Telstra launches new whole of home WiFi solution

Media Release, 09 April 2018

Telstra today launched a whole-of-home Wi-Fi solution to help its customers access a strong and reliable Wi-Fi connection across their homes.    

Jana Kotatko, Head of Fixed Products, said the Telstra Smart Wi-FiTM Booster was tailor made for Telstra customers, particularly those with larger homes or rooms that were hard to reach with their modem’s standard Wi-Fi signal.

“The booster, which is the first of its kind to be offered by an Australian provider, is affordable and easy to set up, and features the latest Wi-Fi technology to seamlessly connect household devices to the strongest and fastest Wi-Fi source,” Ms Kotatko said.

“With the nbn now available to more than six million homes and businesses, and the rise of connected devices being used within Australian homes, our customers expect to be able to get online in any area of their property including their yards, garages and even bungalows.

“But for larger homes with three or more bedrooms or multiple floors, often a single Wi-Fi modem isn’t enough.

“The Smart Wi-Fi Booster essentially acts like a second modem, so if you’re browsing the web or making a call over Wi-Fi while moving around the house, it will automatically switch to the stronger Wi-Fi signal.”

The Smart Wi-Fi Booster comes in a pack of two, with one booster connecting to the modem and the other placed in another area of the house where the Wi-Fi signal starts to drop off. 

Ms Kotatko said the seamless transition between boosters is a key advantage of this home Wi-Fi solution over existing Wi-Fi extenders. 

“Many Wi-Fi extenders require a customer to manually choose which Wi-Fi point they want to connect to, or the signal needs to drop out completely before their connection switches over to the extender.

“This drop in service is enough to cut a call using Voice over Wi-Fi or Skype, make websites much slower to load and cause videos to buffer. With Telstra Smart Wi-Fi Booster, customers should be able to do all these things with fewer interruptions in more places,” Ms Kotatko said.   

Ahead of the launch Telstra trialled the Wi-Fi Booster in 100 homes and found that the vast majority of participants saw a lift in their Wi-Fi speeds and coverage – with 80 per cent also reporting an improvement in streaming video performance.

Ms Kotatko said often customers who have poor in-home Wi-Fi coverage can improve their experience significantly by knowing where to place their Wi-Fi modem or a booster.

“We’ve found customers naturally want to place a booster at the edge of their Wi-Fi coverage, but in reality, placing it where coverage has just started to drop off but is still relatively strong can provide a much better overall experience. 

“To help make this easier, we’ve updated our free Telstra Home Dashboard app (iOS/Android) which walks customers through a few simple steps to find the best areas in their home to set up their Smart Wi-Fi Boosters,” Ms Kotatko added.

Telstra Smart Wi-Fi Booster is also expected to assist the growing number of Australians adopting smart home technology helping them to connect devices to Wi-Fi which may not have reached before like an outdoor camera or a motion sensor in the garage.

The Telstra Smart Wi-Fi Booster is available for $180 outright or $7.50/month over 24 months at telstra.com/smartwifi and in Telstra Stores across the country.

Technical Specifications

Hardware

  • Powerful dual core CPU
  • 1 x auto sensing 10/100/1000Mbps Ethernet WAN/LAN port
  • MediaTek MTK7621A Wireless network card

Wireless connectivity

  • C2533 (1733 +800M) Dual-band concurrent Wi-Fi
  • 802.11b/g/n 2.4GHz-256QAM support
  • 4 x 4 802.11ac 5GHz-256QAM support
  • Self-configuring network for maximum coverage

Wi-Fi roaming

  • Wi-Fi roaming IEEE® 802.11k/v
  • Wi-Fi Band steering

Antennas

  • 2.4GHz band – 4 transmit/receive
  • 5GHz band – 4 transmit/receive

 

Media contact: Matthew Wu, media@team.telstra.com.
Media Reference: 45/2018.