Broadband and video provider WOW! said it is rolling out a whole-home WiFi mesh internet service across its 19 markets after first introducing it in Columbus, Ohio, and Pinellas, Fla., on July 10.

The service uses the eero home WiFi system of multiple access points rather than a single router, promising to eliminate dead zones, and enables sharing and WiFi management. WOW charges $9.95 per month plus $5.99 for additional eero plug-in beacons, according to www.wowway.com/WholeHomeWiFi, on top of monthly broadband charges.

“For WOW! customers everywhere, there are now no slow zones – just WOW! zones, meaning hassle-free downloading, streaming and gaming from every corner of the home,” CEO Teresa Elder said in a WOW! release. WOW! operates in Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Maryland, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, Florida and Georgia.

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

Looking to give its whole-home WiFi efforts a boost, AT&T is offering two Smart Wi-Fi Extenders (made by AirTies) to customers who upgrade to its “fastest broadband speeds,” meaning its symmetrical 1 Gig service, in this case.

Per the fine print and this blog post from Stephen Vincent, assistant VP-wired voice and broadband prducts at AT&T, the offer, good through June 28, is for new and existing residential internet subs who purchase or upgrade to AT&T’s fiber-based Internet 1000 tier (some MDU units aren’t eligible).

The promos comes about five months after AT&T launched a premium, whole-home WiFi mesh product that utilizes AirTies extenders (pictured at left), specialized software that optimizes those connections and lets users set their own network names and passwords.

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

AT&T is also selling those extenders online for $34.99 each. Those devices work in tandem with certain AT&T-supplied wireless gateways (the BGW210, 5268AC or NVG599) for “standard” internet plans (12 Mbps or higher).

Coincidentally, AirTies also announced Thursday that its deployments now span more than 25 million homes and more than 50 operators around the globe. Other known customers include Atlantic Broadband, Deutsche Telekom, Frontier, Orange, Midco, Singtel, Sky, Swisscom, Vodafone, and Waoo.

AirTies also announced some stats based on aggregated data from those deployments, noting that the average home has more than seven WiFi-connected devices, and the average daily connection time per WiFi device is ten hours. About 45% of devices use only 2.4 GHz WiFi channels, with the balance having dual-band chips that can operate at 2.4 GHz or 5GHz.

Data rates at 5 GHz are almost five times as fast as on the lower spectrum band, reflecting the importance of network-based client steering technology that can get devices on the best available channel, AirTies added.

Citing data from more than a dozen AirTies partners, the company found that 75% reported a decrease in churn since implementing its WiFi products, 80% reported an increase in customer satisfaction, and 67% said they’ve had a decrease in WiFi-related support calls.

RELATED: Whole-Home WiFi Heats Up

AT&T, Cox Communications, Comcast, Blue Ridge Communications and MidCo are among other ISPs that have recently, introduced whole-home WiFi products with partners such as Arris, eero, and Plume, among others.

RELATED: Comcast Plugs xFi Pods into National Rollout

On the retail front, Netgear has launched an Orbi-branded retail device that combines a DOCSIS 3.0 modem with a Tri-Band Mesh WiFi router designed to broaden wireless coverage and work in tandem with an Orbi Satellite device/extender.

RELATED: Netgear’s New Retail Cable Router Targets Whole-Home WiFi

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. 

Looking to drive interoperability standards into whole-home setups that lean on multiple access points, the Wi-Fi Alliance has launched a new program called Wi-Fi Certified EasyMesh.

The new program, targeted to homes and small business environments that use mesh-style, multi-access point setups, is designed to enable service providers to create those networks using a wide range of interoperable devices from different suppliers/brands.

RELATED: Whole-Home WiFi Heats Up

The Wi-Fi Alliance is taking aim at interoperability standards as whole-home WiFi systems sold at retail and offered by service providers start to take significant hold in the market. However, much of that action has centered on one-supplier systems.

RELATED: Netgear’s New Retail Cable Router Targets Whole-Home WiFi

Mesh WiFi systems are taking off as consumers adopt a growing number of smart home devices and video streaming devices and require solid connectivity to all corners of the home, Kevin Robinson, VP of marketing at the Wi-Fi Alliance, said, citing NPD data from 2017 showing that mesh networks already account for roughly 40% of the U.S. retail home WiFi market.

Though several whole-home WiFi products have emerged that support multiple access points and software and analysis systems that tie them together, the push with the EasyMesh program is to establish baseline, multi-vendor interoperable standards that can drive scale into this growing segment of the WiFi market while still giving individual vendors room to innovate, Robinson said

The focus of the EasyMesh program is to standardize protocols that direct the management of the network and help to guide clients, such as smartphones or streaming players, to access points and specific bands that provide the best experience at any given time.

Key components of the standardized program include both the network controller (with one device on the network, such as a gateway or an access point serving as that control point) that coordinates activity with agents, including satellite access points, that are connected to the network.

There are no EasyMesh-certified products available yet as certification testing has yet to start. However, a mix of product and chip suppliers, industry organizations and service providers voiced their support in today’s announcement, including AirTies, Arris, Assia, Broadcom, Marvell, MediaTek, Intel, Qualcomm Atheros, Quantenna, CableLabs, and Liberty Global. 

Broadening its aim at the whole-home WiFi arena, Netgear has introduced an Orbi-branded retail device that combines a DOCSIS 3.0 modem with a Tri-Band Mesh WiFi router.

The Orbi Tri-Band WiFi Cable Modem Router System, or CBK40, can provide wireless coverage in homes up to 4,000 square feet, or cover an additional 2,000 square feet areas when used in tandem with an Orbi Satellite device, Netgear said.

Netgear said the new retail device is compatible with major MSOs, including Comcast and Charter Communications, with Cox Communications to be added to that list in the “coming months.”

RELATED: Whole-Home WiFi Heats Up (subscription required)

The baseline CBR40 carries an MSRP of $299.99, while the system, which adds 1 Orbi satellite, fetches $399.99.

The primary device integrates a D3.0 modem capable of bonding 32 downstream channels (for up to 1.4 Gbps if all are used) and WiFi that can support up to 2.2 Gbps, the company said, noting that its Orbi platform is also compatible with Amazon Alexa and the Google Assistant.

RELATED: Cox Crosses Whole-Home WiFi Milestone

Though Netgear’s new wares targets retail distribution, several cable operators have also developed their own premium whole-home WiFi services. 

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

Cox Communications has struck a national sponsorship agreement with the Drone Racing League (DRL), and will use that deal in part to tout the speeds and performance of its WiFi products. 

That sponsorship will be active during the 2018 DRL Allianz World Championship Season and extend to drone pilot Nick “WildWilly” Willard, a two-time, third place DRL winner who hails from Atlanta, Cox’s headquarters city.  

RELATED: Cox Crosses Whole-Home WiFi Milestone

Willard will be among 18 top pilots who will race custom-built DRL drones during the seven-event series, which will be broadcast in more than 75 countries on networks such as ESPN, Sky Sports, ProSiebenSat.1, OSN, Fox Sports Asia and Disney XD.

Financial terms weren’t announced, but Cox said its sponsorship will include a custom commercial spot produced by DRL’s media team, digital content creation, and live FPV (First Person View) freestyle events, where Willard will perform drone tricks and maneuvers while donning a branded uniform.

“The Drone Racing League is an undeniable reminder of the speed and performance excellence required by today’s connected devices. We’re proud to sponsor DRL and support millions of other high-speed applications with our nationwide network,” Mark Greatrex, executive vice president and chief marketing and sales officer at Cox, said in a statement.

In addition to participating on a Cable WiFi consortium that has deployed more than 500,000 hotspots in outdoor and business locations, Cox also markets Panoramic WiFi, a premium, whole-home WiFi offering that has more than 1 million customers on board.

Comcast is expanding the utility of xFi, its home WiFi management platform, with a feature that enables real-time updates that are focused on security.

When enabled, those WiFi-related, push notifications are delivered to the customer’s smartphones and TVs when certain events on the home WiFi network occur, including:

-When new devices are connected to the network. Customers can also go into the xFi app on smartphones or on the web to assign those new devices to a member of the household.

-When a WiFi name or password has been changed, important in part because customers will need to reconnect WiFi devices when those credentials have been changed by an authorized user.

-When security settings are changed.

-If the home WiFi’s network name has been hidden or unhidden. xFi has an option that lets customers hide their WiFi network’s name, an option that comes in especially handy in densely populated areas.

xFi customers are also told if their internet service and gateway has been activated for the first time, and if the home network’s IP address has been changed, Eric Schaefer, SVP and GM, data and mobility services at Comcast, explained in a blog post about the new features.

Comcast launched xFi in May 2017, and it’s now available to more than 15 million customers (via Comcast’s xFi Wireless Gateway -- formerly known as the XB3-- and the xFi Advanced Wireless gateway, a new DOCSIS 3.1-based device formerly referred to as the XB6.

RELATED: Comcast Launches ‘xFi,’ Invests in Plume

Last August, Comcast rolled out another set of new features for its cloud-based xFi service, including “timed pause,” enhanced parental controls, and some initial notification center elements.

