so should the way we measure and manage our internet performance.

For years, internet service providers have looked at quality of service (QoS) to assess a home’s network and troubleshoot issues. While this is a great way of measuring the “pipe” — things like throughput, latency and jitter — in today’s increasingly complex connected home, QoS ends up answering the wrong question altogether. Whether a device works well depends not only on what the network provides, but also on the needs of the device, and application, at hand. If we’re only looking at raw performance of the broadband connection, we’re missing half the picture and will end up with a poor connection, and worse, unhappy subscribers.

Instead, service providers today must focus on what keeps consumers happy — the performance or, put another way, the experience of their devices.

Delivering on this promise requires getting closer to the customer experience, looking at the “happiness” of every device, and critically, fully understanding the device a consumer is using right now. After all, it’s not the internet that consumers really care about — it’s the quality of experience (QoE) when using their connected devices.

QoE is an entirely new approach to measuring internet performance that goes beyond QoS to address the modern challenges home networks face today. While QoS is all about broadband performance, a QoE mentality treats each device individually to deliver an optimal experience whatever the device or the application.

What exactly does this mean? To better understand what’s really happening inside our connected homes, we must consider:

1.) The entire set of paths from the internet to the devices in the home, particularly paths that include one or more hops of Wi-Fi. Most devices today are connected via Wi-Fi, and Wi-Fi is often the biggest problem area on the path.

2.) A broader range of network performance factors such as data rates, signal strengths, packet error rates, interference, channel utilization, broadband throughput and the topology of the network in question.

3.) The needs of each device in the home, such as the type of device, networking capabilities, current and historical data usage and any other requirements in its specific environment.

Of course, there have been many attempts to remedy connection issues in other ways, but these have always come up short. Bigger, more powerful access points, for example, still can’t transmit enough to connect and power all the devices throughout a home. And adding multiple access points provides a static connection with no flexibility. Both these solutions simply “boost” signal, but they don’t adapt to rapidly changing network conditions.

This is where a QoE methodology truly shines. Equipped with an understanding of what’s actually happening throughout a home network, service providers can not only improve the offerings and customer satisfaction but also reduce costs while increasing ROI. These new and deep insights can be leveraged to better guide network configuration, establish whether Wi-Fi extenders are needed and can even enable support personnel to identify and resolve connection issues before a subscriber is aware of a problem. Equally important, these insights enable home networks to adapt to the needs of devices as they arise.

Let’s look at my home as an example. I have a WiFi-connected thermostat that can only achieve 5 megabits per second of throughput, as well as a video streaming device that can achieve 15 Mbps. Traditional measurements like QoS would lead us to believe the thermostat has poor performance, but the video streaming device is great. In reality, this is entirely backward — the thermostat is actually happy with even just 1 Mbps throughput, while the video streaming device would struggle to do 4K video reliably. Not only would the QoS method fail to highlight the problem with the video streaming device, but it might also put unnecessary attention and expense towards the thermostat.

By considering the needs of each individual device, QoE gives the more informed answer: the thermostat is fine, but the video device requires attention. Armed with this newfound insight, it’s possible to adjust the network and address the issue, even before I start streaming.

Don’t just take my word for it — this methodology has already proven successful. Despite load and congestion peaking at 69% and 80% above pre-COVID-19 baselines, ISPs that have adopted modern QoE metrics have maintained download and upload data speeds into and out of homes. In fact, disruption, load, congestion and optimization surges have increased by a combined 252%, yet many ISPs have managed to maintain network speeds within a 7% variation while ensuring device experience is preserved with the use of QoE.

The connected smart home is far more complex than it used to be, and the airwaves are only getting busier. But staying current and addressing new challenges doesn’t need to be difficult. It’s time we ditch outdated methods of measuring performance and adopt a modern approach that looks more deeply at a home’s connected digital health to ensure each and every device is happy. After all, happy devices equate to happy customers, and customer satisfaction is what drives new subscriptions, deepens penetration and prevents churn.

Bill McFarland is chief technology officer of Plume, a Palo Alto, California-based provider of whole-home WiFi products and services. 

Liberty Global isn’t just a Plume investor. It’s a customer.

The operator has announced the expansion of its relationship with WiFi tech vendor Plume, with plans to deploy the company’s smart home solutions across its European footprint.

In fact, that deployment already started last year with Virgin Media in the UK.

