ISP TalkTalk Upgrade Optimises Wi-Fi for its UK Broadband Routers

Low cost ISP TalkTalk has completed the deployment of ASSIA’s CloudCheck software to their Wi-Fi Hub (Sagemcom F@st 5364) broadband router, which they claim can “proactively” improve the wireless (WiFi) performance of the device through “contextual analytics” and “machine-learning algorithms“.

The new router firmware essentially appears to take a similar approach to Virgin Media’s recent “Intelligent WiFi” upgrade for their own Hub 3.0 kit (here), which similarly provided real-time monitoring and optimization of the home WiFi network.

According to the spin, TalkTalk’s CloudCheck upgrade – once installed on the Wi-Fi Hub via new firmware (updates like this are done automatically by the ISP) – “utilizes cloud-based machine learning and analytics to evaluate historical and real-time conditions of the Wi-Fi environments to makes automatic, contextual- based optimizations that are ideal for each node on the network.” Okey dokey.

On top of that TalkTalk are also making use of the related TruSpeed service, which we covered in more detail last year (here). This is designed to measure your broadband speed from the router (much more accurate than doing a speedtest over WiFi) and will help the ISP to meet Ofcom’s new Broadband Speed Code (here).

Phil Haslam, Chief Network Officer at TalkTalk, said:

“In-home Wi-Fi performance is increasingly becoming the primary factor in how a residential customer perceives the quality of service provided by their internet service provider.

Coupled with advances we have made in recent years analyzing network telemetry data to improve broadband connectivity performance, the ASSIA solution gives us the additional data and visibility we need to understand the various patterns that can affect in-home Wi-Fi performance—and the management and optimization tools to deliver the best experience for our customers.”

The press release doesn’t mentioned it specifically, but ASSIA’s CloudCheck platform is usually accompanied by a Smartphone app that is says “turns subscribers and field technicians into Wi-Fi experts.” We’re checking to see if TalkTalk will also be offering this to their broadband customers and will report back.

Features of the CloudCheck App

* SpeedTest: Measures the end-to-end broadband and Wi-Fi throughput simultaneously to identify performance bottlenecks.

* SweetSpots®: Continuously measures Wi-Fi throughput to identify coverage dead spots and create home surveys to assist with the installation. SweetSpots® is available in the CloudCheck Mobile App or can be downloaded as a standalone app.

* Smartifi®: Provides a full network view when the agent is present and enables the user to take actions and view recommendations that would help resolve existing issues.

* Remote Management: Provides access to the Smartifi view and functionalities from anywhere once the proper authentication is established by the user. This helps users manage their networks remotely and field techs conclude work orders and generate birth certificates.

On top of that we note the “scoring and data mining capabilities” of the CloudCheck platform will be released for TalkTalk to use in June 2019, which will apparently enhance their Customer Service Dashboard by making it easier for support agents to identify issues and solutions to poor connectivity. We’ve also found a page with more details on CloudCheck, although it’s a tedious read of jargon and marketing.

UPDATE 3:56pm

TalkTalk informs that they will not be offering the supporting Smartphone app to their customers, probably because it might get a bit confusing with all the other apps around.

UPDATE 5:06pm

Apparently the new software was introduced to the Wi-Fi Hub as part of firmware version SG4K10001E00t.