Deepening its reach into the growing whole-home WiFi market, Nokia has reached a deal to acquire Unium, a U.S.-based maker of WiFi mesh technology.

Financial terms were not announced, but Nokia expects to close the deal in Q1 2018.

Founded in 2002, Unium is based in Seattle and has raised at least $26.7 million in funding, according to CrunchBase. TechCrunch reports that Google Fiber is among Unium’s known customers.

Nokia is integrating Unium’s software into its home WiFi products to provide a wireless mesh that reaches into all corners of the home alongside a management system that measures wireless performance in real-time and uses that data to improve the home network’s coverage and capacity.

RELATED: Whole-Home WiFi Heats Up (subscription required)

In tandem with the acquisition announcement, Nokia introduced a new whole-home WiFi platform that includes meshed WiFi gateways and beacons that utilize Unium’s software, along with a WiFi Home Portal offering for service providers.

With the acquisition and product launch, Nokia is amplifying its focus on a part of the market that has become a higher priority for cable operators and ISPs and opened the door to other vendors that specialize in whole-home WiFi equipment and software, including eero, AirTies, Arris, Plume, Netgear and Linksys, among others.

RELATED: Comcast Launches ‘xFi,’ Invests in Plume

Federico Guillén, president of Nokia's Fixed Networks business group, said: "We look forward to having the Unium team join us. The home networking market is booming and whole-home Wi-Fi is a key enabler for this.

“Today's Wi-Fi solutions still have serious issues with sticky clients, interference, coverage gaps and capacity issues,” Federico Guillén, president of Nokia's Fixed Networks business group, said  in a statement. “With Unium inside, our Nokia Wi-Fi solution will deliver an unmatched user experience, going beyond what standard mesh Wi-Fi solutions deliver today."

AirTies Wireless Networks has inked a retail-focused deal with Deutsche Telekom that will see the service provider sell a mesh-based, whole-home WiFi “Starter Kit” at its shops and online to residential customers in Germany.

Under the arrangement, Deutsche Telekom’s Starter Kit, with two AirTies 4920 extenders equipped with dual-band 802.11ac WiFi, for €199.95 (US$246.51), plus shipping. AirTies said its platform can be expanded to up to six extenders per mesh network.

RELATED: Whole-Home WiFi Heats Up

The retail agreement will give AirTies exposure to Deutsche Telekom’s customer base, which spans 28.5 million fixed-access lines, 18.5 million broadband lines, and 165 million mobile customers.

The agreement with DT follows a recent one with AT&T, and adds to other partnerships AirTies has with service providers such as Orange, Singtel, Sky, Swisscom, Comporium, Frontier Communications and Midco. 

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

Comporium has hooked up with AirTies to bring a whole-home WiFi offering to customers in the Carolinas that matches the Air 4920, a mesh WiFi extender, and AirTies’s management software.

A premium, subscription product, Comporium is offering a two-device kit for $9.99 per month to new customers or existing ones that upgrade to a higher-speed internet service tier. Comporium will also use Remote View, a cloud-based platform from AirTies that monitors in-home WiFi performance and uses that data to help to optimize connectivity.

The Air 4920 is a 3x3 802.11ac and 2x2 802.11n dual-band concurrent access point.

The deal expands AirTies’s agreements with cable operators and other service providers that have added whole-home WiFi services to their arsenals. Other announced partners include Atlantic Broadband, AT&T, Frontier, Midco, Singtel, Sky, Swisscom, and Vodafone.

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

The trend has also opened up opportunities for other suppliers focused on whole-home WiFi gear and software, including eero, Arris and Plume, which has teamed with Comcast on the deployment of WiFi “pods” that aim to extend the reach of WiFi signals to all corners of the home.

RELATED: Blue Ridge Greenlights Eero for Whole-Home WiFi Offering

In other new Comporium news, NCTI has teamed with the Comporium Security, Monitoring and Automation (SMA) unit on a new online training course for SMA technicians.

Comporium SMA, which provided turnkey security, home automation and energy management services to the cable industry, and NCTI will make the course available to current and prospective Comporium SMA Solutions customers beginning in early-to-mid February.

The course, Home Security Technician, is currently comprised of three lessons, with two more to be added. NCTI estimates that most students will finish the course within four or five hours.  Upon successful completion, students will receive an NCTI certificate of achievement.

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.

AT&T has evidently tapped AirTies to bring whole-home WiFi capabilities to a sizable portion of its broadband subscriber base.

AT&T doesn’t identify AirTies by name in this blog post about the new in-home WiFi mesh product, but an image of the WiFi extender on offer is clearly made by AirTies.

AT&T is initially selling the “Smart Wi-Fi Extender” online for $34.99 (with two-day shipping), down from a stated original price of $99. Per AT&T, the Smart Wi-Fi Extender on offer is designed for use with its BGW or 5268 WiFi Gateway.

RELATED: Whole-Home WiFi Heats Up

The new WiFi extender, when used in the mesh setup, “boosts your coverage by up to 1,000 sq. ft.” while also reducing network congestion and auto-selecting the fastest avaialbity connection for each device that hangs off the in-home WiFi network, Stephen Vincent, assistant VP, in-home-broadband, wired voice and broadband products at AT&T, explained in the post.

Vincent also used the post to introduce the AT&T Smart Home Manager that, among its features, lets users personalize their WiFi network name and password, invite guests to the user’s in-home WiFi network and chat with customer service. AT&T is offering versions of the Smart Home Manager app for iOS and Android mobile devices.

It’s not immediately clear what role AirTies is playing with that app, but the vendor has previously said that is offers a program that enables ISP partners to sub-license its technology to their broadband gateway suppliers. 

UPDATE: An AT&T official confirmed that the company's new mesh platform uses AirTies software,  noting that it's compatible with AT&T's latest line of WiFi gateways. While those gateways are available to customers across multiple speed tiers, the new WiFi extenders and new mesh platform is not available to AT&T's DSL subscribers. 

The AT&T tie-up marks a significant win for AirTies, which opened an R&D center in Austin, Texas, late last year, and has agreements in place with several other broadband service providers, including Atlantic Broadband, Frontier Communications, Midco, Orange, Singtel, Sky, Swisscom, Vodafone and Waoo, among others.

RELATED: Midco Rolls Whole-Home WiFi Offering

Other WiFi technology vendors are also taking advantage of this trend, as ISPs and other service providers develop and launch premium whole-home WiFi products.

 Plume, for example, is heavily involved with new ‘xFI Pod” products that Comcast has introduced in a few markets. Eero, meanwhile, has complemented its retail strategy with one focused on service providers that recently was parleyed into a deal with BlueRidge Communications. Last fall, Canada’s Westman Communications was the first operator to announce a rollout of Hitron Technologies’s new whole-home WiFi product set.

RELATED: Comcast Launches ‘xFi,’ Invests in Plume

Eero, a startup that makes whole-home WiFi equipment and management software, confirmed that it has laid off about 30 employees as it applies more focus to its “core business.”

TechCrunch first reported on the layoff, noting that the reduction impacted about 20% of the company’s total workforce.

Eero released this statement:

“Our goal is to provide perfect WiFi in every home. Over the past year we explored several related projects, and we've now made the tough decision to eliminate one new project in favor of greater focus on our core business. We do not take this lightly, and unfortunately this shift means about 30 colleagues will no longer be working at eero. We will continue our work to make eero the most reliable, secure, and easiest home WiFi solution.”

Eero declined to elaborate on the project that was eliminated.

Last year, eero introduced a second-generation of whole-home WiFi products, including a new “Beacon” device that can plug directly into power outlets and a premium “network protection” subscription service.

RELATED: Eero Upgrades, Expands Whole-Home WiFi Platform

Also of recent note, eero broadened its sales channels with a new lineup that is dedicated to professional installers.

Eero has also complemented its retail business with one focused on ISP partnerships. Blue Ridge Communications, eero’s first cable operator partner, launched a new premium offering, called HomeFi, that features eero’s compact WiFi access points working in tandem with the customer’s cable modem and an MSO-branded app that lets users manage their home WiFi networks.

RELATED: Blue Ridge Greenlights Eero for Whole-Home WiFi Offering

Founded in 2014, eero has raised about $90 million, according to CrunchBase.

Cox Communications said its premium whole-home WiFi offering, branded as Panoramic WiFi, has surpassed 1 million customers about 14 months after it was introduced.

Cox launched Panoramic WiFi last fall in markets such as San Diego, Orange County and Santa Barbara last fall, and extended it to all Cox markets in June 2017. During that span, Cox said it did have a month in which it added 185,000 new Panoramic WiFi subs.

RELATED: Cox Goes Wide With ‘Panoramic WiFi’

Cox sells the premium whole-home product starting at $9.99 per month. Panoramic WiFi uses a modem/router with a DOCSIS 3.0 modem (supporting up to 24 downstream channels and eight upstream channels) and dual-band 802.11ac WiFi.  That’s matched with network management app for iOS and Android mobile devices, and a customized WiFi installation.

