Summary
Consumers value home Wi-Fi more than ever and 80% would prefer in-home Wi-Fi gear be provided as a service by their broadband operator rather than purchased through retail
39% of respondents said they were reimbursed by their employer for new Wi-Fi gear they purchased and 32% had their broadband subscription subsidized by their employer
71% of consumers expect to continue working from home post-pandemic and a majority would consider upgrading to a faster tier of Internet service if bundled with whole-home Smart Wi-Fi
More than 33 million homes are now managed by Airties Cloud globally with an average of 19.6 connected devices per home
ISTANBUL – September 2, 2021 – With the rise in remote working and learning, 58% of respondents across the U.S., U.K. and Germany said they encountered more home Wi-Fi issues than before the COVID-19 pandemic, and a remarkable 55% said they had daily issues with their home Wi-Fi, according to a recent survey* commissioned by Airties, the most widely deployed supplier of managed Wi-Fi solutions to service providers globally. Consumers also strongly prefer their broadband operator take the lead in ensuring a quality Wi-Fi experience, with 80% saying they would rather their broadband subscription included home Wi-Fi networking gear instead of purchasing it themselves through retail.
The survey of 1,525 respondents across the U.S., U.K and Germany, who either had to work or learn from home over the past year, illustrates how the COVID-19 pandemic has permanently changed consumers’ expectations for home Wi-Fi. Unsurprisingly, 90% of people said they are using their home Wi-Fi more now than ever, with, at the top end of the scale, almost half of Americans (48%) using their Wi-Fi for an additional 7-10+ hours per day, compared to 21% of Germans and 36% of Brits. As people sought out quieter places to work or study, the survey found that 65% were using Wi-Fi in unusual places in their homes, such as garages, attics, and patios. This correlates with the 56% who said they have areas in their home where Wi-Fi does not work well, and demonstrates a significant market need for whole-home Wi-Fi solutions.
“During this unprecedented time, people have come to rely on and value their home Wi-Fi more than ever,” said Philippe Alcaras, CEO of Airties. “We have crossed an inflection point where home Wi-Fi is as vital as electricity for sustaining our way of life –keeping us productive, informed, entertained, and connected. Even as many countries begin opening more, reliance on home Wi-Fi has forever changed. Trends like the ‘enterprisation’ of the home, remote learning and telemedicine are here to stay, and with that comes significant opportunities and challenges for broadband operators around the globe.”
Implications for Broadband Operators
According to the survey, 85% of respondents said they value or rely upon their home Wi-Fi more now than before the pandemic, and an encouraging 75% overall indicated that their broadband operator responded well during the pandemic. Nonetheless, 63% said they called to complain about their Wi-Fi and 27% of those respondents said their broadband operator had to organize a technician visit to their home. Of those who did not call to complain, more than a quarter were “silent sufferers” who said they would have liked to call their broadband operator to help fix their Wi-Fi issues but did not because of the time and effort it would require. A disconcerting 49% of respondents said they considered switching broadband operators due to Wi-Fi issues during the pandemic.
Despite these troubling indicators, there were several positive findings for broadband operators. In addition to the 80% preference for broadband operators to include home Wi-Fi gear as part of their broadband service, 58% of consumers said they would consider upgrading to a faster tier of Internet service if their broadband operator offered a premium Wi-Fi system that guaranteed both faster and consistent Wi-Fi in every room of their home. Of those who would consider upgrading, 70% said they would be willing to pay at least $5/€5/£5 extra for faster and consistent Wi-Fi in every room of their home. Notably, 86% expect the fastest Internet package to come equipped with a whole-home Wi-Fi system that would guarantee coverage in every room.
Another key finding could inform new Smart Wi-Fi business models for broadband operators aimed at employers. 39% of respondents said they were reimbursed by their employer for new Wi-Fi gear they purchased during the pandemic, and 32% of respondents said their broadband subscription was subsidized by their employer. There is also a high level of interest for additional services, such as advanced security. Of those not already paying for it, 36% would be willing to pay extra for advanced security, and the remaining 64% expect it to be included as part of their broadband package.
All these details and more, including the geographical breakdown and additional indicators on device and app usage are available from Airties in this report.
New Airties Cloud Usage Statistics
In addition to the survey results, Airties also disclosed today that it now actively manages more than 33 million homes globally through the Airties Cloud platform. Airties Cloud orchestrates Wi-Fi across millions of homes, optimizing operator gateways and extenders in real time to ensure a better quality of experience for consumers. Airties Cloud provides insights on the millions of users and their connected devices. It also allows operators to address the evolving needs of consumers, such as cyber security, through a suite of digital services.
