By Claus Hetting, Wi-Fi NOW CEO & Chairman
We’ve been away for a little while but of course in the meantime, the world of Wi-Fi keeps evolving. Here’s what we think are the most important Wi-Fi stories from the past ten days – enjoy.
CenturyLink taps Intel for Wi-Fi 6 home gateway
This week Lousiana USA-based ISP CenturyLink joined the thus far fairly short list of ISPs offering Wi-Fi 6-capable gateways to home broadband subscribers. The company has teamed up with Wi-Fi chipset provider Intel to deliver – according to the press release here – “three times faster streaming on all home devices” using Intel’s Wi-Fi 6 Gig+ technology.
The company says it is “leading the transition to Wi-Fi 6” and will meet the connectivity needs of the future leading up to more than 13 Wi-Fi connected devices per person by 2022. Among Wi-Fi 6 features and enhancements are up to 75% lower latency, embedded security for all devices, managed network services, and parental controls, the company says.
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CenturyLink has thus far not released photos of the new gateway device. The device will be made available to consumers in early 2020, the company says. To our knowledge the only other major US ISP with a confirmed Wi-Fi 6 gateway product at this time is Verizon Fios. Reliable sources cite the number of Wi-Fi 6 capable smartphones at this time as ten while Intel says hundreds new PC models will be equipped with Wi-Fi 6 capabilities by end of this year.
Origin Wireless claims Wi-Fi sensing first for meshed routers
Origin Wireless – a Wi-Fi sensing and monitoring technology startup based in Maryland, USA and frequent participant at Wi-Fi NOW events – on December 11 released its Origin Home sensing and monitoring solution for meshed Wi-Fi networks. Origin says this is the first such sensing solution generally available for meshed Wi-Fi router systems.
“With a simple over-the-air software update, an existing mesh WiFi network is turned instantly into an intelligent home monitoring network,” Origin Wireless says in their press release here. The company also says the solution opens “the door to countless IoT applications, including home security, home automation, smart lighting, HVAC control, and smart energy management.”
Earlier this year Origin Wireless landed a significant deal with Linksys for Linksys Aware, a subscription-based Wi-Fi motion sensing service available on the Linksys Velop mesh Wi-Fi platform. Origin says it plans to release its Origin Health service during first half of 2020 to address a growing need for sleep and fall detection, among other functions.
Xfinity Communities launches ‘WiFi Ready’ for multi-family residences
Comcast’s Xfinity Communities division for multi-family housing and campus Wi-Fi solutions has launched what they call their ‘WiFi Ready’ service allowing property owners to pre-install Xfinity Wi-Fi routers into multi-family residential units. The idea is that new residents can purchase and activate access to connectivity and content immediately instead of having to order and wait for equipment and installation, Comcast says in their press release here.
“Properties with WiFi Ready stand out from the competition by eliminating wait times to establish a connection and enabling near-instant access to entertainment solutions from streaming music and video to online gaming,” Comcast says.
/Claus.
