Comcast launched on Monday Xfinity xFi, a new and personalized Wi-Fi experience that provides a simple digital dashboard for customers to set up their home Wi-Fi network, find their password, see what devices are connected, troubleshoot issues, set parental controls and even pause Wi-Fi access on their home network during dinner or bedtime. xFi gives customers unprecedented visibility and control over one of the most important technologies in their home.
The xFi experience can be controlled via a mobile app, website and on the TV with the X1 voice remote. To get started, customers need to visit the company website or download the xFi app for iOS and Android. xFi is currently available to the 10 million Xfinity Internet customers with a compatible Xfinity WiFi device – the xFi Wireless Gateway or the xFi Advanced Gateway – and comes at no extra cost.
“The adoption and use of connected devices has grown dramatically and Comcast has created a solution that makes it easy to control and manage them,” said Eric Schaefer, senior vice president of Internet and Communications Services for Comcast Cable. “xFi is a personalized home Wi-Fi experience that gives customers the fastest speeds, best coverage and ultimate control in their homes. And it’s a platform that will allow us to bring future innovations to our customers, address common pain points and vastly improve the way millions of people interact with their home Wi-Fi network.”
As part of the xFi launch, Comcast is renaming its most popular wireless gateway device. The xFi-enabled device that is in 10 million homes today will now be called the “xFi Wireless Gateway.” The company is also introducing a new “xFi Advanced Gateway” to customers on the fastest speed tiers. The xFi Advanced Gateway will be the primary device Comcast uses to provide one-gig speeds to customers – it is capable of delivering gigabit speeds over Wi-Fi and supports Xfinity Voice, home security and automation applications.
As the company upgrades more of its devices to support xFi, adds new customers and rolls out the xFi Advanced Gateway to more people, Comcast expects the number of xFi-ready homes to increase to about 15 million by the end of this year.
This year, 86 percent of in-home broadband use will travel over Wi-Fi, and by 2020 Americans will have an average of 50 Wi-Fi connected devices in their homes. With this high level of Wi-Fi usage and connected device ownership, xFi simplifies the home network experience and provides many consumer benefits, including instant setup; ability to manage on any device with easy-to-use apps, the web, and X1 voice remote; and delivers the ability to view and modify Wi-Fi names and passwords.
Xfinity xFi includes provisions for parental controls and bedtime schedules for any family member on the home Wi-Fi network; enables creation of personal profiles and assign devices to individual family members and monitor who is most active on the home network and when; and receive alerts when new devices join the home network; instantly pause Wi-Fi access on home network, by device or user. It also helps identify devices that are not working properly and receive tips to fix them; adopt cloud management to see and control your home Wi-Fi network from anywhere, and provide an initial line of defense against phishing and malware.
Later this year, Comcast will launch no-configuration, adaptive xFi pods that can be paired with either the xFi Wireless Gateway or the xFi Advanced Gateway, which will help customers extend their Wi-Fi coverage to even the most remote areas of their homes. The company has made an investment in Plume, developer of distributed Wi-Fi software and systems, and is working with them to combine the technologies of Plume and xFi into a unified experience that improves throughput and consistency to individual devices and provides even easier and more seamless whole-home Wi-Fi coverage.
Comcast is the nation’s largest internet provider and offers one of the nation’s fastest in-home Wi-Fi experiences. The company’s Wi-Fi network has more than 16 million hotspots spread across U.S. homes, businesses and outdoor locations.