On a daily basis, Airties Cloud now supports more than 646 million actively connected devices, and cumulatively, in excess of 1.2 billion unique devices have been managed by Airties Cloud. Currently, there are an average of 19.6 connected devices per home. The mix of devices across homes is notable, with, on average for Wi-Fi connected devices; 16% are Wi-Fi 6 (11ax); 44% are Wi-Fi 5 (11ac); 39% are Wi-Fi 4 (11n); and 1% are older legacy devices (11g or earlier). This split shows how rapidly the new generation of Wi-Fi is penetrating the installed base while co-existing with legacy devices. This complexity requires a fully managed solution and deep expertise to ensure optimal performance for all devices and applications, such as Airties provides to operators today.
More information about Airties can be found at: www.airties.com.
* Survey on Wi-Fi during COVID-19 pandemic from 1,575 respondents across the U.S. (525), UK (525) and Germany (525), who either worked or studied from home, commissioned by Airties in Q2 2021, and conducted by Qualtrics.
About Airties
Airties is the most widely deployed provider of managed Wi-Fi solutions to operators around the globe. Airties Smart Wi-Fi portfolio includes Airties Edge, smart Wi-Fi software for gateways; Airties Cloud, a cloud-based management platform and its companion app, Airties Vision; and Wi-Fi mesh extenders. Operators turn to Airties for the design, implementation, and ongoing optimization of their customers’ broadband experience. Some of Airties’ customers include Altice USA, AT&T, Singtel, Sky, Telia, Telstra, Vodafone, and many others. More information is available at www.Airties.com.
Press Contacts for Airties
- Jeremy Pemble or Renee Burch, JLM Partners for Airties
- Tel: +1-206-930-7998
- Email: JLM_Airties_PR@jlmpartners.com
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Summary
Former Liberty Global executive to oversee global go-to-market strategy
ISTANBUL – July 8, 2021 – Airties, the most widely deployed supplier of managed Wi-Fi solutions to service providers globally, today announced that it has appointed Nicolas Fortineau as Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer.
“We are very proud to have Nicolas Fortineau join our senior leadership team,” said Philippe Alcaras, CEO of Airties. “Our mission is to empower service providers to deliver the best managed Wi-Fi experience for their customers, and Nicolas’ unique expertise will help us further deliver on that commitment. He brings a global operator’s perspective, extensive knowledge on the evolution of the connected home, and the ability to articulate a customer-centric vision. We look forward to what he will bring to our team, customers, and partners.”
Connectivity is an essential part of daily life, and I am excited to join a company that is so relentlessly dedicated to helping operators improve the way people connect, work, play, and learn.
Nicolas Fortineau, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Airties
“Connectivity is an essential part of daily life, and I am excited to join a company that is so relentlessly dedicated to helping operators improve the way people connect, work, play, and learn,” said Nicolas Fortineau, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Airties. “We are living through a profound transformation of users’ connectivity behaviours. It offers broadband operators a unique opportunity to satisfy those with a best-in-class user experience fuelled by innovation. Airties has always been recognized as the gold standard for operators seeking the best possible connectivity experience, and I am excited about playing my part to help continue and enhance that legacy of success and innovation.”
Mr. Fortineau will oversee Airties’ global marketing efforts including product marketing vision and go-to-market strategy. Prior to joining Airties, he spent more than a decade at Liberty Global, most recently serving as Product Director of Connectivity Platforms, where he oversaw their product development efforts for in-home connectivity across seven countries for both residential and SoHo customers. In this role, he led development efforts across networks, CPE, cloud services and data insights – leveraging the best of technology such as Wi-Fi, 5G, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence to help improve the lives of consumers. Mr. Fortineau previously served as head of product development for Liberty Global’s Wi-Fi product portfolio and ran operations throughout Europe, Asia, the U.S. and Africa during his career. He will report to Philippe Alcaras.
Airties’ technologies have been deployed by dozens of leading service providers across 4 different continents, and Airties Cloud actively manages more than 25 million homes. Airties was named the 2020 “Best Home Wi-Fi Solution” as part of the prestigious Broadband World Forum Awards. More information about Airties can be found at: www.airties.com.
About Airties
Airties is the most widely deployed provider of managed Wi-Fi solutions to operators around the globe. Airties Smart Wi-Fi portfolio includes Airties Edge, smart Wi-Fi software for gateways; Airties Cloud, a cloud-based management platform and its companion app, Airties Vision; and Wi-Fi mesh extenders. Operators turn to Airties for the design, implementation, and ongoing optimization of their customers’ broadband experience. Some of Airties’ customers include Altice USA, AT&T, Singtel, Sky, Telia, Telstra, Vodafone, and many others. More information is available at www.Airties.com.
