Kineto Wireless | Technology | Marketing Smart Wi-Fi

Marketing Smart Wi-Fi

What is “Smart” Wi-Fi?

Kineto has developed a solution that turns ordinary Wi-Fi into a “smart” solution for mobile operators. The Wi-Fi in subscribers’ homes and offices become part of an operator's mobile network, boosting coverage, offloading data traffic and providing a better user experience.

Kineto’s Smart Wi-Fi solution is used by many operators around the world, and they have experienced tremendous benefits – churn reduced by 25-40%, data offloaded an additional 20-30%, improved customer satisfaction scores...the list goes on.

We have developed a brief video to explain how Smart Wi-Fi works for mobile operators. It’s available at Kineto.com/videos. In addition, we’ve created a series of scenarios (below) to highlight how Smart Wi-Fi can be used in your business today.

If you’d like more information on this, or any of the information provided in the Smart Wi-Fi series, please don’t hesitate to contact Kineto directly at sales@kineto.com.

Case Study: Orange Signal Boost

Orange UK has offered its customers Smart Wi-Fi under the commercial brand “Signal Boost.” As the name implies, Signal Boost delivers improved coverage using Wi-Fi from any location.

At a recent event, Orange UK's Director of Product Marketing Paul Jevons made a couple of key points about the service:

The Signal Boost customer base has grown by more than 50% in the last 6 months, carrying millions of calls every month.
Signal Boost has “positive customer retention,” and customers say that “there is an improvement in coverage and call quality.”
50% say the Signal Boost feature influenced their handset choice, and 80% rate it as “easy to set up.”
A “large portion” of active Signal Boost customers consider it “an essential feature.”

Rather than reading about it, you can watch a video of Jevons' presentation about Orange's Signal Boost service and what it means to their customers' satisfaction.

Signal Boost has become a competitive advantage for Orange UK. For more information about the success of Signal Boost, please contact Kineto at sales@kineto.com.

Turn Wi-Fi into a Femtocell

Femtocells entered the market with great fanfare and promise – an easy way to boost coverage and offload the macro network, while increasing overall network capacity. But today, it’s clear the reality of femtocells have sunk in.

Femtocells remain costly, fraught with technical issues, particularly interference. But most importantly, the business case is not taking off. People do not really want them or want to pay for them.

Kineto’s Smart Wi-Fi solution effectively turns any Wi-Fi access point into a femtocell. Wi-Fi becomes a mini cell tower in homes and offices, improving coverage and offloading the macro network. It all happens with a Smart Wi-Fi Application pre-loaded onto the subscribers’ smartphones.

Better than a femtocell? You bet. The cost of distributing an app is nothing compared with capital and operational expense of putting a femtocell in a person's home. Plus with Smart Wi-Fi, the subscriber can get the femtocell benefits in multiple locations -- anywhere they have Wi-Fi.

If you’d like to know more about this incredible solution, or any of the information provided in this Smart Wi-Fi series, please don’t hesitate to contact Kineto directly at sales@kineto.com.

How to Reduce Churn by 40%

Churn is a constant operator struggle. Subscribers churn for many reasons, but poor coverage remains consistently at the top. And for good reason.

Why would a subscriber continue to pay for a service that doesn’t work well, especially if the poor servic is in the places where they spend most of their time -- the home or office.

Mobile operators who have deployed Kineto’s Smart Wi-Fi solution report that subscribers with the service churn roughly 25-40% less than average subscribers.

Giving subscribers the Smart Wi-Fi Application on their smartphones puts the power of coverage into their hands. The result is happier customers who churn less.

Let us show you how to reduce churn driven by coverage problems. For more information, please contact Kineto directly at sales@kineto.com.

Increase Offload by 25%

Offload – it’s a hot topic right now. But as one operator recently commented: We can’t advertise offload to customers. Of course not. Offload is strictly an operational benefit. So how do you get customers to care about offload?

Rather than instituting negative policies like data caps, why not offer customers positive incentives for turning on Wi-Fi?

Operators are turning to Smart Wi-Fi to provide benefits like better coverage and discounted calls over Wi-Fi. When operators offer incentives, it causes people to want to turn on Wi-Fi and leave it on, resulting in massive data offloads.

Kineto has found that subscribers using Smart Wi-Fi consume roughly 25% less macro network data than subscribers with the same phone that don't use Smart Wi-Fi.

Do you want your customers to use Wi-Fi more at home? Contact us about setting up a meeting to review different strategies to encourage Wi-Fi offload, including Smart Wi-Fi. For more information or to schedule a meeting, please contact Kineto at sales@kineto.com.