Liberty Global gateways across the UK, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Ireland and Poland will now include Plume’s open-sourced WiFi management software, which allow parents to set digital controls on their kids, monitoring device usage, pausing internet connectivity and generally having the ability to shut all things digital down as needed.

The so-called Connect App will be available to Liberty Global service subscribers at no additional cost.

Additionally, Liberty Global will start rolling out Plume hardware, including its mesh WiFi boosters (Liberty has branded these as “Connect Pods”), as well as the vendor’s open-source WiFi optimization platform, OpenSync.

Liberty Global and Comcast are among Plume’s backers.

And as you might have guessed, Liberty Global CTO Enrique Rodriguez is pretty excited about the partnership. He wrote it about it in a pre-packaged press release quote: “Combining Plume with Liberty Global’s gigabit network capabilities releases the full potential of broadband speeds and spreads them throughout the home, adapting to the unique environment each connection operates in,” Rodriguez stated. "The expanded partnership with Plume builds on our commitment to creating the next-generation of broadband by working with partners to enhance our network capability and go beyond speed-leadership. This strongly positions Liberty Global to offer a highly reliable internet residential services in the home that enables smart homes, online gaming and wide variety of use cases which rely on wireless connectivity.”

Liberty Global isn’t just a Plume investor. It’s a customer.

The operator has announced the expansion of its relationship with WiFi tech vendor Plume, with plans to deploy the company’s smart home solutions across its European footprint. 

In fact, that deployment already started last year with Virgin Media in the UK. 

Liberty Global gateways across the UK, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Ireland and Poland will now include Plume’s open-sourced WiFi management software, which allow parents to set digital controls on their kids, monitoring device usage, pausing internet connectivity and generally having the ability to shut all things digital down as needed. 

The so-called Connect App will be available to Liberty Global service subscribers at no additional cost. 

Additionally, Liberty Global will start rolling out Plume hardware, including its mesh WiFi boosters (Liberty has branded these as “Connect Pods”), as well as the vendor’s open-source WiFi optimization platform, OpenSync.

Liberty Global and Comcast are among Plume’s backers. 

And as you might have guessed, Liberty Global CTO Enrique Rodriguez is pretty excited about the partnership. He wrote it about it in a pre-packaged press release quote: “Combining Plume with Liberty Global’s gigabit network capabilities releases the full potential of broadband speeds and spreads them throughout the home, adapting to the unique environment each connection operates in,” Rodriguez stated. "The expanded partnership with Plume builds on our commitment to creating the next-generation of broadband by working with partners to enhance our network capability and go beyond speed-leadership. This strongly positions Liberty Global to offer a highly reliable internet residential services in the home that enables smart homes, online gaming and wide variety of use cases which rely on wireless connectivity.”

LAS VEGAS — At CES this week, WiFi solutions vendor Plume unveiled a clever new home automation technology that it believes will enable its cable operator clients to further extend services into emerging areas such as home security and aging in place.

The technology, which Plume calls Plume Motion essentially turns any smart device in the home—whether it be a light fixture or a thermostat—into a motion sensor, detecting changes in WiFi radio waves caused by motion in the house. The technology is capable of telling users when and where in the home the motion is taking place.

The feature is powered by software from Plume technology partner Cognitive Software, which can be provided as an upgrade to existing Plume mesh WiFi hardware.

Related: Expo News: Charter To Team with Plume For Managed WiFi

Speaking to Multichannel News after Plume’s CES presentation, company co-founder and CEO Fahri Diner, admitted to being initially skeptical about the potential of Plume Motion when his product development team first pitched him the idea. He said he quickly came to realize the potential of the technology to detect, say, when a burglar has entered a home, or if parents simply want to monitor if their children have returned safely from school.

One potentially exciting application is aging place. Diner said operator clients in Japan, which has a fast-growing aging in place population, are particularly excited about a technology that would let adult children more effectively monitor their aging parents.

In Japan, Plume notably serves J Comm, but it has Tier 1 operator clients all over the globe. Both Comcast and Liberty Global have backed the Palo Alto-based startup, which also counts Charter Communications, Vodaphone, Bell Canada and Armstrong Communications as clients, as well.

Pioneering open sources WiFi management software tools such as OpenSync, Plume is a leader in the Smart Home 2.0 initiative, a movement to develop cloud-based, data-centric tools for the future of home automation.

