Despite my title, of course speed is a major factor in the quality of the in-home Wi-Fi experience. The ultimate expectation of an end user is fast, reliable, seamless Wi-Fi. As you already know though, that value proposition isn’t easily delivered.
But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a real opportunity.
ISPs are moving beyond speed to whole-home Wi-Fi.
In a recent article, Light Reading’s Jeff Baumgartner suggested operators should be embracing the business opportunity that is available as a result of the increased demand for in-home Wi-Fi.
“Adding a premium whole-home Wi-Fi service to the mix enables cable operators to extend a lucrative business of leasing access to consumer premises equipment while also enhancing their presence in the broadband customer’s home.”
Baumgartner adds, “Owning the home Wi-Fi network — or at least having deeper visibility into the Wi-Fi network and providing systems that can understand changing traffic conditions and steer tablets, PCs and other devices to the optimal band or channel — could also prove to be a major operational benefit to cable operators and other ISPs. Since consumers tend to call the ISP whenever Wi-Fi related troubles arise, having this additional management layer is helpful in troubleshooting problems and reducing the need for costly truck rolls.”
The opportunity to differentiate your customer’s in-home Wi-Fi starts with day one, and it isn’t simply a matter of the creating a good first impression. Whether it is the proliferation of devices, physical density of the environment, chipset quality or devices from neighbouring residences creating interference, ‘first-time right’ installation is crucial.
Some operators we have worked with confirm that up to 40% of technical-related churn is Wi-Fi related, as are 60% of support calls. What’s more is that many acknowledge (and this report confirms) that poor access point placement is the No. 1 cause of Wi-Fi related service calls.
If these three reasons aren’t enough to reinforce the value of installation and assurance, consider that residential subscribers are now tackling Wi-Fi problems using third-party hardware purchased in retail stores. If that fails to fix their Wi-Fi issues, the blame inevitable circles back to service providers, resulting in even more service calls, churn and expense.
What I hear from service providers is, ‘Tell me where the problems are. Tell me how pervasive they are. Tell me how to resolve them.’
This approach does just that. First, enabling field technicians with the right toolsets, data and workflows. Then, integrating that data with assurance software and tools to continually optimize the in-home Wi-Fi environment.
Service providers can differentiate Wi-Fi offerings beyond a Mbps speed rating, to own the whole-home Wi-Fi experience. Using this proven approach to achieve ‘first-time right’ installation, it is possible to improve Wi-Fi QoE and Net Promoter Scores.
In the world of Wi-Fi, speed matters but reliability stands out in a crowd.