Use Smart Wi-Fi to Save Customers

When a mobile customer calls to cancel service, the save queue team must have tools to retain subscribers. If the problem is service coverage, giving subscribers a better price or a new handset may appease them temporarily, but it isn’t going to address the fundamental problem.

One operator has made smartphones with Smart Wi-Fi a critical tool for the save queue. With Smart Wi-Fi, this operator is able to offer their customers a signal boost anywhere the customer has Wi-Fi -- at home and in the office. The customer gets a new smartphone with the Smart Wi-Fi Application, and there’s no equipment to install or configure.

In addition, the operator offers customers discounted calling when they are on Wi-Fi. Rather than devaluing calls on the macro cellular network, the operator gives discounted or even free calls when the subscriber is at home, connected to Wi-Fi.

Are you interested in more detailed information about how one mobile operator is using Smart Wi-Fi in the save queue? Please contact Kineto directly at sales@kineto.com.

Smart Wi-Fi – VoIP for Mobile Operators

VoIP is coming to mobile networks, and developing a strategy can be difficult. Block it? Fight it? Partner up? So many VoIP solutions seem to be taking control away from mobile operators.

Smart Wi-Fi is a VoIP solution for mobile operators. With Smart Wi-Fi, calls are carried over Wi-Fi, and can be isolated and priced differently over Wi-Fi. But the calls still route through the mobile core network, have standard billing records and can be monitored by the mobile operator.

Some operators are using Smart Wi-Fi to aggressively combat third party VoIP services. New service plans that are only available over Wi-Fi, where VoIP services work best, can give the mobile operator an edge to compete. Best of all, calls over Wi-Fi can be controlled, limited to Wi-Fi, so that calling rates are devalued on the outdoor macro network.

Smart Wi-Fi delivers a positive VoIP strategy that leaves mobile operators in control. Let us show you a business case for mobile VoIP. Please feel free to contact Kineto directly at sales@kineto.com.

Overcoming Pre-Sales Coverage Concerns

A new customer walks into your shop. The sales rep can sell them a new phone and a great service offer. But the customer asks: “Will I have coverage at home?” It’s a dreaded question, and most sales representatives have no good answer.

The pat answer is “our network has great coverage here…” But do you?

By the time the person goes home, tries the phone and finds out they have no coverage, it's too late. What’s the cost of a customer returning a phone and cancelling a service plan?

Smart Wi-Fi is used by other mobile operators to overcome the ‘coverage’ sales objection. With a smartphone equipped with Smart Wi-Fi, sales reps can say: “If you have Wi-Fi, I guarantee you will have coverage.” No more guessing, empty promises or coverage maps. Your representatives can provide a concrete assurance of a mobile signal anywhere there is Wi-Fi.

Plus, it's a much better story than "if you don't have coverage, I'll sell you this femtocell..."

To learn more about Smart Wi-Fi in the retail sales process, or any of the information provided in this Smart Wi-Fi series, please don’t hesitate to contact Kineto directly at sales@kineto.com.

How to Get Customers to Use Wi-Fi at Home

There's a lot of talk about Wi-Fi for mobile operators, particularly in larger outdoor areas like stadiums, airports and highly trafficked public areas like New York's Times Square or even central London. But study after study has shown more than 50% of all data usage happens indoors - in the home and office.

Why do some people use the Wi-Fi on their smartphones and others don't? But more importantly, how does the mobile operator encourage more people to take advantage of existing Wi-Fi access points to increase offload?

Step one: give people a reason. Sadly today, the primary reason people use Wi-Fi is because it's faster than the macro network. By providing a poor experience, operators are able to 'encourage' offload.

What about creating positive incentives to use Wi-Fi? Kineto's Smart Wi-Fi solution gives operators the ability to create Wi-Fi-centric services such as better coverage, lower cost calling, or even Wi-Fi-specific roaming/international calling plans.

International Roaming Service with Wi-Fi Calling

International business travelers and their companies are taking drastic steps to bypass international roaming fees. Some are downloading Skype clients and some are installing PBX VoIP clients, both of which use Wi-Fi to bypass the visited network.

The problem, of course, is that these solutions don’t use an operator's mobile service or subscribers’ mobile phone numbers

A better approach would be to offer an operator-branded international Wi-Fi calling service. When the subscriber’s phone attaches to Wi-Fi, it establishes a secure connection back to the mobile network. Calls can still be billed at the regular home rates, versus Skype calls which bypass your mobile network all together.

Kineto’s Smart Wi-Fi is extremely valuable in helping the mobile operator maintain control of their subscribers when they travel abroad. If you’d like more information on this or other Smart Wi-Fi benefits, please contact Kineto at sales@kineto.com.