Broadband Experience

A Focus on Quality of Experience

The speed of broadband connectivity has increased to a gigabit and beyond. Broadband coverage has exceeded 1 billion installations – over half of the homes on earth and a vast majority of homes in most developed countries. The combination of critical mass and connectivity has led service providers to start to focus on the quality of the broadband experience. A series of projects within Broadband Forum are now focused on the goal of quantifying, measuring, and delivering a better broadband experience.

Gavin Young, Head of Fixed Access at Vodafone and a BBF founder, shares his thoughts on the significance of reaching 1 billion TR-069 installations globally

Broadband QED (Quality Experience Delivered)

Led by Vodafone and Predictable Network Solutions (PNSol), this initiative brings together one of Broadband Forum’s oldest members with one of its newest to create “invisible” networks that will greatly enhance the quality of experience broadband networks provide.

Neil Davies (Predictable Network Solutions) and Magnus Olden (Domos), discuss the progress of the Broadband QED project - work that they are spearheading within the BBF to develop new industry testing standards to improve the broadband experience

Broadband World Forum 2019 Interop Pavilion: OutSys shares a QED Practical Implementation demonstration

The Role of Wi-Fi in Broadband Experience

TR-398 is the first standard that systematically and quantitatively evaluates home Wi-Fi device performance across six dimensions: receiver sensitivity, throughput, coverage, multi-user support, anti-interference, and stability. By defining Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), such as the Wi-Fi equivalent bandwidth (throughput), rate at different distances, and throughput for multiple online users, the standard helps telecom operators and end users select optimal Wi-Fi solutions.

The TR-398 standard describes the purpose, test scope, conditions, test cases, and standard thresholds for indoor home gateway Wi-Fi performance testing, helping telecom operators efficiently test indoor Wi-Fi performance, develop home networks and video services, and improve home broadband experience.

From its inception as a project within Broadband Forum, TR-398 has received extensive industry attention. More than 16 operators and equipment vendors have actively participated in and supported the drafting of the standard. Many operators around the world are known to be planning to use TR-398 as the Wi-Fi performance admission specification for home broadband customer-premises equipment (CPE).

To learn more about the TR-398 standard, visit here.

 

Driving Deployment of Intelligent Wi-Fi Mesh Networks

Broadband Forum and the prpl Foundation have announced a partnership to develop and open-source reference implementation of the Wi-Fi Alliance® Multi-AP Specification. The goal is to make is easier and faster for service providers and retail Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to develop Wi-Fi CERTIFIED EasyMesh™ products and to deliver intelligent, carrier grade, whole-home and small business coverage.

As consumers and businesses alike demand faster and higher-capacity Wi-Fi® throughout the entire home and office, mesh networks are growing in popularity to deliver uniform coverage to all corners of residential and commercial premises. The new reference implementation from Broadband Forum and the prpl Foundation will be based on the Wi-Fi Alliance Multi-AP Specification, which brings together multiple mesh routers to form a unified network that provides, smart, efficient Wi-Fi throughout home and businesses. An open-source effort, this ground-breaking initiative further accelerates time-to-market by providing a software foundation upon which service providers and OEMs can quickly and easily develop and deploy carrier grade mesh Wi-Fi systems which may be submitted for testing under the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED EasyMesh™ program.

For more information, link to this press release or visit: https://prplFoundation.org 

Broadband World Forum 2019 BASe Connected Home Workshop: Vodafone's Senior Strategy Manager Andrea Crepaldi discusses leveraging Broadband QED to deliver a breakthrough broadband experience