Press Contacts for Airties
- Jeremy Pemble or Renee Burch, JLM Partners for Airties
- Tel: +1-206-930-7998
- Email: JLM_Airties_PR@jlmpartners.com
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Cognitive Systems Corp. announced an integration with Airties to offer its patented Wi-Fi Motion technology across Airties’ portfolio of Wi-Fi 6 solutions.
Cognitive Systems and Airties share a commitment to staying ahead of the market, both by being active members of the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) and closely following emerging trends. In addition to the current home monitoring capabilities, WiFi Motion’s highly anticipated eldercare solution will bring peace of mind to caregivers by providing discreet wellness monitoring without the need for cameras or wearable devices. The market for remote wellness monitoring products is growing rapidly. Soon customers will be able to receive notifications and gain valuable insights into not only their homes but also the homes of loved ones.
Service providers are looking for new ways to differentiate from competitors and retain customers. Our priority is providing smart WiFi solutions that offer value beyond connectivity. Like us, Airties aims to shape the next generation of wireless solutions and see the possibilities for motion sensing, from smarter home monitoring to a higher standard of eldercare. We’re doing the legwork with their Wi-Fi 6 portfolio to get WiFi Motion ready for some forward-thinking Airties service providers who want to offer these benefits to their customers as soon as possible.
Taj Manku, Co-Founder and CEO of Cognitive Systems
As a pioneer and leader in Wi-Fi sensing, we are pleased to be working with Cognitive Systems on new Wi-Fi 6 solutions. Cognitive’s product roadmap has a realistic game plan for both implementation and longevity. The integration of WiFi Motion and Airties can enable service providers to offer innovative value-add Wi-Fi services to their customers.
Metin Taskin, Co-Founder and CTO of Airties
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Introduction
Wi-Fi 6, the latest generation of Wi-Fi connectivity, can offer a first to market advantage for early adopter service providers. Designed to maximize efficiency in response to the massive number of connected devices in use today, it can bring a significant improvement in crowded networks and deliver the throughput and user experience that broadband customers demand. However, as connected homes represent a mix of legacy and new devices, managing this reality is one of the greatest challenges service providers may face to fully harness the benefits of this technology.
Managing complexity in connected homes
There are 20 billion Wi-Fi enabled devices in the world today. Wi-Fi technologies are progressing with new standards being adopted to support evolving uses and consumer expectations. However, it typically takes anywhere up to 5-6 years for a new Wi-Fi standard to penetrate even 50% of the installed base, because the installed base is so big.
Penetration for Wi-Fi 6 devices reached about 12% in our deployments in the 15 months¹ since the standard launched. In fact, we are still seeing 47% of devices are Wi-Fi 5 and 40% are using Wi-Fi 4¹! Wi-Fi 4 is 15 years old and yet it still represents 40% of the installed base¹. As a result, we not only have a growing number of the latest Wi-Fi 6 client devices connected to Wi-Fi 6 access points but we also observe a greater range of different generations of devices that are simultaneously in use.
In the current environment, Wi-Fi 6 devices must share the same 5 GHz band with all the other Wi-Fi devices. Client devices are not only getting smarter, but they are also very selfish. They would like to connect to the fastest available radio in the network, not considering the overall impact on the network performance. So, when very old and slow Wi-Fi devices connect to your latest Wi-Fi 6 radio, sucking all the available “airtime”, it may bring the entire network performance down.
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning – traffic control in the home
Each network and topology are unique and may require custom optimizations to provide the best experience. And that’s where see AI and machine learning come into play; to provide some kind of “traffic control” that ensures the best bandwidth for the devices and applications in each network. It can detect the types and capabilities of each device and application to come up with custom Wi-Fi settings for each home network. Operators need a cloud-based mechanism to optimize the performance of both the new Wi-Fi 6 and the much larger pool of legacy devices which will co-exist for many years to come.
Airties Cloud optimization effect
Wi-Fi 6 brings amazing capabilities, but they need to be managed. Airties builds on its wireless expertise to make the best use of the building blocks of Wi-Fi 6, through Cloud and Edge software optimization. Result? Self-optimizing network that learns the best possible home network configuration through analysis of usage pattern and device characteristics to ensure full benefit of Wi-Fi 6 for the latest compatible devices. Learn more about Airties Cloud here.
Article by:
Oz Yildirim,
EVP and GM Americas Business Unit
Sources:
[1] Dec 2020 Airties data – based on actual usage across more than 25 million households worldwide
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