Charter Communications has formally announced its adoption of OpenSync, an open-source managed WiFi technology developed by WiFi tech company Plume.

Charter said it’s already using OpenSync in Austin, Texas, allowing customers visibility into their home WiFi networks, as well as the ability to control the usage of individual devices.

The official announcement of the MSO’s OpenSync adoption comes as most wireline broadband providers—including much smaller cable companies—already have deployed managed WiFi services. It also comes just over a month after MCN reported the Charter-Plume partnership out of Cable-Tec Expo.

Related: Charter To Team with Plume For Managed WiFi

“Advanced in-home WiFi provides Spectrum Internet and WiFi customers with the ability to optimize their home networks, offering both detailed insights and providing greater control of their connected devices to deliver an unmatched home WiFi experience,” said Rich DiGeronimo, Charter’s chief product and technology officer, in a statement. “Integrating our core advanced technology and leading WiFi router with the OpenSync cloud platform and software stack allows us to nimbly deliver best-of-breed features and services.

“Approximately 300 million devices are connected to our vast network, and we take seriously our responsibility to deliver fast, reliable service, while protecting and securing our customers’ online private information,” DiGeronimo added.

OpenSync has already been adopted by Comcast and Liberty Global, among other cable companies.

“Leveraging OpenSync, Charter has taken a bold step by decoupling the curation and delivery of smart home services from the CPE hardware, gaining a massive time-to-market and scalability advantage,” said Fahri Diner co-founder and CEO of Plume.

NEW ORLEANS — Charter Communications, the second-largest U.S. fixed broadband service provider with nearly 26 million subscribers, appears to be finally getting set to offer a managed home WiFi experience to its customers.

According to individuals close to Charter and Plume Design Inc., the cable company will partner with the Palo Alto-based tech firm to deliver app-driven personalized whole-home WiFi experiences, AI cybersecurity protection and parental controls, including content filtering, to subscribers of Spectrum-branded broadband services.

Using Plume’s open-source software framework, which it calls OpenSync, Charter will gain access to wide-scale visibility of its users’ networks, while adding management tools for real-time experience management, troubleshooting and outage avoidance, the sources said.

A Charter rep told Multichannel News the cable company had nothing to discuss about a possible Plume deal, as did Plume representatives.

Plume is a startup backed by investments of $42.2 million, with Comcast, Liberty Global and Samsung among its primary supporters. Comcast has used Plume technology for several years to offer its xFi managed WiFi service offering. This product lets Xfinity Broadband users monitor their home networks via their phone, observing and controlling, say, the internet usage of their teenage offspring on a granular level.

These kinds of WiFi tools are becoming table stakes in the cable industry. Plume said in July that its software and home WiFi hardware appliances would be used to power Butler, Pennsylvania-based Armstrong’s new “Zoom Powered by Plume”-branded smart-home WiFi solution. Plume also has an agreement to offer its services to National Cable Television Cooperative members.

Deployment of the managed WiFi software is more than a customer satisfaction play. It also gives operators data-usage insight that helps to direct sales efforts and informs them on broader network capacity decision-making.

Certainly, it was an active Cable-Tec Expo for Plume, which announced a deal with cable CPE maker Advanced Media Technologies (AMT). Under the agreement, Deerfield Beach, Florida-based AMT will distribute Plume’s WiFi pods, primarily to independent broadband providers.

Butler, Pa.-based cable operator Armstrong has partnered with Palo Alto, Calif. headquartered Plume launched a new managed WiFi and security product.

Marketed as “Zoom Powered by Plume,” the new service includes AI-based adaptive WiFi features, that monitors and adjusts modem settings for peak wireless network performance. Also included are smart-phone-accessible tools that help parents manage their kids’ screen time. And there are security features to make sure no one hacks your toaster.

“Armstrong is happy to bring our subscribers the next level of speed, personalization, security and control by teaming up with Plume,” said Jeff Ross, president of Armstrong, in a statement. “As leaders in this space, we know that the modern smart home requires a personalized approach tailored to each person, home and device. Zoom Powered by Plume does just that.”

Added Tyson Marian, chief commercial officer at Plume: “Plume is proud to help Armstrong deliver an unparalleled Internet experience through reliable whole-home WiFi, personalized parental controls, guest access, and tightly secured devices. Zoom Powered by Plume introduces a powerful solution for the ever-changing smart home.”

