COVID-19 Trends Challenge ISPs, Vendors Say; NCTA Says It Speeded Up Self-Install

Work- and learning-at-home trends emerging from the pandemic are straining broadband networks not equipped for the extra traffic and ISPs’ ability to support consumers’ swelling Wi-Fi management, cybersecurity and technical support needs, vendors said on panels Wednesday. ISPs contend they're weathering the novel coronavirus and have adapted as necessary. Some 90% of call center employees are now working at home, and the cable industry greatly accelerated self-installations by customers, NCTA CEO Michael Powell told C-SPAN's The Communicators. It has meant about "five to seven years worth of work accelerated into three months," he said. Reflecting on COVID-19 generally, Powell said on the interview now online and to have been televised this weekend that "it's a reminder that nature is extraordinarily bigger than we are" and it's "amoral." Customer care company Sweepr uses remote diagnostics, network knowledge and machine learning to solve technical problems, said CEO Alan Coleman on a Maravedis webinar. The increasing complexity of devices, protocols and services are making it more difficult for customers to navigate issues, resulting in more calls to support centers and “material costs to the bottom line” for ISPs, he said. Voice assistants could help, said Coleman, who believes Alexa and Google Assistant could become more prevalent in customer support than call centers. ISPs have evolved into "begrudgingly perhaps, the responsible party for Wi-Fi even though they don’t run the home network,” said Tyler Craig, vice president-business development at managed Wi-Fi and IoT security platform company Minim. He cited an opportunity for an ISP to become the operator of that environment: “Otherwise they risk getting cut out of the process entirely” and may have to rely on tools from other providers. An April Irdeto study said 97% of consumers in the U.S., U.K., France and Germany are concerned about cybersecurity, and 68-80% said they would be willing to pay for a security solution, said Ronald Peters, product manager-trusted home, on a Parks Associates webinar. Irdeto sees the average number of connected home devices reaching 100 in 2025, meaning more cybersecurity concerns, he noted.