Nokia announced it is adding a new Wi-Fi 6 Beacon to its whole-home WiFi portfolio, helping operators to deliver a powerful user experience. Providing a high-capacity, high-performance in-home solution, the new Beacon 6 uses Wi-Fi 6 to deliver 40 percent faster speeds than previous Wi-Fi generations.
To further enhance the in-home experience, Nokia is also adding low-latency technology built on Nokia Bell Labs innovations to its Wi-Fi portfolio. Drastically improving residential Wi-Fi networks, the Nokia Beacon 6 provides operators with an easy to install solution that can support low-latency applications such as gaming and gigabit speeds essential for creating a seamless end-to-end 5G experience.
Ben Wood, chief of research at CCS Insight said: “The benefits of 5G are going to change user experiences and customers’ expectations. The blend of the latest Wi-Fi 6 technology, low latency performance and in-home Wi-Fi mesh solutions linked to 5G will allow operators to deliver a seamless communications platform for next generation applications and solutions.”
Currently, more than 25 percent of homes globally are connected to a Wi-Fi network and there are about 5 billion Wi-Fi-connected devices in the home including home computing, smart TVs and smart home devices. To cope with this growth, operators and end-users are investing in devices that support Wi-Fi 6, a new Wi-Fi standard that improves speed by at least four times in dense areas and reduces latency by 75 percent1.
“Nokia’s new Beacon 6 will play a fundamental role in helping operators significantly enhance residential Wi-Fi and for the first time, deliver a true 5G experience across the network,” said Sandra Motley, President of Fixed Networks at Nokia. “By leveraging the power of Wi-Fi 6, Nokia’s new Beacon 6 can help establish a significantly faster and more powerful Wi-Fi network in the home that will forever change the game for operators and end-users alike. Whether it’s a home, work or public environment, the ability to seamlessly offload from mobile 5G to Wi-Fi 6 will enable operators to accelerate 5G rollouts, reduce costs and ultimately ensure a consistent, premium 5G end-users experience is achieved.”
“New Zealand already has some of the fastest internet connectivity in the world thanks to the strong customer uptake of the FTTH Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) program,” said JB Rousselot, Chorus New Zealand’s Chief Executive Officer. “We are building on this fantastic progress with the launch of our 10G GPON services under the product banner of HyperFibre and are excited about the role that WiFi6 will play in enhancing the customers experience. Lab testing of the Beacon 6 on our fiber network has demonstrated that we can take wireless speeds beyond a gig. This new technology provides a way for our fantastic fibre asset to play a meaningful part in New Zealanders 5G wireless experiences.”