Comcast, Liberty Global and Bell Canada are supporting a new open source software initiative announced earlier this week by Wi-Fi technology vendor Plume.

At the Broadband World Forum in Berlin, Plume jointly announced, along with Samsung, that it was rendering open-source the Plume Middle Layer software it uses for gateways, modems, routers, access points, extenders, set-top boxes, IoT hubs, smart speaker and other Wi-Fi-connected devices.

The software will now be called OpenSync.

Plume says the OpenSync framework is “compatible with and leverages other open source initiatives and industry alliances,” including Reference Design Kit, the open source set-top and gateway software stack backed by Comcast, Liberty Global and eight other cable operators.

"For Liberty Global, a critical element of exploiting our broadband capabilities and delivering a superior connectivity experience to our customers is to ensure that we can continuously optimize Wi-Fi performance within a customer's home,” said Dan Hennessy, European CTO of Liberty Global, in a statement. “It is also clear to us that in creating those capabilities, we need to intelligently optimize performance across homes in close proximity to each another, which is common in our footprint. This is why we've already used elements of the OpenSync framework to optimize Wi-Fi in millions of homes and look forward to investigating ways in which the initiative might be applied to other use cases that may benefit our customers.”

‘"We've realized tremendous value from the RDK software stack in our advanced gateways," added Fraser Stirling, senior vpDigital Home, Devices & AI at Comcast. "Plume's PML is already integrated with RDK and deployed within our footprint, and we look forward to incorporating additional elements of OpenSync in the near future. The ability to deploy OpenSync atop the open-source RDK software further demonstrates the power and versatility of our approach. With more than 40 million RDK devices deployed globally, the RDK community is increasingly focused on new innovation for gateways and in-home mesh networking.”

Plume, a startup focused on whole-home WiFi products and services, has amplified its retail business with the recent debut of a new line of speedier “SuperPod” devices alongside a subscription-based model.

Plume, which works with ISPs such as Comcast and Bell Canada, in the service provider sector, said its second-gen SuperPods, equipped with a tri-band WiFi radio configuration, are more powerful than their predecessors, and work in tandem with a cloud-based Adaptive WiFi system that orchestrates the home WiFi network and establishes the best wireless paths for devices to connect to.

RELATED: Comcast Launches ‘xFi,’ Invests in Plume

The SuperPods are also compatible with Plume’s first-gen Pods, which have dual WiFi radios. Both products simply plug into the wall and are onboarded to the home network and managed via an app.

Plume reasons that SuperPods are needed as consumers need more powerful wireless signals in the home to ship video, including 4K streams, and other high-bandwidth services and apps, as well as apps that require low latencies. Those SuperPods are also designed to match up with higher-level in-home broadband services as cable operators and telcos continue to expand the rollout of 1-Gig service.

RELATED: Whole-Home WiFi Heats Up

Plume estimates that the original Pod provides consistent speeds of about 100 Mbps to most areas of the home, and that the company has seen that number shoot to about 300 Mbps with the new SuperPod.

Though Plume’s first-gen Pods fulfill the needs of most consumers, “we want to stay ahead of the curve,” Fahri Diner, Plume’s CEO, said in a recent interview.

Plume is also tweaking its retail model with a subscription model ($60 per year, or a one-time fee of $200 for a lifetime subscription) that is paired with lower pricing on WiFi hardware.

The “Fast” configuration under that model includes 1 SuperPod and four Pods for $99, and a “Super Fast” option that provides three SuperPod devices for $199. A configuration for smaller homes provides SuperPod and two Pods for $39. Add-ons run $49 for a single Pod or $99 for a single SuperPod.

In addition to the hardware discounts, membership also factors in other elements such as HomePass (a system that lets users create and share custom passwords for certain devices and for guests), parental controls, free ground deliver of hardware, and 24/7 customer support.

Plume customers with first-gen Pods (as of June 11) get a lifetime Plume membership at no added cost along with access to discounted SuperPods.

“For many consumers, WiFi is the internet,” Diner said.

Though Plume works closely with service providers and doesn’t spend a lot on direct consumer marketing, retail “is an important part of our business strategy, Diner said, noting that the retail model ensures that Plume maintains a direct connection with consumers and can use that feedback to improve its products.

