Why does broadband/home networking feel so different?

Something has come up in several conversations on QA Cafe 's Epik Mellon podcast lately that I've found difficult to describe until now. It circles around the fact that our industry - let's call it broadband and home/subscriber networking - feels fundamentally different from other networking tech industries (e.g., wholesale, core, enterprise, etc.). And in a moment of insight that's been slowly bubbling, I've finally been able to put a finger on why that is:

Unlike other networking technologies, Broadband/home networking evolved from the lens of the consumer.

Think about it. The original OTT service was dial-up Internet access. People didn't pay their local ILEC or CLEC for network access, they used a phone call to connect to America Online (AOL) or Prodigy (or... nostalgic sigh... Bulletin Board Services). Consumers did not originally associate Internet access with their service provider until broadband became a thing (and in the U.S., that started with cable).

And even when broadband started to become a thing, it was weird. You got a cable modem from your cable TV company and plugged it directly into your computer (and in the US, you often had to pay extra for more than one computer!). Home routers themselves started as a hack - a way around this restriction - and, as such, started as retail consumer electronics directly targeted at consumers.

Then came Wi-Fi.

Wi-Fi was experienced first as consumer electronics, too - and for today's subscriber, it IS the Internet.

The consumer's understanding of the home router evolved also through Wi-Fi, which is also markedly different in that it also evolved as a consumer-centric technology that was first understood as retail consumer electronics but, since the average user today doesn't differentiate between Wi-Fi and Internet, is increasingly seen as the responsibility of the broadband service provider. As has been discussed many times when talking about the future of "app-enabled service gateways," service providers are in a sort of "rock and a hard place" position when it comes to controlling the narrative of the end-user experience of their networking tech. The consumer doesn't want or need to understand who is responsible for what about their experience!

The consumer electronics and larger networking world are colliding - and service providers can seize this or just get blamed when things go bad.

As Brian Mecum put it recently in the Standards Roundtable at prpl Summit 2023: "This stuff needs to just work!"

It really does need to just work. This especially goes for the smart home, too, as almost every device we buy now can connect to Wi-Fi. We stand at a pivotal moment where service providers are increasingly engaging with a domain that has been long dominated by consumer priorities and expectations - and an entire other industry of very big names.

This shift presents both challenges and opportunities. Service providers have a challenge to remain relevant and to convey to consumers exactly what they are doing to give them a great user experience. That's why you see that the top value-added services in the near term are Wi-Fi management, speed tests, and cybersecurity (you can read more about that in the latest OMDIA report sponsored by the Broadband Forum).

But there's a fantastic opportunity available here for service providers who decide to take ownership of the home network and all of its possibilities. In my latest Epik Mellon episode with Gunther Klessinger of Axiros , he talks about the fact that the home gateway is special in that it is in a unique position of direct visibility to everything happening to the end-user's consumer electronics experience because it sees all of the traffic "from both sides" and is something the service provider has direct control and (now) ownership of.

That's why so many organizations, app developers, OEMs, and chipset vendors are imagining a world where the home router is not just a gateway to the internet but a robust application platform as familiar and intuitive as our smartphones, smart TVs, and laptops.

If we can redefine the home router in a way that resonates with consumers in this way, what new name could we give to this versatile device? How do we encapsulate its expanded capabilities in a term that is both accurate and accessible? Do consumers know the branding of "the Wi-Fi router" enough for it to stick in this new world?

It's cool because we are simultaneously users and producers of our tech.

One of the most fascinating aspects of working in this field is our dual role as creators and consumers. We don't just build, sell, and interact with this technology; we use it in our daily lives. This unique perspective humanizes the industry and drives us towards genuinely user-centric innovations, blending our professional expertise with our personal experiences.

And hell, that's why I love it!

Jason is the Director of Technical Marketing at QA Cafe and host of the Epik Mellon podcast. A protocol geek at heart, he's been involved with technologies like TR-069 since its inception and has spearheaded the creation of the User Services Platform (USP/TR-369) at the Broadband Forum. Jason has more than 20 years of computer networking experience, helping to develop internet and communications technology and translate it into value opportunities for organizations and the industry. Catch him at any event, and he’ll happily talk all things about networking and philosophy over a beer.