Cox also rents out WiFi extenders that utilize MoCA 2.0 technology for $4 each per month.

RELATED: Whole-Home WiFi Heats Up (subscription required)

Cox’s product follows a trend by which cable operators and other ISPs are enhancing their core broadband service with premium WiFi offerings that provide more consistent wireless speeds throughout the house and the ability to manage those in-home wireless networks.

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

The operator said 66% of new high-speed internet subs are choosing the Panoramic WiFi option, and that its Connect app is getting 120,000-plus WiFi “interactions” per month.

The My WiFi component in the Connect app lets users view primary and guest networks, change their wireless security settings, broadcast or hide the in-home network, change their WiFi network passwords, name or rename devices, view WiFi signal strength, and even send a reboot signal to the modem.

“While designing and developing Panoramic WiFi, we listened to our customers and applied that feedback to delivering a premium user experience,” Philip Nutsugah, senior vice president, product development and management, said in a statement. Our customers want an effortless and predictable WiFi experience that delivers the speed and reliability they expect. They want to have confidence that they are equipped with tools to optimize and manage their home WiFi.”

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.

Hitron Technologies, a maker of cable modems and other types of consumer premises equipment and software, said Canada’s Westman Communications Group is the first operator to roll out the vendor’s new whole-home WiFi product set.

RELATED: Hitron Launches Video Campaign Focused on Cable Ops

Following a two-month trial, Westman, based in Manitoba, will deploy Hitron’s “Unleash Your WiFi” solution, which includes the vendor’s gateway and MoCA-to-WiFi extenders that work in concert with Hitron’s EasyInstall and MyHitron apps. EasyInstall helps technicians setup the whole-home platform, while MyHitron is designed to help users manage and troubleshoot their home WiFi networks.

Westman is also using OptiMy, a cloud-based machine learning and big data analytics system from Hitron, which is showing off its new wares at this week’s SCTE•ISBE Cable-Tec Expo in Denver.

Read More: Complete coverage of Cable-Tec Expo 2017

Westman joins a growing group of cable ops that have launched premium whole-home WiFi products.

RELATED: Blue Ridge Greenlights Eero for Whole-Home WiFi Offering

“Our customers demand reliable and fast Wi-Fi coverage in every corner of their homes. At Westman, the demarcation point is our customers’ fingertips. It’s our company’s mandate to deliver this experience in the most efficient, customer friendly and cost-effective manner,” Jeffrey DeSarno, Westman’s chief technology officer, said in a statement.

WiFi is the foundation for the super-connected home. With escalating device counts, increased video streaming, and the rise of the Internet of Things, the need for a new approach to whole-home WiFi has never been clearer. But, not all whole-home WiFi solutions are created equal.

Retailers are aggressively marketing new kinds of whole-home WiFi solutions to consumers that circumvent service providers. At the same time, service providers have an array of whole-home WiFi choices from suppliers. In evaluating what to do, several key things should be considered.

Retail vs. Managed Solution
Improving in-home WiFi should not be a consumer’s problem to solve. Most consumers are not IT experts – nor should they be. In fact, survey research commissioned by AirTies across the U.S. and UK found that nearly 80% of consumers would prefer that all their WiFi equipment be supplied by their service providers – versus having to try to solve this issue on their own. There is a comparable history lesson from DVRs, which first gained popularity in retail, until operators seized on the opportunity themselves. WiFi remains the number one customer care call for many service providers. Service providers cannot afford to cede this new market opportunity to retail competitors.

Multiple Access Points: Tree vs. Mesh Topology
There is a growing consensus that multiple WiFi access points are required to provide consistent, quality coverage throughout the home. One approach is a “tree” topology whereby WiFi is extended from the core gateway using repeaters/extenders that can only make a single path to the gateway node without any alternative paths for in home data flow between devices. Another is to use a “mesh” topology whereby every extender connects with each other simultaneously to manage data flow dynamically.

New advances in repeater technology and adaptive cloud management software, coupled with a rise in devices that support 802.11v, can certainly make a multi-AP tree topology more effective that having a single WiFi router in the home. However, there are some key issues to consider.

Most homes have numerous legacy devices that lack 802.11v support, meaning the gateway can’t be relied upon to command a device to connect to a closer AP, thus increases latency and bandwidth consumption. For devices that can, the AP switch can cause an interruption in the signal flow as the transfer to the new AP occurs. Such disruptions can impact streaming video quality, especially live broadcasts, a “no-no” for many service providers. Most repeaters also cannot prioritize video over other in-home network traffic. In addition, simply forcing a device to connect to the closest AP isn’t always the best option based on network conditions, if that closest AP has more hops compared to a slightly further gateway.

Tree topologies rely heavily on the gateway for network intelligence, which presents its own challenges. Most gateways do not support WiFi’s Wireless Distribution System (WDS) technology. Implementing a repeater technology without supporting WDS requires a manipulation of users’ device MAC addresses when roaming between gateway and repeater nodes, which often creates problems such as a DHCP server assigning a new IP address, device applications getting disconnected, or connection drops. In addition, a single gateway can only measure the interference from where it’s located, thus it may not make the best WiFi channel selection for extenders in the home, which may be experiencing very different network conditions. Repeaters also do not obey the rules of regulators for radar detection, because they ignore radar signals detected by the repeater which is located in a different location compared to the gateway node.

Mesh systems, in contrast, rely on more sophisticated approach because every extender has the intelligence to participate in determining optimal use of aggregate resources.

The internet itself is based on a similar principle. Mesh technology avoids the inherent challenge with tree topology-based repeaters because it uses WDS protocol, which employs additional MAC address fields to carry the original MAC address of the client devices when they roam between the gateway and extenders, enabling fast and seamless roaming. Mesh systems also fully comply with DFS rules as the radar channels are vacated even when only one extender detects a radar signal.

When evaluating Mesh systems, ISPs must consider whether it can continuously calculate the best data route and dynamically adjust to changing conditions in real-time, based on the number of active devices, the traffic profile, and any QoS required. This intelligent routing should also enable client steering, which dynamically connects devices to the best available WiFi channel and frequency (2.4GHz or 5GHz), based on actual network conditions in the home to ensure optimal performance. The system should be able to leverage client steering to sequester slow performing devices so they don’t degrade the performance of other devices in the home, and should work with any legacy WiFi device, which account for most of all devices in use today -- not just those with 802.11v/k/r.

Other considerations
Selecting the right in-home hardware is not enough. Service providers should also consider whether their whole-home WiFi software is portable across original equipment manufacturers and chipset suppliers. They should also look for a cloud-based solution that can provide real-time monitoring, analytics, and remote control of in-home WiFi to assist field technicians, call center operators, and subscribers.  

Service providers now realize that they can either view WiFi as a problem, or as a significant new opportunity. Relying on outdated WiFi is no longer a viable option. Subscribers demand and deserve more. Fortunately, new innovations in whole-home WiFi will enable service providers to reap the benefits, including: competitive differentiation, the ability to upsell subscribers to higher broadband plans or generate new monthly subscription revenue, and to better serve all of their subscribers.

Metin Taskin is CTO and co-founder of AirTies.

[Image Source:  Best  Buy]

Blue Ridge Communications, a cable operator that serves parts of Pennsylvania, is entering the premium whole-home WiFi market through a partnership with eero.

Blue Ridge’s new premium offering, called HomeFi, offers eero’s compact WiFi access points for $5.95 per device (Blue Ridge’s FAQ for the product suggests one HomeFi eero for every 1,000 square feet, or one to two devices per floor). Those access points, which extend coverage in the home, work in tandem with the customer’s cable modem and an MSO-branded app that enables users to manage their home WiFi networks and set up elements such as parental controls.  

Early into the program, Blue Ridge requiring pro installs of HomeFi (with a one-time activation fee of $49.95), but the operator also intends to make a self-install option available, according to John Del Viscio, Blue Ridge’s director of operations.

Del Viscio said the need for a premium whole-home WiFi product was driven by customers that are connecting more and more devices to the network and desire solid coverage in all corners of the home.

“For us, this seems like a natural extension to the product and services we offer,” Del Viscio said, noting that Blue Ridge put several vendors through the paces before picking its horse for HomeFi, but was partially attracted to eero’s performance and ease to set up.

Blue Ridge soft-launched HomeFi about 30 days ago, but intends to ramp up marketing soon via email, TV spots, mailers and other tactics, he said, adding that contractors and service agents have also been trained to support the new offering.

Blue Ridge is also the first announced cable operator partner for eero, which has largely been focused on selling its platform at retail. Eero also has a partnership with Cincinnati Bell whereby the service provider is selling the vendor’s devices at its retail stores.

“With the proliferation of OTT/connected devices and smart-home technologies, Blue Ridge understands how important the WiFi connection is to support their customers’ broadband needs and viewing experiences,” Matt Packard, head of ISP sales and business development, said in a statement.

Blue Ridge initially leased out eero’s first generation hardware, but is now mixing in vendor’s latest wares soon. Eero’s gen-two product set includes the “Beacon,” a more compact access point that plugs directly into power outlets and is equipped with a Thread radio and an LED nightlight.

