The broadband market is more competitive than ever. If price and speed alone are no longer enough to differentiate, then how do you attract and retain internet subscribers? Leading Service Providers seem to have found the answer: a focused effort to deliver the highest possible Quality of Experience (QoE).
While every customer touchpoint matters, the installation is arguably one of the most critical. First impressions last—and a high-quality WiFi install sets the stage for increased customer satisfaction and loyalty.
The cost of poor WiFi installations
In any organization, there will always be competing priorities across teams and stakeholders. However, WiFi installations are something that Service Providers can’t overlook as it directly impacts their bottom line.
After working with 150+ Service Providers over the years, we found that:
- 15% of subscriber churn happens within the first 90 days of install
- 31% of technical support calls are WiFi-related
- 5% of WiFi installs require a repeat tech visit
Costs with support calls, repeat technician visits and customer churn can quickly add up and hurt your profitability in the long run. On the other hand, optimizing WiFi installations can lead to operational cost savings and increased average revenue per user (ARPU) through mesh upsells.
WiFi installation challenges
Improving the quality of WiFi installs is easier said than done. Let’s use the People, Process, Technology framework to understand some of the common challenges facing today's Service Providers.
People: How do you objectively measure field technician performance? You need metrics to ensure accountability, drive efficiency and improve training programs.
Process: How do you implement best practices to drive high-quality WiFi installations? You need a mature process to standardize WiFi installs, mitigate risk and deliver high QoE.
Technology: How do you equip techs to quickly and accurately diagnose WiFi installation issues? You need a solution that helps them capture data and test both speed and whole-home coverage without slowing down their work.
Understanding these challenges and doing a self-assessment is a great starting point towards improving WiFi installation quality.
Finding the right solution
Most software tools or apps that claim to improve WiFi installations have two major issues - 1) They’re actually WiFi management platforms or 2) They don’t offer a way to objectively measure WiFi install quality.
Almost all WiFi management software requires specific firmware embedded on the router or gateway. As CPE fragmentation is quite common amongst a Service Provider's install base, these solutions can quickly turn into a logistical nightmare and overwhelm operational teams that need to log into different platforms or websites to support their entire customer base.
The second issue is that some "solutions" are really just a mix of different apps and diagnostic tools cobbled together. They lack a proven methodology or quantifiable metrics that enable Service Providers to proactively analyze their installation quality to improve their install processes.
Improving Quality of Install with RouteThis Certify
To address all these challenges, we’ve created RouteThis Certify, a platform that helps technicians optimize WiFi installs and gives operational leaders insights into quality data to continually improve process and field performance.
RouteThis Certify is CPE-agnostic and, instead of relying on firmware deployed to the router, it runs on an app—available for iOS and Android—on the technician’s phone. Within minutes, the application can scan the WiFi network, collect dozens of data points and deliver instructions to guide the installation.
Operational leaders have access to data via Quality of Install (QoI) Insights report, including KPIs for every technician and site visit. QoI is a leading metric introduced by RouteThis with 5 components to optimize residential WiFi installations:
- Measured vs plan speed - Ensure the speed delivered to the home aligns with the plan that the customer purchased.
- Benchmark on 5GHz - Speed tests to be conducted on the 5GHz band or higher, rather than the 2.4GHz band, to ensure optimal testing conditions.
- Test in all rooms - A measure of how well the home was tested when verifying coverage.
- Test on all floors - Guarantee that customers experience uninterrupted WiFi access on each level of their home.
- No issues left behind - If the tech discovers poor coverage in any room, they should do their best to resolve the issue before leaving.
RouteThis Certify is intuitive and easy to use. Field technicians start by loading the home’s footprint in the app. A quick scan determines the best location for the router and evaluates the need for any additional equipment to ensure ideal WiFi coverage in each room and on every floor of the home, generating an installation certificate at the end of the service visit.
Benefits of using RouteThis Certify
Let’s go back to People, Process, Technology to outline the key benefits of using RouteThis Certify.
People: Empower operational leaders with insights on technician performance. Managers can identify top and low performers, and streamline training to drive efficiency.
Process: Implement best practices to deliver high-quality installs and improve subscriber QoE. Certify helps technicians verify if the installation was done correctly and solve common WiFi network problems.
Technology: Capture, analyze and optimize QoI to deliver high-quality installations at scale. Certify allows technicians to test both speed and whole-home coverage with just a few taps on their phone.
Are you ready to impress your internet subscribers with a high-quality installation? If you want to learn more about RouteThis Certify or get a demo, click here to contact our team.