The rise of USP in Managed Wi-Fi and Mesh Wi-Fi

The rise of USP in Managed Wi-Fi and Mesh Wi-Fi

By Liam Clark, Connected Home Council member at the Broadband Forum

To try and prevent the need for a full UK-wide lockdown, the government has again asked office workers to stay home if they can. As a result, broadband network operators are seeing high levels of demand across the entire day. As home broadband has become an essential service, consumer expectations have also evolved.

With heightened use of connected devices due to the changing trends, the use of workplace collaboration tools such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams have increased dramatically and are allowing companies to adjust to the new normal. At the same time, social media an video calling services like FaceTime are allowing families to stay connected and video streaming services are providing some form of entertainment.

But the new normal is testing the limits of broadband capacity and consumers’ expectations have changed. From dropped connections, slower download speeds, and loss of video feeds, Quality of Experience (QoE) and Quality of Service (QoS) can be a challenge if everyone is wanting to use the Wi-Fi to its full potential at the same time. With the volume of inbound support calls to customer care teams related to technical issues occurring in the home Wi-Fi network on the rise, the pressure is on service providers to improve the home user experience, while reducing operational costs.

For operators, this means they need more advanced tools to troubleshoot problems remotely and Broadband Forum is actively preparing for tomorrow.

Changing demands

There are many drivers for better Wi-Fi including reduced interference, a consistent Mesh Wi-Fi experience, and increased visibility into customers’ Wi-Fi networks. There is a drive for open standards to collect the increased data usage as propriety standards don’t scale as effectively, and most operators have multiple vendors and multiple equipment models. Therefore, there was a demand for a single, consistent view. Many operators are utilizing Broadband Forum standards during this unprecedented time, and work on network performance measurement, monitoring, and management has become more important than ever. In addition, to adding Wi-Fi Certified Data Elements to TR-181, Broadband Forum has defined a standard set of KPIs to determine Wi-Fi network topology and health.

On consumer’s gateways, operators can run neighboring Wi-Fi diagnostic commands and can scan the local area to report back any interference and determine the Wi-Fi issues customers face. This will ensure operators can access information such as the supported standards, signal strength, channels and frequency bands. Being able to push this out to a device, especially if a consumer is reporting a problem can be really powerful to find the optimal environment especially in dense and urban locations. Following the collection of the data and this being bulk uploaded onto the cloud, operators can flexibly navigate around this to avoid truck-rolls, identify slower devices and coverage issues, change crowded channels and reduce call-in rates. Overall, there are also opportunities for additional revenue with upsell abilities to monetize these Mesh solutions. USP provides both end-users and service providers with the ability to view, manage, and troubleshoot connected devices for standards-based Wi-Fi optimization, improving the in-home network experience.

Standards the key

During the current climate, TR-369 / User Services Platform (USP) standards are proving crucial as they enable technicians to solve problems without entering the customer’s home. Not only this, but management has also turned a new corner with USP, with the ability for services such as Wi-Fi and EasyMesh to be handled by a separate server from the traditional ACS. USP is an easier way to access data and is more tolerable and robust. Wi-Fi Alliance standard EasyMesh utilizes 1905 messaging between Access Points and a single controller to coordinate the use of Wi-Fi bandwidth. USP implements efficiency via always-on communication, as well as binary data encoding using protocol buffers. This, significantly decreases the size of messages that are sent across the network enabling optimal scaling to many millions of devices.

Broadband Forum is working with prpl Foundation on an open source of EasyMesh. Broadband Forum is working on an interface to EasyMesh so open source can connect to USP and allow operators to control the user end point to easily extend and rapidly deploy networks. The joint collaboration between Broadband Forum and prpl Foundation is evolving how Broadband Forum’s User Services Platform (USP) can be used to enhance customer experience. The latest Open Broadband Multi Access Point (OB-MAP) project is designed to identify and specify extensions to the Wi-Fi Alliance multi-access protocol and data elements that will be useful to Internet Service Providers (ISPs). This will ensure service providers can easily deploy, activate and manage third-party service onto Wi-Fi routers.

With the ability of the open source USP-Agent, vendors can also more quickly deploy USP solutions with a code base that they can either integrate into their devices or use as a reference implementation. A necessary catalyst to adoption in today’s software development world, USP-Agent results in faster time-to-market for USP-based solutions and innovation. Furthermore, operators have the peace of mind that they won’t become locked into more costly and less flexible proprietary management solutions.

A vital lifeline

All in all, USP has continued to evolve both in regard to its capabilities and its potential for the industry. As an open standard for the industry, USP already has a proven track record and supports service providers looking to capitalize on the IoT market by enabling an open market without vendor lock-in.

Broadband access to the home is now a vital lifeline, so the ability for USP to immediately resolve technical Wi-Fi problems is greatly appreciated by customers and service providers alike. Especially in these difficult times, USP has never been more crucial.