RELATED: Eero Upgrades, Expands Whole-Home WiFi Platform

With HomeFi, Blue Ridge joins a growing group of ISPs and cable operators that have developed and launched whole-home WiFi products. Comcast, for example, has launched “xFi,” a cloud-based home network management platform and is developing a new line of wall-pluggable WiFi “pods” in partnership with Plume that will extend WiFi coverage in the home.

RELATED: Comcast Leads $37.5M Investment in Plume 

The trend is also opening up opportunities for other vendors, such as Google, Netgear, Luma, Linksys, Arris, and AirTies, which is already working with U.S. providers such as Atlantic Broadband, Frontier Communications and Midco.

Hitron Technologies has introduced an MSO-focused video marketing campaign that takes aim at the growing need for cable operators to deliver and support whole-home WiFi coverage via a mix of gateways, extenders as well as a mobile app that broadband subs can use to monitor and manage those connections.

RELATED: Hitron ‘Coda-45’ Modem Nets DOCSIS 3.1 Certification

Hitron’s “Unleash Your WiFi” campaign, which features a 14 year-old- “senior scientist” as its spokesperson, details apps such as MyHitron (a WiFi network management tool for customers) as well as the vendor’s EasyInstall app for IoS and Android app, which covers elements such as device configuration, signal-to-noise ration and verification of the WiFi speed and coverage provided in a given home.

Hitron, which doesn’t sell devices through retail channels but is rather focused on direct sales to cable operators, confirmed that this is a campaign aimed at MSOs/affiliates, and that its operator partners are also free to use the videos.

Rogers Communications, Midco and Mediacom are among Hitron’s  known North American customers for its DOCSIS 3.1-certified CPE, and GCI has approved certain Hitron D3.1 CPE models.

RELATED: Rogers Rolling Out Hitron’s DOCSIS 3.1 Gateway

Hitron, which counts Arris, Technicolor, Sagemcom, and Ubee Interactive among its cable broadband CPE competitors in the B2B sector, confirmed that four major North American cable operators have launched D3.1 with the vendor this year, and has been picked by three others in the region for D3.1 gateways, including one for business-class service.

The vendor’s marketing and product focus on whole-home WiFi comes as such offerings become a greater priority for operators such as Comcast, which recently launched ‘xFi,’ a cloud-based WiFi management platform.

Below are a couple of videos from the MSO-focused campaign:

[embed]https://vimeo.com/233668256[/embed]

Hitron Labs - Unleash Your WiFi from Hitron Technologies on Vimeo.

[embed]https://vimeo.com/233670388[/embed]

Hitron Labs - EasyInstall from Hitron Technologies on Vimeo.

Eero, a vendor that specializes in whole-home WiFi gear and management software, is looking to broaden its sales channels with new product lineup dedicated for professional installers.

Giving pro installers the option to wall-mount those whole-home systems, eero has expanded its lineup with a PoE+ (power over Ethernet) Adapter and mount, as well as a remote network management tool that has typically been supported through the company’s retail and service provider products.

RELATED: Whole-Home WiFi Heats Up (subscription required)

eero, which recently launched its second-gen product line, has teamed up with about 1,500 dealers for the pro installation segment of the company’s business, according to Doug Bieter, head of sales at eero, which added the professional installer channel to its repertoire last August.

He said the new designs give professional installers more flexibility and options with respect to access points are placed, enabling in-wall or on-ceiling deployments.

RELATED: Eero Upgrades, Expands Whole-Home WiFi Platform

Bieter added that a common request from that segment of the market was a remote management tool that lets dealers gain visibility into the network, check performance and diagnose and correct technical issues that could reduce the need for truck-rolls. Those partners can also monetize that part of the product solution as well, he added.  

eero said pro installers can purchase the new PoE+ adapter and mount later this year from major distributors such as Access Networks, Catalyst AV Group, PowerHouse Alliance, and Wave Electronics. 

eero introduced the new product lineup ahead of CEDIA 2017, set for September 5-9 in San Diego. 

For cable operators and other internet service providers, offering a solid broadband service no longer ends where the wire connects to the home.

Now that most devices in the home are wireless, the responsibility of the ISP has rapidly shifted beyond modems and integrated WiFi gateways to tightly integrated, whole-home setups that extend coverage to every nook and cranny of the premises.

Until recently, whole-home WiFi had been the primary domain of relatively expensive retail products tailored for tech-savvy consumers who don’t mind doing things themselves. However, the costs of those products continue to drop, opening the door to core and premium offerings that aim to drive retention alongside some new, incremental revenues while still being simple enough for the masses to install and manage.

Related: Home Builders Eye Designs Optimized for WiFi

That has created opportunities for vendors. Among them, AirTies has hooked up with several ISPs, including Atlantic Broadband, Frontier Communications, and Midco. Eero, which has been focused on retail, has teamed with Blue Ridge Communications on a setup that includes the supplier’s WiFi access points and security solutions. And Cable One has launched WiFi One, a product set designed to boost wireless coverage in the home using a mix of gateways from Arris and Hitron, as well as Hitron-made WiFi extenders.

Related: Time to Own the Home

Those examples are coming into focus as WiFi becomes the de facto means of accessing the internet in the home for most consumers, with some estimates showing that 86% of all in-home broadband now travels over WiFi. According to Cisco Systems’s latest Visual Networking Index study, 63% of all internet protocol traffic will be wireless (including WiFi and cellular), and 98.1% of broadband consumer premises equipment will be equipped with 802.11ac WiFi by 2021.

Top of Mind
WiFi has also become synonymous with internet connectivity in the minds of many consumers. “When we ask customers what is the internet, most tell you that the internet is WiFi,” Cox Communications vice president of product strategy and management Philip Nutsugah said.

With that in mind, Atlanta-based Cox has pushed ahead with the national launch of Panoramic WiFi, a premium-level, whole-home WiFi service that starts at $9.99 per month.

That offering centers on a modem/WiFi router with a DOCSIS 3.0 modem and WiFi extenders that utilize MoCA 2.0 technology and cost an additional $4 each per month. Panoramic WiFi also includes a customized installation, 24/7 support and access to My WiFi, a network management app for iOS and Android mobile devices.

With the emergence of the smart home and the Internet of Things, WiFi is becoming the “critical last foot, last yard inside the home,” Nutsugah said.

Related: Study Finds Home WiFi Mesh Products Work Better With a Wired Backbone

Other major ISPs have also taken notice and are doing something about it.

“We knew two-and-a-half years ago that we needed to do something different in the WiFi space,” Eric Schaefer, Comcast senior vice president and general manager, communications, data and mobility services, explained.

An average of 9.7 devices are connected to Comcast’s gateways at any given time, he said, adding that the MSO expects that number to grow to about 50 in the next three to four years. In another nod to the proliferation of WiFi, about 90% of Comcast’s XB3 gateways don’t have anything connected to their Ethernet ports.

For Comcast, ‘xFi’ Marks the Spot
Comcast is targeting this opportunity with xFi, a cloud-based platform launched in May. It enables consumers to manage their WiFi systems via X1 set-tops, a web portal or mobile apps.

Offered free to Xfinity Internet customers, xFi supports millions of compatible devices, including the xFi Wireless Gateway (the rechristened XB3) and the xFi Advanced Wireless Gateway, a new DOCSIS 3.1-based device that used to be known as the XB6.

“Our vision is to bring enterprise-grade management to every one of our xFi gateways,” Schaefer said.

Later this year, Comcast will complement those gateways with a new line of WiFi “pods” that will fill in coverage gaps in the home. Comcast is developing those in partnership with Plume. (Comcast also led a recent $37.5 million investment round in Plume.)

Among its features, xFi enables users to view their WiFi names and passwords, monitor network activity and troubleshoot connection issues. xFi users can also create individual user profiles and organize the devices they use (including giving nicknames to devices), view the devices connected to their home network and adjust their wireless gateway settings. xFi also lets customers “pause” all WiFi access on the home network, and use a “Bedtime Mode” whereby they can automatically pause WiFi access on the home network during scheduled times.

Comcast is early into its xFi era, “but overall I’m pleased with where we are with the launch,” Schaefer said.

The xFi app for Android devices has received an average ranking of 3.4 (out of 5), based on 311 total reviews, with 148 users giving it a five-star rating.

‘Home Operating System’
Schaefer said the initial batch of features for xFi are somewhat limited, but the platform’s cloud-based nature will allow it to rapidly iterate and tack on new capabilities, as is the case with X1, Comcast’s next-generation video platform.

“It’s really the home operating system … that brings everything together in the home the same way X1 brought all of the programming content together on the video side,” Schaefer said of xFi. “You need to manage WiFi and organize it the way you would organize 100 channels of HD or 100,000 hours of VOD.”

Comcast intends to add the Plume-based WiFi pod products and software to the mix sometime in Q4, Schaefer said. Those will also be woven into Comcast’s cloud-managed platform, which will make near real-time decisions as conditions ebb and flow in the home. For example, those devices will steer to a different band if the current one experiences interference.

“The primary access point remains the gateway and the Plume pods will extend off of that main gateway,” he said.

