AIS Fibre is first to deploy Nokia’s in-home meshed Wi-Fi solution

Thailand’s AIS Fibre has become the first network operator globally to commercially launch services based on Nokia’s in-home meshed Wi-Fi solution.  The fixed line broadband operator will offer customers Nokia CPE designed to provide a seamless Wi-Fi broadband experience across every corner of the home.  IEEE Techblog covered whole-home Wi-Fi service in this blog post.

AIS Fibre customers in Thailand will be eligible to receive the Nokia WiFi Beacon 3 duo-pack for a special price which, once installed, should establish a whole-home meshed Wi-Fi network that significantly enhances ultra-broadband coverage and performance.

Many homes suffer from poor Wi-Fi performance. Speeds and reliability can be impacted by the number of connected devices and by interference from appliances like microwaves or Wi-Fi networks from neighbours. In addition, coverage is often inadequate due to dead zones from indoor walls. Solving these issues can be difficult, often requiring several access points to be installed.

Nokia’s meshed Wi-Fi solution is designed to address common issues impacting Wi-Fi performance in the home, such as interference from household appliances or neighboring Wi-Fi networks, as well as dead zones from indoor walls.  It automatically connects to the strongest channel to provide the best possible performance. The beacons also include embedded software and analytic functions to automatically self-heal and optimize Wi-Fi networks.

“In speaking with service providers from all over the world it’s clear that Wi-Fi is a major challenge because, most don’t provide or manage the Wi-Fi network in the home that customers rely on for broadband access,” Diffraction Analysts chief research officer Benoit Felten said.  “To deliver a great end-to-end service, operators need to ensure a consistent broadband experience can be achieved in the home and Nokia is helping make that happen,”  Felton added.

AIS Fibre customers with a true meshed Wi-Fi experience that is easy to install and delivers the whole-home coverage and performance needed to support ultra-broadband services.

Under the agreement, AIS will offer the beacons to customers at a special price. The solution is designed to be set up in minutes and generate a heat map to help users identify and manage dead zones.

Nokia says their product “enhances in-home Wi-Fi solution for service providers to provide a faster, better, smarter network experience:”

  • Expanded portfolio of Nokia residential devices and gateways now support intelligent mesh Wi-Fi capabilities
  • New software and analytics provide self-healing, self-learning, self-care functions that optimize Wi-Fi networks and maximize performance
  • Nokia enables service providers and users to quickly identify and resolve Wi-Fi network issues with new online portal and mobile application

References:

https://networks.nokia.com/solutions/nokia-wifi/the-solution

https://www.telecomasia.net/content/ais-fibre-launches-nokias-meshed-wi-fi-solution

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/Corporate/30359542

https://techblog.comsoc.org/2018/11/07/consumers-want-whole-home-wi-fi-service-from-isps/