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As countries worldwide accelerate the deployment of fiber networks to homes, replacing traditional broadband solutions like DOCSIS, the importance of selecting the right fiber gateway vendor has never been more critical. With the advent of smart home technologies, increased remote work, and the booming IoT sector, the capacity to deliver robust, secure, and efficient fiber connectivity is a key differentiator for operators. In this dynamic context, what are the main criteria to consider when choosing a home gateway provider for your network?
Wi-Fi Standard
Today’s offerings range from Wi-Fi 4 to Wi-Fi 6E and soon Wi-Fi 7, but Wi-Fi 6, introduced in 2019, stands out. With another 3 billion compatible devices on the market projected by 2024 and affordable chipsets, Wi-Fi 6 comes with significant benefits: enhanced speed, reach, throughput, reduced interference in high-device areas, and the capacity to connect multiple devices simultaneously. This is especially crucial as homes become data-intensive environments, with devices like 4K TVs and cloud-connected everyday objects.
By opting for Wi-Fi 6 or later versions, operators can maximize fiber’s power, ensuring customer satisfaction by eliminating device incompatibility, buffering, connection interruptions, and long loading times.
OLT interoperability
The challenge of interoperability between Optical Line Terminals (OLTs) and CPEs is complex due to the lack of standardized certification for OMCI implementation and compatibility. However, interoperability is critical for seamless deployment and avoiding vendor lock-in.
When choosing a GPON gateway, seek near-full compatibility with existing OLT models. Vantiva’s extensive gateway testing process, conducted in three countries, achieved a 100% success rate in compatibility with OLT models, firmware, and patch versions. We rapidly adapt to vendor software changes, enabling operators to verify interoperability swiftly.
Home Coverage
Effective home coverage ensures that customers enjoy a quality connection throughout their home, without the need for additional routers or extenders. Poorly engineered entry-level products often suffer from weak signals and connection issues, giving extra work to your customer service and technical teams.
To avoid these, ensure your supplier has conducted real-life condition tests and can provide unequivocal coverage results. Vantiva’s rigorous evaluation in dual test houses in France and the USA guarantees optimized Wi-Fi coverage in every corner of the home.
Network Security
As fiber gateways become the epicenter of service delivery, they must incorporate high-level security to protect the diverse ecosystem, including broadband, wireless connectivity, entertainment, and IoT services.
Look for vendors with ISO 27001 certification, which indicates an effective information security management system. Vantiva’s security solutions range from a bootloader ensuring data integrity to a customizable firmware firewall, providing comprehensive protection against unauthorized remote access.
Additional services
Operators aim to offer clients more than just bandwidth and Wi-Fi capacity. They seek to include services like Home Automation, Security, Parental Control, Voice Command Services, and Video distribution.
The gateway’s software should facilitate the development of new apps, integration of third-party apps, or selection from pre-existing apps, all within a secure, evolving digital environment. Vantiva Homeware for FIBER gateways, based on OpenWrt open-source software and enriched by Vantiva, creates a scalable software stack adaptable to future innovations.
Connect with Vantiva
As the worldwide market leader in home gateways, Vantiva is the reference for gateway-related challenges. Whether you want to offer your customers a premium broadband experience, upgrade your gateways, or simply talk connectivity, we are happy to help. Contact-us!