A big challenge, he said, will be managing all of those data transactions across tens of millions of devices, which Comcast will try to handle with its cloud-based platform and the use of RDK-B. That’s the broadband flavor of the Reference Design Kit, the preintegrated software platform for set-tops and gateways managed by Comcast, Liberty Global and Charter Communications (via its acquisition of Time Warner Cable).

“It’s a different kind of scale,” Schaefer said.

That scale also extends to the workforce. Nutsugah said Cox has trained its technicians to support the new whole-home WiFi product, learning about the importance of elements such as device placement.

Providing a more solid WiFi platform will bring some operational benefits, because it will result in fewer customer calls, Nutsugah added.

Making Things Simple
“Our goal is to take the complexity out of it for the customer and simplify it for them,” Nutsugah said.

Plume, which also counts Liberty Global, Samsung, Shaw Ventures and Presidio Ventures (a unit of Jupiter Communications, Japan’s largest cable operator) among its financial backers, entered the whole-home WiFi sector with retail products, but sees partnerships like the one it has with Comcast as the proper path forward. Comcast will be making its own pod designs that integrate Plume’s technology, but Plume has also notched a deal with France’s Sagemcom to make and supply pods to the service provider market.

“The service provider angle … has been our plan from the beginning,” Fahri Diner, Plume’s CEO, said. “We’re launching Plume largely to service providers. This is not something that’s optional for [them]. It’s a must-do.”

And though Plume sells devices, it views itself mostly as a software company, basing much of its activity on an “adaptive” platform that responds as the wireless conditions in the home change. “Hardware is not the issue,” Diner said. “What was missing is a very advanced control plane that can looks across multiple devices. … Think of us as air-traffic control.”

It’s not just about raw connectivity, but connectivity that is optimized for video distribution around the home, Arris chief technology officer of consumer premises equipment Charles Cheevers said.

“Managed video over WiFi absolutely needs to be reliable,” he said, noting that the need is becoming more pronounced as pay TV operators expand on the deployment of wireless set-tops. Comcast, for example, has begun to roll out the Xi5, a wireless set-top for its X1 platform.

It used to be common for some homebuilders to weave in a network of Category 5 (or 6) wiring during the internet’s initial wired heyday, but now they’ve turned their focus to designs that are optimized for WiFi.

Taking the lead on that front is the Wi-Fi Alliance, which launched a certification program in June for professionally designed, preinstalled WiFi networks in new homes.

That program, called Wi-Fi Certified Home Design, spells out design practices for planning and installing WiFi networks in a manner that provides consistent coverage throughout the home for core broadband services, as well as for smart home appliances such as thermostats and speakers and other components for the grander Internet of Things sector.

Related: Whole-Home WiFi Heats Up

Lennar is the first major U.S. homebuilder on board with the new program, which will include access points and other WiFi elements that meet up with certain specifications and performance requirements alongside guidelines on home network design.

The Wi-Fi Alliance will certify the devices, but it will be up to builders to pick and choose the products to be implemented into the network design.

“This was a builder-inspired initiative,” Randy Ryder, marketing and business development manager at the Wi-Fi Alliance, said, noting that WiFi coverage is becoming more important as homes get larger and more devices are connected to the network.

The whole-home concept is also expanding beyond the physical home, to support “usable coverage” in areas such as patios and yards, Ryder said, adding, “This provides a turnkey solution that, up until now, has been a DIY effort for a new home owner.”

CableLabs, the industry’s research-and-development organization, participated in the certification program initiative, knowing that cable’s role in providing broadband coverage doesn’t end at the modem. “It’s a great benefit to the cable industry and, frankly, to any other ISP because [access point] placement in the home causes any number of service calls or just a poor quality of experience for the customers,” CableLabs lead architect for wireless Josh Redmore said.

Ask cable providers these days about their top customer-service priorities and the answer is likely to be along the lines of: It’s time to own the wireless space inside the home.

That was a familiar refrain at both The Independent Show, the Indianapolis gathering of small to midsized operators, and at the New England cable convention in Newport, R.I., where Charter Communications executive vice president Tom Adams used that very phrase. Providing 60 Megabits per second of internet speed is great, he noted — but how consumers experience that bandwidth in terms of how WiFi-connected devices perform makes the difference in how happy they are about it.

Jeff Baumgartner points this out in "Whole-Home WiFi Heats Up," the feature that opens this week's issue of MCN. As Philip Nutsugah of Cox said, most consumers will tell you “the internet is WiFi.” Cox also sees it as a revenue opportunity, rolling out the $9.99 monthly Panoramic WiFi product promising “fast WiFi coverage in every single part of your home.”

Importantly, it’s not just Cox and Comcast — which recently launched a WiFi-network management platform dubbed xFi — seizing on this, but also smaller operators such as Atlantic Broadband and Midco. Executives from Wave Broadband and Harron Communications in Indy said it was essential to educate consumers about how to get the best experience from their WiFi-linked gadgets.

How many gadgets? An average of about 10 are connected to Comcast’s gateways at any given time — a number seen as quintupling in the next several years.

When cable operators introduced broadband, it was the product that sold itself and a huge quality of life improvement. Now broadband is a necessity and the most important part of the cable bundle. Providers continue to increase the download and upload speeds that consumers crave. Keeping them happy, though, may depend on delivering the best WiFi experience, too.

Cox Communications said it has completed the nationwide launch of Panoramic WiFi, a premium-level whole-home WiFi service that starts at $9.99 per month.

Cox introduced Panoramic WiFi last fall in areas such as San Diego, Orange County and Santa Barbara, and wrapped up the rollout following introductions in Las Vegas; and Tucson and Phoenix, Ariz.

The Cox Panoramic WiFi service centers on a modem/router with a DOCSIS 3.0 24/8 modem integrated with 24/dual-band 802.11ac WiFi. That’s combined with 24/7 support, access to My WiFi, a network management app for iOS and Android mobile devices, and a customized WiFi installation.

RELATED: WiFi ‘Volcanos’ No Longer Cut It

Cox is also renting out WiFi extenders that utilize MoCA 2.0 technology for $4 each per month.

Panoramic WiFi customers can also connect to more than 500,000 hotspots that are currently part of a Cable WiFi roaming consortium that includes Cox, Comcast, Charter Communications and Altice USA (via its acquisition of Cablevision Systems).

In February, Cox touted the whole-home WiFi service, which uses “It’s wall-to-wall fast” tagline, in with an ad that ran regionally in San Diego during Super Bowl LI.

Cox joins several other cable operators and ISPs, including Comcast, Atlantic Broadband, Midco, and Frontier Communications that have rolled out or plan to deploy whole-home WiFi platforms that take aim at dead zones.

RELATED: Comcast Leads $37.5M Investment in Plume 

“With Panoramic WiFi, our customers are getting a consistent, dependable and high-quality connection in every room in their home – even while moving between rooms,”  Philip Nutsugah, Cox’s vice president, product strategy and management, said in a statement. “Since launch in October 2016, we’ve seen rapid adoption and positive feedback from high-speed internet customers. As more devices get connected in the home, Panoramic WiFi becomes the backbone.”

eero is taking bigger aim at the whole-home WiFi product sector with a more capable second-generation product as well as a new, complementary “Beacon” component that plugs directly into power outlets, and a premium “network protection” subscription service.

eero, which also announced an expansion into Canada , said the second-gen primary device looks the same but is about twice as powerful as its predecessor, and uses a triband WiFi set-up that combines three wireless bands. The device, a foundation of the company’s mesh-based platform, is also equipped with a Thread radio for low-power devices such as connected locks, doorbells and other sensors, and has two auto-detecting Ethernet ports (one that connects to the modem and another optional one that can plug into printers, consoles or other devices linked to the home network).

The eero Beacon is about half the size of the core eero device and is used to broaden the reach of the home’s WiFi network in places such as stairwells, kitchens and hallways. The Beacon also comes with a Thread radio, is compatible with eero’s other products, and is equipped with an LED nightlight.

RELATED: Eero Adds WiFi SmartsThe second-gen product and Beacon are available for pre-sale now, and expected to start shipping in a “few weeks.” In the U.S., eero is selling it at its own site, via Amazon.com and BestBuy.com, and later at certain Walmart and BestBuy stores and regional retailers, as well as a cadre of pro installers.

eero is selling a Home WiFi System comprised of a second-gen eero device and a Beacon for $299, a package with two Beacons for $399, or a Pro Wifi System with three second-gen eero devices for $499.

RELATED: WiFi ‘Volcanos’ No Longer Cut It

eero Plus, the company’s new premium security service, will sell for $9.99 per month or $99 per year. It includes advanced security against malware, ransomware and phishing attacks, enhanced parental controls, and VIP-level customer support. The first month of eero Plus is free.

eero, founded in 2014, competes in the whole-home WiFi sector with companies such as AirTies, Google, Netgear, Luma, Linksys, Plume, and Arris, among others.

eero has cut its teeth at retail, but also has an effort underway to forge deals with cable operators, telcos and other ISPs. Last year, eero teamed up with Cincinnati Bell to provide its WiFi products at eight retail stores run by the telco.

Plume, meanwhile, has the pole position at Comcast, which has invested in the startup. Comcast and Plume are developing wall-pluggable WiFi ‘pods” that are tailored for the cable operator’s new ‘XFi’ platform. Liberty Global Ventures, Shaw Ventures and Presidio Ventures, a unit of J:COM, are also Plume investors.

RELATED: Comcast Leads $37.5M Investment in Plume 

AirTies has already notched partnerships with a batch of U.S. service providers, including Atlantic Broadband, Frontier Communications and Midco.

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: 

Atlantic Broadband is joining a growing number of service providers to push ahead with a premium whole-home WiFi mesh offering that utilizes access points and smart networking software from AirTies.

The new product, to be offered to residential and small-business customers, will be based on AirTies’s Air 4920 802.11 ac “video grade” mesh access points and the vendor’s dual-band client steering technology. The platform will also enable field techs and network engineers to tap into AirTies’ cloud-based Remote View performance monitoring platform.

They said Atlantic Broadband will provide additional information about its service launch and pricing later this month. 

RELATED: WiFi ‘Volcanos’ No Longer Cut It

As a point of reference, Midco, another AirTies partner, currently sells a whole-home WiFi product for a baseline price of $7.95 per month (for up to three devices, with additional devices going for $2 per month), plus a $50 installation fee.

RELATED: Midco Rolls Whole-Home WiFi Offering

Atlantic Broadband, a subsidiary of Canada’s Cogeco, serves about 246,000 TV subs in Western Pennsylvania; Miami Beach; Maryland/Delaware; Aiken, S.C., and Eastern Connecticut.

RELATED: Study: Most Consumers Prefer ISPs to Supply In-Home WiFi Products

 AirTies works with several other service providers, including Frontier Communications, Singtel, Sky, Swisscom, Vodafone, and Waoo, among others.

Taking aim at the need for whole-home WiFi coverage, Cable ONE this week launched WiFi ONE, a product set that’s designed to boost the wireless signal strength on customer home networks.

Under the program, Cable ONE said certified techs will use signal mapping software to find the optimum location of the WiFi gateway in a customer’s home and determine the proper hardware configuration based on the customer’s number of wireless devices and the design and structure of the home. That info will help to determine if the customer requires 4x4 antennas with MU-MIMO as well as WiFi extenders that use Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) technology.

A Cable ONE official said the MSO is using a variety of vendors for WiFi One, including gateways from Arris and Hitron, as well as Hitron-made WiFi extenders.

Cable ONE is offering WiFi ONE for no added fee to customers who already lease a cable modem from the operator. Others can upgrade to WiFi ONE by leasing a model for an addition $8 per month.

“WiFi ONE will give our customers the freedom to access our super-fast Internet speeds from multiple devices anywhere in their home – eliminating dead zones and buffering that can interfere with surfing, streaming and gaming,” Varn Chavez, Cable ONE’s director of product management, said in a statement.

He said 90% of the operator’s customers current get speeds from 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps. Cable ONE has more than 6500,000 customers in parts of 19 states.

Home-based WiFi mesh systems perform better when paired with a MoCA 2.0-based wired backhaul connection when compared to a set of wireless-only platforms currently available at retail, the Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) found in a field trial conducted by Dekra, in independent testing firm.

The study, commissioned by MoCA and conducted in 11 homes around the U.S., looked at performance, reliability and latency differences between Actiontec WiFi extenders with a coax-based MoCA 2.0 bonded backhaul, and three products that relied only on 802.11ac WiFi backhaul – Netgear’s Orbi, Plume and  Eero.

Per the test results, Orbi achieved 300 Mbps or better in 50% of homes, while Eero and Plume had trouble reaching 200 Mbps, while the MoCA 2.0 Bonded extenders delivered 800 Mbps or better downlink WiFi performance in all homes.

Eero and Netgear have been asked for comment on the results.

Dekra, formerly AT4Wireless, performed the tests in 11 homes in Georgia, New Jersey, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Colorado and California, and nine WiFi clients were deployed for each test case. Traffic types were TCP and UDP, downlink and uplink, and traffic was sent to all clients individually in 60-second intervals in one test. In another test, traffic was sent to all nine endpoints simultaneously in an effort to emulate "real world usage.”

“These tests demonstrate that while Wi-Fi mesh may offer some improvement in whole home coverage, it is not consistent and a wire is still critical for the highest performance and lowest latency in every room,” Charles Cerino, MoCA’s president, said in a statement.

MoCA commissioned the test as ISPs start to rollout premium whole-home WiFi products and as they become increasingly popular retail options for consumers who are trying to eliminate WiFi dead zones in their homes.

RELATED: WiFi ‘Volcanos’ No Longer Cut It

AirTies, a maker of whole-home WiFi products and monitoring systems that is gaining traction with service providers such as Midco, Frontier Communications and Sky, has been taking on a hybrid strategy that can connect through an all-wireless system or, when required due to the material composition of the home in question, tie in a MoCA or fixed-wired system.

RELATED: Midco Rolls Whole-Home WiFi Offering

Arris, meanwhile, is also taking a wired/wireless hybrid approach with a retail-focused whole-home WiFi product line launched last year that pairs WiFi with a high-speed backbone that relies on a home’s powerlines and G.hn technology. At the time, Arris said it also looked at MoCA for its new retail lineup, but found that there are more complexities around that technology with respect to in-home wiring.

RELATED: Arris Amps Up Retail Play With New Router Lineup

Google has also entered the whole-home WiFi game with a mesh product that leans on a wireless backhaul, but The Verge reports that some users are reporting issues with drops in connectivity following a recent update sent to the routers. However, Google told the pub that the issue impacted fewer than 0.01% of its devices and that the next auto-software update will fix the problem.

Cox Communications will run an ad during Super Bowl LI Sunday regionally in San  Diego to pump Panoramic WiFi, a new whole-home WiFi product that the operator started to roll out in  California last fall.

The ad is part of a larger marketing campaign, developed in partnership with Doner, that Cox will use also use print, outdoor and digital components to promote the whole-home offering as Cox expands the availability of the product.

Comcast took a similar approach last year when it ran a spot showcasing X1 during last year’s Super Bowlon CBS in dozens of the MSO’s local markets.

Cox’s ad to be shown during Super Bowl uses a family of Parkour and Acrobatic artists to “portray the exciting feats of ‘Wall-to-Wall Fast’ Panoramic WiFi,” and how the new platform can keep everyone and their devices connected in every corner of the home. Working with director Joseph Kahn, known for directing music videos for U2, Moby, and DMX, the routine was filmed forwards and backwards “to show how the product defies expectations and just how truly exceptional the coverage is,” Cox said.

Watch the ad:

Cox has been asked for pricing details on Panoramic WiFi, but this customer Web page notes that it utilizes the Arris TG2472, a 24x8 DOCSIS 3.0-based, dual-band 802.11ac WiFi modem, in tandem with optional Wireless Extenders, Cox’s My WiFi in-home networking monitoring platform/app, and features a “WiFi Centric” pro install, and 24/7 “enhanced support.” For Cox’s 1-Gig “Gigablast” service, which currently uses FTTP technology, the MSO is supporting Panoramic WiFi with a managed Netgear R6300 router.

Update: Cox said the new WiFi product is currently available in all its California markets, and that it will expand it to additional Cox markets later this year. Its Panoramic WiFi product, including the premium modem/WiFi router combo, costs $9.99 per month, and an additional $4 per month per WiFi extender, if needed. Pro install charges also apply.

RELATED: Comcast Aims to Smarten Up, Simplify the Home Network

Kevin Hart, executive vice president and chief technology officer of Cox, hinted at the new whole-home WiFi product last fall in a tech roundtable held prior to the SCTE/ISBE Cable-Tec Expo in Philadelphia.  In addition to using high-end WiFi gateways, the plan also includes the implantation of RDK-B, the broadband-facing version of the Reference Design Kit, the preintegrated stack for video devices and gateways being managed by Comcast, Liberty Global and Charter Communications.

RELATED: Cable Tech at a Crossroads

Cox is among a growing number of ISPs that have deployed, or soon plan to offer, specialized whole-home WiFi products.

RELATED: WiFi ‘Volcanos’ No Longer Cut It

“Broadband service is no longer just a fast internet connection to your home. Today people expect WiFi that connects all devices anywhere in the home – around walls, upstairs, down stairs, on the patio,” said Gaston Vaneri, senior vice president of brand at Cox, said in a statement. “They want continuous access – to stats, instant replays, social feeds. Panoramic WiFi from Cox delivers just that – wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling, backwards and forward. We had a little fun showing that with the launch spot.” 

As whole-home WiFi systems become an increasing important part of cable operator strategies, CableLabs has initiated a project that aims to standardize the communication protocols for multiple, coordinated home WiFi access points.

While that work won’t be part of DOCSIS, it does aim to span across variety of WiFi-enhancing tools and technologies, including mesh-based networks, WiFi repeaters and WiFi extenders.

RELATED: WiFi ‘Volcanos’ No Longer Cut It

The general focus of the work is to bring the capability of an enterprise-grade multi access point architecture to the home without the need for a wireless LAN controller, explained John Bahr, lead architect, wireless technologies at CableLabs.

He said CableLabs will be working with vendors and standards bodies to come up with a standard communication structure that handles the exchange of information between WiFi access points to ensure that the client devices (smartphones, tablets, etc.) can decide the best path.

“The clients have no idea which access point they should associate with … to get the best throughput, the best latency and the lowest jitter,” he said.

More specifically, that work will focus on areas such as the steering of clients between access points, steering clients between different bands supported by those APs, auto-configuration, and radio resource management.

“The goal of the protocol is to come up with something that could be adopted by the industry because there’s a vacuum right now for something like this,” Bahr said.

Meanwhile, several vendors, including Arris, AirTies, eero, Google, are already tackling these issues at retail and, to a lesser degree, in partnership with cable operators and other ISPs. 

RELATED: Frontier, AirTies Make Home WiFi Connection

Though the scope of the proposed standard is still in the works, Bahr stressed that the aim of the project is not to take away from a vendor’s value proposition. He likened it to the 802.11 standards in that vendors are still able to innovate on top of them.

It’s also too early to say when CableLabs intends to complete that work, though Bahr is hopeful that 2017 will provide a “first step in this direction.”  He also said CableLabs might also look for ways to weave open source options into a standard. 

In addition to a new smartphone and VR headset, a fresh batch of smart home products and a next-gen Chromecast streaming adapter were also included in the parade of products that Google unveiled  on Tuesday.

RELATED: Google Unveils Daydream View VR Headset, Controller

On the OTT end, Google bowed the latest addition to its Chromecast streaming adapter family with a device that can support 4K/Ultra HD resolution, High Dynamic Range (HDR) and Dolby Vision.

Mario Queiroz, VP of product management at Google, said the new product, called Chromecast Ultra, will cost $69 and become available in November. The new device can load content 1.8 times faster than its predecessor, and features an Ethernet port (via the power connector).

Google, Queiroz said, has sold 30 million Chromecast devices so far. Google introduced its second-gen Chromecast lineup last year, and launched the original Chromecast in July 2013.

Google is also taking aim at whole-home wireless connectivity with Google WiFi, a mesh-based platform that integrates a network assistant/companion app that’s designed to optimize the home network behind the scenes by avoiding congestion by placing users on the “right” WiFi channel.

RELATED: WiFi ‘Volcanos’ No Longer Cut It

Google will sell an individual Google WiFi for $129 or a pack of three for $299. Preorders start in November, followed by shipments in December.  

While retail is the initial focus for Google WiFi, Google is also expected to pursue deals with cable operators and other broadband service providers.

Putting pressure on Echo and other products that rely on Amazon’s Alexa platform, Google also introduced a smart home hub called Google Home that is integrated with Google Assistant. Examples of partners that are integrating products with Google Home include Google-owned Nest, Samsung’s SmartThings, Philips Hue, and IFTTT, which lets users connect the apps with “if this, then that” statements.  Google Home will also work with Chromecasts and support voice-casting for Netflix.

Google Home will sell for $129 each, and reach retail stores by November 4.

Google’s set to launch a bunch of new products and reveal more details on other products that have already been announced at the company’s big to-do on Tuesday (Oct. 4).

According to multiple reports, many of the details have already leaked.

In addition to a new line of Pixel-branded smartphones that will replace its current Nexus lineup, Google’s expected to announce more info about Google Home, its voice-powered answer to Amazon’s Alexa smart home platform. Per TechCrunch, Google will put a $129 price tag on Google Home.

Also expected is a 4K upgrade to the Chromecast streaming adapter with a reported price of $69, about double the cost of the current-gen Chromecast introduced about a year ago. The image above is  purported to be the new Chromecast. 

Google announced Daydream VR, its Android-based mobile virtual reality platform, in May, and is reportedly set to announce shed light on more detail, including the first Daydream headset and controller. Bloomberg said earlier that Google’s been lining up talent and apps partners in preparation for the debut.

Google’s also said to be teeing up a new whole-home WiFi platform that relies on multiple access points and a mesh-based system. 

RELATED: Frontier, AirTies Make Home WiFi Connection

While these products/systems have been making inroads at retail, they are also becoming an increasingly important product for cable operators and other broadband service providers. 

UPDATE: The leaks were very accurate. See our coverage of the event here and here. 

Like the DVR before it, WiFi is rapidly become a component of a cable operators’ whole-home product set.

Thanks to the Internet of Things alongside the proliferation of tablets, laptops, video streamers, smartphones and gaming consoles hanging off the home network, and the demands of over-the-top video and other bandwidth-eating apps, simply installing one primary WiFi access point is not enough to carry the load. The shift is toward smart, mesh-based, multi-AP setups that provide a quality wireless connection to all corners of the customer’s home.

About 47 million connected home devices shipped globally in 2015, a number that will explode to 477 million in 2020, according to a forecast from IHS..

“The idea of having a single volcano, a single WiFi access point, is starting to reach its end,” Charles Cheevers, chief technology of consumer premises equipment at Arris, said.  

“We’ve been preaching the fact that multiple, coordinated access points is an effective way to tackle this problem,” Philippe Alcaras, CEO of AirTies, added. “Coordinated access points and mesh [architectures] solve this problem. We’ve been preaching in the dark for a while now and see some other companies doing that quite successfully, in retail mostly.”

Indeed, companies like eero, which cut its teeth on a retail model for its whole-home WiFi products, are now pushing forward with product strategies focused on the service provider market. 

“Our key premise is that if you are going to have great coverage in your home, you have to have multiple access points. There's just no way around that,” Nick Weaver, eero’s CEO, said, noting that his company is making some “pretty big investments” in its new ISP-focused business strategy.  Of recent note, eero has hired Matt Packard, late of TiVo and SeaChange International, as head of operator sales and business development, with a focus on cable, satellite and telco providers.

“The ISP vertical and the MVPD [multichannel video programming distributor] vertical are critical because they drive a lot of unit volume,” Weaver said. “For us, it’s important that we tap into this market…We've had quite a bit of contact across a whole range of potential partners.”

And operators appear to be getting the message that they need to be doing more.

Midco, Frontier Communications and Sky in the U.K. (for its next-gen SkyQ whole-home video offering) are examples of partners that are using AirTies’s WiFi APs and associated software to deliver whole-home WiFi service and product options.

In addition to filling gaps and applying a halo effect on their cable modem service, these offerings can also carve out a new revenue stream.

Midco, for example, is using AirTies gear for a whole-home offering that runs $7.95 per month, a price that includes up to three devices, with extras running an additional $2 per month.

Making that kind of offering available on top of the MSO’s broadband service is now a differentiator for some ISPs, but it’s rapidly becoming table stakes as consumers demand more from their providers than a quality high-speed connection.

“We realized that the customer’s perception of their home network is very important, because that reflects on our network,” Jon Pederson, chief technology officer of Midco, said. “We decided to take that extra step over the threshold and really help them [our customers] out in that regard.”

RELATED: Frontier, AirTies Make Home WiFi Connection

Midco launched that offering initially in Sioux Falls, S.D., and has been ratcheting up the marketing behind it ever since. The results have been “more positive than we expected,” Brian Oyen, Midco’s senior manager of operations support, said.

“It’s not just a matter of numbers that’s been positive,” Pederson added. “It’s also been about customer perception among those that have it.”

And whole-home WiFi is not just about the strategic placement of access points. Vendors are also pairing that with smart, software-based systems.

In the case of AirTies, it’s mesh platform and APs work together to steer signals and the mobile devices on the home network to the nearest access point, and collects anonymous data that helps its system understand, measure – and fix --the behavior of the devices in the home.

“It needs to be managed and it needs to be monitored all the time,” Alcaras said, citing data showing that 20% to 30% of calls into operators about broadband are WiFi-related.

In addition to selling products directly to MVPDs and ISPs, AirTies also has a licensing program that gives those partners the ability to sub-license AirTies technology to their broadband gateway vendors.

RELATED: Sky Meshes With Whole-Home Video

“For any operator that is serious about whole home WiFi…needs to have the technology embedded in the gateway,” he said.

Eero, meanwhile, pairs its in-home devices with a cloud controller that monitors how the network is performing and sends out occasional software updates to its devices in the field.

“It’s kind of like your admin in the sky,” Weaver said. “But at no point are we looking at where people are going on the Internet. It’s about gathering anonymous diagnostic data that can be used to improve the product.”

Cheevers agrees that managed systems, such as those that could operate on the company’s own Arris Home Network Controller  and ECO management system, offer a better solution than so-called WiFi “repeaters” that some consumers use today.

“They’re loved, but they’re also hated,” Cheevers said of those WiFi repeaters. While they can provide some extra signal strength to the bedroom, they are woefully inefficient because they chew up valuable bandwidth to send and receive.

And that becomes an issue as more video travels the home network, and as consumers continue to gravitate to heavy duty 4K video.

Arris has been expanding its whole-home systems for MSO partners, but has also been focused on it at retail with the recent launch of a line of ‘SURFboard’-branded routers and extenders that uses WiFi in tandem with a wired backbone that relies on powerline-based G.hn technology.

Cheevers also views new 2.5 version of the Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) platform, which enables up to 2.5 Gbps over in-home coaxial networks, as a platform that is well-suited as a wired, in-home backbone to enable whole-home coverage.

And those solid whole-home wireless/wired hybrids will also become increasingly important as MSOs start to focus more heavily on wireless set-tops.

“The last thing you want as an operator is a WiFi set-top with marginal performance,” Cheevers said. “That has to be pretty bulletproof.” 

Looking to provide better, more consistent in-home WiFi, Frontier Communications is hawking AirTies Wireless Networks’ Smart Mesh WiFi” platform via Frontier Secure, a site that sells a mix of smart home products and services.

Per the site, Frontier is selling the AirTies Smart Mesh WiFi product individually for $72 and in pairs for $144. Customers link those devices to the main router/gateway to expand and improve WiFi access in the home. Frontier sells products and services via Frontier Secure to residential and small business customers on a national basis, and offers products wholesale through strategic partnerships.

Frontier is the second (and largest) North American operator to deploy AirTies’s WiFi Mesh product; the first was Midco, which is selling a whole-home WiFi service starting at $7.95 per month. Frontier said it also has trials underway with mid-sized and large service providers in the U.S. AirTies is working with several providers outside the U.S., including Sky, Vodafone, Singtel, and Swisscom.

“At Frontier, we’re committed to continually improving the Connected Home experience to meet the needs of our customers across the country,” Kelly Morgan, SVP and GM of Frontier Secure, said in a statement. “AirTies has a proven track record of enhancing the performance of in-home Wi-Fi for leading operators around the globe, and we are pleased to bring its next-generation technology to our customers.” 

“Delivering quality broadband is no longer just about reaching the home, but about the experience throughout the entire home – a vision we share with Frontier,” added AirTies CEO Philippe Alcaras.

AirTies Wireless Networks has introduced the 1.0 version of a “Remote View,” a performance monitoring platform that gives cable operators and other providers a clearer view of their broadband customers’ in-home WiFi networks.

Get more #INTX2016 news.

AirTies said the platform, now available for field trials, provides deeper insight into WiFi network performance using a combo of real-time and historical data gathered across both managed devices (such as MSO-supplied gateways) and unmanaged devices (PCs, tablets, smartphones) that are hanging off the subscriber’s WiFi network. Data from the Remote View dashboard can be viewed in any browser, the company said.

AirTies, which offers partners a mesh-based WiFi platform, said those in-home networks are becoming more difficult to manage amid the growing number of mobile clients that are connecting.

“It’s getting very, very crowded,” Bulent Celebi, chairman and co-Founder of AirTies, said.

On top of that, MSOs have limited visibility into those WiFi networks, which can lead to truck rolls and calls to customer care when customers run into problems.

AirTies, which will be demonstrating at the show’s CableLabs Tek Stadium pavilion, believes its Remote View system can help by measuring the signal strength of connections between the access points and the clients. The platform stores that information locally in the access points every minute and ships that info to the cloud every ten minutes, providing operators with an updated snapshot of in-home performance and a way to visualize how traffic is travelling on the home’s mesh network.

“We’re able to provide tangible, actionable information about what’s going on in the individual house” as well as the client devices that are attached, Celebi said.

AirTies is offering remote view to its current crop of service provider customers, which includes Midco, which recently introduced a whole-home WiFi offering, as well as Sky (for its new video-optimized whole-home service), Vodafone, Singtel, and Swisscom, among others. 

Celebi said AirTies supports multiple deployment models for Remote View, including software-as-a-service (for mid-tier operators), and licensing-based options for larger providers.

AirTies is also a licensee of the Reference Design Kit (RDK), a preintegrated software stack being managed by Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Liberty Global.  RDK started off supporting video set-tops, but has since expanded to also include data with a version called RDK-B.

Midco has pushed ahead with the launch of a whole-home WiFi service, powered by gear and software from AirTies, that costs $7.95 per month for up to four wireless access points.

The offering, hinted at last November, uses an intelligent mesh system from AirTies that’s designed to boost in-home WiFi coverage. The system uses wireless access points from AirTies that work together to create a wireless mesh system that, the vendor claims, provides better performance that the use of wireless extenders.  

For subs who take the offer, Midco said a tech will visit to do an assessment and determine how many wireless access points are needed to extend the signal strength, handles the install, and then provides an updated “heat map” showing the results.

Midco joins a growing group of operators that offer premium, whole-home WiFi products aimed at eliminating wireless dead zones. Bright House Networks, for example, launched its Echo Home Networking service in July 2014. Pricing for that product varies based on the customer’s Internet package, but most pay less than $10 per month for it, the company ntoed.

Midco, which is offering the new premium product in Sioux Falls, S.D., is the first-announced U.S. service provider customer for AirTies, which has said it has trials underway with other, still-unnamed mid-sized and large service providers here. Outside the U.S., its customersinclude Sky, Vodafone, Singtel, and Swisscom, among others. 

“With more connected devices than ever and bandwidth consumption doubling every 18 months, home wireless networks can become overburdened,” Jon Pederson, CTO of Midco, said in a statement. “At the same time, factors such as home layout, other wireless devices, and devices using older technology can interfere with Wi-Fi signals. “Our Whole Home Wi-Fi solution helps customers’ wireless networks provide a consistently strong signal to every corner of the house, even to decks and patios.”

Looking to replicate the success it’s had across the pond pitching smart, in-home WiFi systems to Internet service providers, AirTies has planted its flag in North America and identified its first customer in the region – Midcontinent Communications.

AirTies, a company formed in 2004, cut its teeth in the Europe, where WiFi and other wireless technologies faced challenges of breaking through the building construction that’s prevalent in the region – namely a lot of brick walls. While speedy home networking technologies such as Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) and powerline offer wired-based option, AirTies took the all-wireless route with a platform made up of a mesh of high-octane access points that are powered by an automated networking management platform that’s designed to steer signals through the best path in the home.

That approach has helped AirTies land some sizable clients, including Sky in the U.K., Germany, Austria, and Italy, Vodafone, Singtel, and Swisscom, among others, and it believes that it can duplicate that success with U.S.-based operators.

In the U.S., video streaming “has put a lot of pressure on the home network,”  Bulent Celebi, AirTies’ executive chairman and co-founder, said. He said typical in-home setups that rely on a primary access point are challenged because signals become weaker and performance is impacted as mobile devices are used in different parts of the home.

He said mobile clients tend to make “poor decisions” on where to connect and turn into “bad apples” on the home network. AirTies attempts to remedy this and boost performance through the use of multiple access points connected to an intelligent network management system that coordinates traffic and dynamically signals through the best route.

To pursue opportunities on this side of the pond, AirTies has spent the last year and a half setting up an operation in Silicon Valley, and today named company vet Oz Yildrim as EVP and GM of North  America, who will be based in Sunnyvale, Calif. Celebi said AirTies currently has about five people stationed here, and expects to hire “well over a dozen” people for North America within a year. AirTies currently has 275 employees.

As for its first U.S.-based customer, Midcontinent, the MSO will tap AirTies’s Air 4920 access points (pictured), which bake in dual-band WiFi (2x2 802.11n at 2.4 GHz, and 3x3 802.11ac at 5 GHz), two Gigabit Ethernet ports, and support for the company’s WiFi Smart Mesh and Client Steering technology. Those APs can be connected through a mix of technologies, including Ethernet, MoCA, powerline-based platforms and AirTies’ own wireless mesh systems, the company said

Midcontinent, an operator that serves more than 300,000 subs in parts of Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin, is expected to launch its AirTies-powered platform later this year, but has not announced how it will be priced. Midcontinent has also hatched a plan to bring gigabit speeds to its entire footprint by the end of 2017.

“At Midcontinent, we see our customers’ bandwidth consumption doubling every 18 months – and more devices than ever are dependent on the in-home wireless network,” said Jon Pederson, CTO of Midcontinent, in a statement. “The AirTies approach will help our customers enhance their in-home wireless performance and coverage.”  

Celebi said AirTies partners have marketed its technology under a variety of models, either selling it directly, making it part of subscription-based, premium WiFi offerings, or including it with speed upgrades.

He said AirTies already has trials underway with some big, but still unnamed, U.S. operators, and noted that the company can license its technology to other modem and gateway vendors.

And AirTies does expect to compete with traditional gateway and set-top box suppliers as MSOs look to shore up their whole-home WiFi strategies, but hopes that its network intelligence system will serve as a differentiator.

Modem/gateway suppliers such as like Arris have been beefing up their gateways to pump more wireless speed in the home, and others, such as Actiontec, have been aggressively pursuing the whole-home networking opportunity with carriers. On the MSO side, Bright House Networks has shored up its whole-home capabilities with “Echo,” a program that pairs wireless gateways with access points that are installed at different cable outlets in the customer’s home.