RELATED: Wi-Fi Alliance Takes Aim at Whole-Home Networking

Comcast has integrated Plume’s technology for the MSO’s current-gen xFi Pods, but hasn’t announced plans to develop a new, faster version that would be akin to the new SuperPod.

RELATED: Comcast Plugs xFi Pods into National Rollout

Following an initial deployment in two markets, Comcast has moved forward with the national launch of xFi Pods, devices that are part of a mesh-based WiFi platform that help to extend broadband coverage to all corners of the customer’s home.

Comcast’s hexagon-shaped xFi Pods, developed in partnership with Plume, plug directly into electrical outlets and work in tandem with the MSO’s xFi Gateway and its new DOCSIS 3.1-based xFi Advanced Gateway (formerly known as the XB3) and have been integrated with the operator’s relatively new xFi WiFi management platform.

RELATED: Comcast Launches ‘xFi,’ Invests in Plume

While the xFi Pods do provide an integrated connectivity layer, they also weave in an additional “intelligence” layer as the monitoring software inside has smarts to support things like dynamic/adaptive channel changes and steer a user’s device to a clean WiFi spectrum band when facing a congested environment, Srindhar Solur, Comcast’s SVP of product development for Xfinity Home and IoT, explained.

RELATED: Whole-Home WiFi Heats Up

Comcast has also configured the xFi Pods to be auto-recognized, onboarded and activated using the xFi app when the small mesh extenders are plugged into the wall.

The national launch the xFi Pod follows an initial rollout last year in Boston and Chicago. Comcast hasn’t revealed sales figures on them, but Solur said they have resulted in higher Net Promoter Scores.

RELATED: Comcast Starts Rollout of ‘xFi Pods’ to Boost Whole-Home WiFi

Comcast is currently selling xFi Pods in three-packs for $119 or in six-packs for $199 online and at some Xfinity retail stores. Later this year, Comcast plans to offer a monthly payment plan option for purchases of xFi Pods.

The rollout also fits with a wider trend that has seen several cable operators and other ISPs introduce premium-level whole-home WiFi products.

RELATED: AT&T Taps AirTies for Whole-Home WiFi

Comcast’s national launch also arrives as The Wi-Fi Alliance looks to drive interoperability standards into whole-home set-ups via its new “EasyMesh” initiative.

RELATED: Wi-Fi Alliance Takes Aim at Whole-Home Networking

For its part, Comcast hasn’t announced any direct work with that project, though Solur said interoperability does represent a “natural progression” for this product/tech category.

“If you’re not standards-compliant, you’re not going to make that happen,” he said. 

Bell Canada has selected Plume to help power a new subscription-based whole-home WiFi service that features an app that helps customers manage and configure their home networks and WiFi “Pods” that work in tandem with the main gateway to spread WiFi signals to all corners of the home.

Bell Canada is offering a four-pack of WiFi Pods for $5 per month, and $2 per month for each additional Pod. Those Pods, small WiFi access points devices that plug directly into power outlets, have been integrated with Bell Canada’s Home Hub 3000 modem/gateway.

Bell Canada has underpinned the offering with a management app for iOS and Android mobile devices that lets users update and manage their WiFi network name, share login info with guests, and utilize parental controls.

The service provider is offering the new service initially to qualifying customers in Ontario and Quebec, with plans underway to extend it to Atlantic Canada and Manitoba. Bell Canada ended Q3 2017 with 3.76 million high-speed internet customers.

Fahri Diner, Plume’s CEO, characterized the deal as a “watershed moment” not just because it involves a major ISP, but also because it involves a major ISP utilizing a cloud-driven, service-based model for whole-home WiFi.

“When we created Plume, that was our fantasy…our belief that whole-home WiFi should be a service,” he said. “People shouldn’t have to worry about which hardware to buy. Hardware should be part of the service.”

Plume’s general guidance is one WiFi Pod per room. “We think of them like lightbulbs…you put them in every room,” Diner said.

ISPs such as Cox Communications (for its Panoramic WiFi offering), Midco (for an offering with AirTies), and Blue Ridge Communications (for a product called HomeFi that features compact WiFi access points from eero) have also adopted subscription-based, service-oriented models for their respective premium whole-home WiFi products.

Plume designs the WiFi Pods, but licenses those designs to CE companies, including Sagemcom, which also makes Bell Canada’s Home Hub 3000 gateway.

