Home WiFi has become an indispensable part of our lives and it has come a long way. From a basic routing service that was used to link a couple of computers and phones to the Internet, it is now used to power rich entertainment services, manage in-house facilities, automate home maintenance, monitor security and keep tabs on occupants’ health and safety.
WiFi is essentially the last mile in the delivery of home broadband service, and is often the ‘make or break’ component in any connectivity equation. Issues in the WiFi layer, whether it is poor signal strength or a router error or a device misconfiguration, are taken to reflect the quality of the overall broadband network. This puts the onus on communication service providers (CSPs) to ensure that a home WiFi service is powerful and highly reliable, justifying heavy investments made in access networks such as fiber and 5G.
Making the most of WiFi mesh technology
Helping CSPs ensure robust in-home connectivity is Nokia’s advanced WiFi mesh technology which delivers unparalleled home-wide coverage based on WiFi 6, and which comes with self-optimizing and self-healing capabilities. It is built based on Wi-Fi Alliance’s EasyMesh™ which sets out thespecifications for multi-access point networking.
Nokia’s WiFi mesh technology is incorporated in the Nokia WiFi portfolio of broadband products, comprising Nokia fiber optical network terminals (ONTs), Nokia fixed wireless access gateways (FWA) gateways and Nokia WiFi beacons. Nokia fiber ONTs bridge the home WiFi network with fixed access networks such as GPON or XGS-PON. Nokia FastMile 5G Gateway series are self-contained FWA gateways that use MIMO and carrier aggregation to power homes and businesses with 5G-powered WiFi connectivity. WiFi beacons in the meantime, help expand WiFi connectivity to the whole house.
Nokia FastMile Gateway
Nokia WiFi Beacon 2
Nokia ONTs, FWA gateways and beacons can be installed by end users, and configured using a mobile app. This helps CSPs cut down on truck rolls and installation costs. The mobile app can for example be used to identify the best locations for a Wi-Fi beacon, and allows added features such as device security and parental controls to be turned on as needed. The Nokia WiFi mobile app comes with co-branding opportunities (including white labelling and APIs for CSP developed apps) which allow CSPs to cross-sell their services and increase brand engagement. Additionally the FWA gateways and beacons come in different device versions, providing users a solution that is best suited to their coverage, capacity and functional needs.
Nokia WiFi App
Equipped with real-time monitoring and flexible configurations, Nokia WiFi products put greater control in the hands of the user, allowing them to adjust the home WiFi network in line with their needs. Nokia WiFi products are also built to support the automated management of WiFi networks. Combining EasyMesh™ with various algorithms, Nokia’s advanced WiFi mesh allows continuous scanning of the network for performance issues based on predefined network indicators. The assessment is then used to trigger automated optimization of the network, including the optimization of the network backhaul, involving measures such as band and clientsteering, seamless handover and intelligent channel selection.
Powered by the cloud
Expanding network optimization beyond localized points, the Nokia WiFi Cloud Controller (NWCC), allows CSPs to augment network intelligence by leveraging the cloud. By incorporating a wider view of the WiFi environment and monitoring this at frequent intervals, the NWCC allows an added layer of algorithm-based optimization that comprises channel management, transmit power control and client steering. This allows proactive fine-tuning of the network based on real-time conditions, which greatly enhances network efficiency and cuts down network costs.
The NWCC also allows CSPs to better understand and diagnose WiFi performance issues as network metrics are readily available across different locations within the home. With this data, the NWCC allows CSPs to perform advanced troubleshooting and expedite the diagnoses and resolution of issues, greatly enhancing user experience.
Augmenting WiFi revenues with containerized applications
Built on a containerized platform, Nokia WiFi products allow the seamless incorporation of new applications on standardized infrastructure, leveraging the commonly used TR-069 and TR-369 protocols for the applications’ lifecycle management. This opens up a plethora of new opportunities for operators who can partner with various third parties to offer value added services to their broadband customers. There are already a number of players who have joined the Nokia community of third-party developers, offering a range of applications that CSPs can take advantage of. These include F-Secure for cybersecurity, Broadpeak for multicast-ABR video delivery, Cognitive Systems for Wi-Fi motion sensing, Gamebench for performance monitoring, Domos for performance optimization, Ookla for speed test, and NTOP for traffic analysis. Nokia’s community of developers will help CSPs to tap into a rich ecosystem that enables them to offer applications suited to their own markets and customer lifestyles, paving the way for new revenue streams on top of their existing services.
As we transition into the future, our homes will become increasingly intelligent, run by hundreds of rich interconnected applications that continuously shape the experiences of the occupants. To ensure the needed speed and capacity reaches every corner, every user and every device, CSPs can leverage the Nokia WiFi portfolio to build highly-optimized, responsive WiFi networks capable of powering in-home data needs of today and tomorrow.
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To learn more:
- Explore Nokia In-home Connectivity Solutions
