Earlier this week, the eighth largest cable company in the U.S., Atlantic Broadband, announced that it has become the latest MSO to launch a managed WiFi service based on a cloud-based technology developed by Plume, OpenSync.
Atlantic Broadband, which reported 492,212 broadband customers as of the end of September, is now offering these subscribers the managed WiFi service “WiFi Your Way.” Powered by Plume’s "HomePass" technology, the new service includes AI-driven optimization features, which adapt router settings to customer usage patterns to deliver better speed and performance over time. There are control and personalization features that let parents shut down and enable their kids’ devices from their iOS and Android smart phones.
There are also online security features, as well as home security enablements, such as motion detection.
The Atlantic Broadband announcement comes about 14 months after the No. 2 U.S. cable operator, Charter Communications, announced that it would deploy managed WiFi services based on Plume’s core technology, the open-sourced, cloud-based software OpenSync.
But Charter still hasn’t deployed the managed WiFi service, which it calls “Advanced In-Home WiFi,” to key market such as Los Angeles.
Also Read: Charter Promises 200 Mbps Base Speeds in 17 More Markets
Earlier this week, Charter published a self-produced Q&A with its top technology executive, Stephanie Mitchko-Beale, who said the cable operator is “in the process of launching” Advanced In-Home WiFi “throughout our footprint.”
The service, she said, will enable Charter’s more than 28.6 million home internet customers “control over their security and privacy by letting them see every device that’s connected to their network and how it’s being used.
“Throughout the year we plan to make Advanced WiFi available in more markets, and we continue to expand the availability to our own Spectrum-branded WiFi Pods to enable customers to maximize network connectivity throughout their home,” Mitchko-Beale added.
When asked which Charter markets have seen Advanced In-Home WiFi deployments, a Charter rep referred Multichannel News to the Mitchko-Beale statement.
Notably, top U.S. cable operator Comcast, an early inventor in Plume, has been offering managed WiFi services based on OpenSync to 30 million-plus broadband customers for several years.
For now, the limited penetration of managed WiFi doesn’t appear to be curtailing Charter’s overall proliferation of broadband services, with the cable operator adding 537,000 high-speed internet customers in the third quarter.