Comcast, an investor in Plume, recently began to roll out “xFi Pods” in Chicago and Boston, with a national deployment set to follow soon. But rather that offering those devices as a service, Comcast has been selling them in packs of three for $119 and in packs of six for $199.

RELATED: Comcast Starts Rollout of ‘xFi Pods’ to Boost Whole-Home WiFi

Diner said Bell Canada’s service approach represents an “incredible bargain” just for the WiFi Pods alone, noting that increased volumes for them – via Comcast and other service providers not yet announced – are helping to drive down the costs.

Though Plume’s primary approach is to license its hardware designs and not center on retail, Plume does sell its Pods directly online -- $179 for a three-pack, $329 for a six-pack, and $69 for each add-on.

Diner said Plume has other tier 1 operators that are in the process of deploying the vendor’s product/platform.

Bell Canada is also the latest major ISP to launch a whole-home WiFi product just this week.

AT&T has tapped AirTies for a mesh-based solution that includes network management software and Smart Wi-Fi Extenders, which are being sold by the carrier for $34.99 each and work with AT&T’s BGW or 5268 WiFi Gateway.

Shoring up its whole-home WiFi tech strategy, Comcast has begun to roll out complementary “xFi Pod” devices that plug into the wall and work in tandem with the MSO’s primary gateways, including a new gigabit gateway that uses DOCSIS 3.1 technology and 802.11ac version 2. 

RELATED: Comcast Goes Wide With DOCSIS 3.1 Gigabit Gateway

Comcast’s new hexagon-shaped xFi Pods, developed in partnership with Plume, are designed to create an in-home mesh network that can extend the reach of WiFi into all corners of the home. Those devices also work with Comcast’s new cloud-based, xFi-branded WiFi management platform that was introduced in May.

RELATED: Comcast Launches ‘xFi,’ Invests in Plume

Comcast began to deploy the new xFi Pods in Boston and Chicago today, and expects to introduce the products on a national basis next year, Eric Schaefer, SVP and GM of communications, data and mobility services at Comcast, explained in a blog post.

He noted that the new devices are activated using the xFi mobile app for iOS or Android.

Though the latest gateways provide solid WiFi signals and coverage can be tweaked based on their placement in the home, “there are homes that have unique WiFi challenges due to their size, shape, age, or construction materials,” Schaefer noted. “That’s where xFi Pods come in.”

Comcast has been asked for pricing on the xFi Pods, but the company is selling them in packs – a 3-Pod pack for homes with three to four bedrooms (and basements and attics), and 6-Pod packs recommended for homes with five or more bedrooms and L-shaped additions and rooms on multiple stories.

Update: Comcast said the pack of three xFi Pods sell for $119, and the pack of six goes for $199.

Plume Design said Comcast has led a $37.5 million investment in the company, which has developed a whole-home “adaptive” WiFi platform.

Plume, which has raised more than $63 million, said other new investors in the round included Samsung Venture Investment Corp., and Presidio Ventures, a unit of J:COM, Japan’s largest cable operator. Existing investors Liberty Global Ventures, Shaw Ventures and Jackson Square Ventures also participated in the latest round, Plume said.

Plume said it will use the new funds to speed the deployment and integration of its product in ISP networks and third-party hardware, toward new products, and for the company’s expansion in Silicon Valley and Europe.

Comcast revealed itself as an investor in Plume last month when it launched Xfinity xFi, a cloud-based home WiFi management platform. Tied in, Comcast said it had a partnership with Plume to develop low-cost, auto-configuring “pods” that plug into power outlets and connect to the home’s gateway to establish a whole-home WiFi mesh network. Comcast will announce pricing when it launches those xFi-optimized pods later this year.

RELATED: Comcast Launches ‘xFi,’ Invests in Plume

Tyson Marian, vice president of strategic development at Comcast Cable, has joined Plume's board.

"Delivering fast and reliable connectivity in every corner of the home with an intuitive user experience is a key initiative for operators,” Marian said in a statement. "We see Plume's cloud-based approach as a core ingredient of our own Xfinity xFi platform: secure, no-configuration and cost effective whole-home connectivity that can be offered and managed at scale.”

RELATED: WiFi 'Volcanoes' No Longer Cut It 

Samsung, meanwhile, said it will work with Plume to deploy “advanced WiFi connectivity” for its line of IoT devices.

