Fremont, California, 23 September 2021 – Broadband Forum today announced Altice Labs and Calix as the first two vendors to be listed as part of its newly launched BBF.398 Grade Wi-Fi Program. Service providers and device manufacturers will be able to reduce the number of customer complaints they receive about poorly performing devices thanks to the latest performance test plan released by Broadband Forum.
Issue 2 of TR-398 can seamlessly validate the devices used in broadband deployments and optimize their performance while addressing and identifying potential operational issues before the devices are introduced to the field. It also updates a number of performance test cases and adds additional test cases for mesh and Wi-Fi roaming between Access Points (APs), and for the recently published IEEE Standard 802.11ax™-2021.
“Issue 2 builds on the foundations laid by TR-398 – the industry’s first open Wi-Fi performance testing program – in allowing operators to efficiently test Wi-Fi performance, capacity, coverage and stability. The performance test plan measures an Access Point’s performance against the growing expectations of service providers to make sure devices used in their deployments are meeting customer needs and expectations,” said Lincoln Lavoie, University of New Hampshire InterOperability Principal Engineer and Broadband Forum Technical Chair.
Lavoie added: “Operators around the world continue to use TR-398 as the Wi-Fi performance admission specification for broadband Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) products into their networks. It is vitally important that test labs, vendors and service providers continue to come together to meet subscriber Wi-Fi demands and elevate the overall customer experience.”
Receiver sensitivity, throughput, coverage, multi-user support, anti-interference, and stability are quantitatively evaluated in TR-398 and due to the defined Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), the standard helps operators select optimal Wi-Fi solutions. These tests will also provide a clearer overview for service providers regarding the overall performance of devices used to build their products and services.