Vodafone to deploy AI tool to measure UK broadband performance at the router

Broadband and mobile operator Vodafone has revealed that they’re deploying a new AI tool across “millions” of their Wi-Fi 7 capable broadband home hubs (routers) in Europe (this includes the UK), which will act as a sort of barometer to help them more accurately measure customers’ online experiences.

The tool from CUJO AI, which is software based on Quality of Outcome (QoO) technology, has been designed to convert network performance measurements such as latency (ping time), packet loss and connection throughput into a clear score for each application the customer may be using (e.g. video calls, cloud platforms, online games and streamed videos).

The goal is to better understand in real-time why a particular service may lag or glitch, even when the customers home broadband speeds remain unaffected. All sorts of issues from your local network setup to the ISP’s own CDN/routing/peering/DNS arrangements can often play a complex role in this. The focus is thus on the IP data packets carrying the application, not the connection speed.

Crucially, Vodafone says this “does not inspect the contents of a data packet or use any customer details” and instead assess an application’s performance using a simple score between 0% and 100%, helping the provider to identify general problems and to potentially make improvements.

All of this makes them the first provider to deploy this specific technology at scale in Europe on a live network.

Oscar Gallego, Director of Home Technology & Products at Vodafone, said:

“Delivering an excellent broadband experience requires us to look beyond headline speeds and understand how the network performs for the applications our customers use every day.

Working with CUJO AI, we are bringing Quality of Outcome to millions of Vodafone home broadband hubs connected to our pan-European network.”

So far Vodafone has already tested this with Low Latency DOCSIS technology in another country, but they’re now planning to roll out the new software across their wider European markets and networks. The announcement doesn’t mention it, but this could also be the start of other services from CUJO AI arriving on consumer broadband routers in the future.

For example, CUJO AI recently introduced another router-level service that can detect whether a specific device in a subscriber’s home network is being used as a residential proxy. Some proxy networks can be used by botnets and hackers (e.g. hijacked devices) to quietly resell home internet connections to third parties, routing anonymous traffic through real subscriber IP addresses, usually without the subscriber’s knowledge.

Previously a broadband ISPs could sometimes detect whether a customer’s connection had been compromised, but not which specific devices within their network might be the culprit. CUJO AI could change that and also offer device-specific remediation steps, as well as real-time alerts (for both the ISP and subscribers). But this has yet to deployed by any UK ISPs.