Plume, which counts eero, Luma, Netgear, Linksys, Google and AirTies among its competitors, sells individual pods directly for $69, a three pack for $179, and a six pack for $329.

RELATED: Atlantic Broadband Taps AirTies for Premium Whole-Home WiFi

Comcast has commercially launched xFi, a cloud-based home WiFi management platform, and has also announced an investment in Plume and a partnership that will focus on the development of low-cost, auto-configuring  “pods” that connect to the home’s primary gateways to create a whole-home WiFi mesh network.

Comcast last month began testing xFi and quietly rolled out xFi apps on X1 set-top boxes and for iOS and Android mobile devices, as well as an xFi portal on the web. Among features, xFi enables users to view their WiFi names and passwords, monitor network activity and troubleshoot connection issues.

RELATED: Comcast Nears Launch of ‘xFi’ Home WiFi Platform

Customers can also create individual user profiles and organize the devices they use, including a way to give nicknames to devices), view the devices connected to their home networks, and adjust their wireless gateway settings. xFi will also let customers “pause” all WiFi access on the home network, and utilize a “Bedtime Mode” whereby users can automatically pause WiFi access on the home network during scheduled times. The system also supports parental controls.

Comcast announced its plans for a personalized, smartened up WiFi management product in January, and has now followed up with the consumer launch and will be backing that with a full brand marketing campaign.

Comcast estimates that xFi is already available for no extra cost to about 10 million high-speed Internet customers with compatible devices, including the xFi Wireless Gateway (formerly known as the XB3) and the xFi Advanced Wireless Gateway, a DOCSIS 3.1-based device that used to be known as the XB6.

RELATED: Comcast Taps Arris, Technicolor for ‘XB6’ Gateways: Sources

The vast majority of that initial base for the new smart WiFi platform is the xFi Wireless Gateway as Comcast starts to expand the rollout of the D3.1-based xFi Advanced Wireless Gateway, which will also support 802.11 ac Wave 2 WiFi and an 8x8 radio configuration, and provide enough in-home WiFi capacity to deliver up to about 75 HD video streams.

“It’s forward-leaning in the WiFi space,” Chris Satchell, Comcast chief product officer, said.

He said Comcast has begun to deploy the xFi Advanced Wireless Gateway in Salt Lake City, Utah, to customers who take the operator’s recently launched 1-Gbps (downstream) service there.

RELATED: Comcast Turns Up DOCSIS 3.1 in Utah

Comcast, Satchell said, expects the number of gateways with xFi on board to rise to 15 million later this year as the operator upgrades and adds broadband subscribers.

Origins of the new xFi platform stem back to Comcast’s 2014 acquisition of PowerCloud Systems, a company that specializes in WiFi network management systems and technologies.

Comcast’s Plume Connection

The big, new thing about xFi is the Comcast investment in Plume, which currently sells its own WiFi pods in the form of small devices that plug into power outlets and are designed to immerse the home in WiFi. The retail version of Plume’s product comes in three colors (champagne, silver and onyx), with a three pack selling for $179, a six pack fetching $329, or $69 for each add-on pod.

Plume’s web site suggests that its customers buy a pod for every “space” they went to light up with WiFi (basically any space that is separated by walls). In some examples, it suggests six to 12 pods for a large family home, four to six pods for a townhome, or three pods for a typical apartment (with one bedroom, a living room and a kitchen).

Satchell said Comcast and Plume are working together to create a specific, enhanced version of the pods that integrate with the operator’s xFi platform. Comcast plans to launch them, and announce pricing for them, later this year.

“We are deliberately picking a technology solution that we know can be extremely cost-effective per unit,” Satchell said. “It gives us a ton of flexibility on the business side to get this to customers really broadly."

The resulting Plume-based product for xFi “will be a zero-configuration WiFi extender,” Satchell added, explaining that the pods will plug into wall sockets, talk to the primary gateway and create their own mesh-based WiFi network. “It will be that simple – just plug them in and go.”

The Comcast deal is a big win for Plume in a whole-home WiFi product sector that includes retail vendors or suppliers that focus on service provider deals, such as eero, Linksys, Netgear, Google, Luma, and AirTies, among others.

UPDATE: Comcast also launched a promo video about xFi: