Atlantic Broadband has announced the deployment of its managed Wi-Fi product in service areas it acquired in its purchase of the remaining MetroCast assets last year.

Enhanced WiFi (E-WiFi) wsa first launched by Atlantic Broadband in its existing markets in 2017. It is now available to the operator’s customers in New Hampshire, Maine, Eastern Pennsylvania, Southern Maryland and Virginia.

E-WiFi uses multiple wireless mesh access points and intelligent routing algorithms designed by AirTies.

“The quality of the in-home WiFi experience and business-based WiFi performance is critical to daily life and commerce today,” said Heather McCallion, VP of products and programming for Atlantic Broadband, in a statement. “After Atlantic Broadband acquired the MetroCast properties last year, we significantly boosted internet speeds for all of our residential and business customers. With today’s launch of E-WiFi, our customers will have access to powerful technology that will take internet performance to new heights.”

In a report published earlier this week, equity research firm Cowen identified managed Wi-Fi, along with smart home management, as opportunities often overlooked in a cable industry focused on broadband speed increases.

“We are seeing the emergence of ‘managed Wi-Fi’ for better in-home coverage solutions which includes RF optimization/education, Wi-Fi extenders, parental controls, and a platform for said device management,” Cohen said. “While Comcast offers ‘xFi Pods’ (Wi-Fi extenders licensed from Plume), we could see a race for more personalized services. Charter recently noted it may launch a smart home management service this fall. Both ‘smart/managed Wi-Fi’ providers such as Plume and the MSO’s (which may or may not white label solutions from managed Wi-Fi providers) are certainly seeing the demand for in-home managed WiFi, and with customers are willing to pay for it.”

Intraway Corp., a maker of software for operational and business support systems, said it has developed a new tool that lets broadband subs self-manage their WiFi DOCSIS devices from a Web-based interface.

When activated, that capability allows customers to change and recover passwords and SSIDs, and select individual WiFi channels, the company said, noting that it’s now an add-on to its Provisioning Suite and aims to reduce customer calls to MSOs.

Intraway is introducing the tool as cable operators expand the rollout of DOCSIS-powered gateways that build in WiFi and other home networking components. It’s also coming into view as MSOs such as Comcast and Cablevision Systems employ “homespots” that enable those routers to emit secondary SSID signals that can be accessed by other credentialed broadband customers.

"Password recovery is one of the most frequent requests that customer service representatives receive,” Patricio Latini, SVP of broadband communications at Intraway, said in a statement. “Currently, the majority of solutions allow users to change passwords, but do not remind them of a saved password. This represents an important setback for the user, who today has multiple devices connected to the local wireless network. With this new tool, we will help to improve the satisfaction of end-users, who will now have the possibility of recovering their passwords for their home networks by themselves.”

Intraway’s customers include Cablemas, Mediacom Communications, Cablevision of Mexico, and Cable Onda of Panama, among others.