Exciting advancements in Wi-Fi technology are paving the way for applications that will change the way we connect and interact online. Virtual reality, hyper-realistic gaming, AI, and real-time streaming are now part of our digital landscape. Underlying all of those technologies, however, is an equally critical need: seamless connectivity.

According to Gartner, a single minute of downtime can cost businesses an average of $5,600. An extended outage can result in hundreds of thousands of dollars of losses or more.

The single biggest cause? Disrupted connectivity. When connectivity is disrupted, customers become frustrated and incur high downtime costs. Backup redundancy solutions can be expensive and complex to implement, and limited failover options create a frustrating experience for both cellular and broadband customers depending on which network they are using.

Today’s customers increasingly expect seamless connectivity without the disruptions of dropped signals or weak service. According to an Ernst and Young survey done in 2021, 58% of American Broadband users think reliability is more important than speed. That’s where ARC comes in. ARC (Adaptive Route Control) solves the problem of delivering seamless service to customers by intelligently routing traffic to the best available network without the need for manual switching.

The solution is simple and elegant, and it’s already changing the industry for the better.

Use Case Scenarios

What does ARC look like in action? Let’s take a look at some scenarios.

Passpoint: Working in Tandem
Passpoint automatically connects users to networks that are approved for their use or that they are credentialed to use, keeping their mobile device connected to Wi-Fi more often. If your Wi-Fi infrastructure can take advantage of Passpoint, ARC Mobile is the right solution for right now.

Once your device is connected to Wi-Fi, ARC Mobile monitors the actual performance of that Wi-Fi network. If the Wi-Fi is not performing as well as it needs to for the application you are running, ARC Mobile can move that traffic to the mobile network to ensure an optimal user experience. When used together, these technologies complement each other beautifully, and operators get the benefits of both.

Kyrio’s ARC Mobile product is an intelligent traffic steering solution that moves traffic to the network that will work best for each application. It can dynamically steer traffic from Wi-Fi to mobile and back again as the mobile device moves in and out of Wi-Fi and mobile coverage areas without interruption to application data streams, as long as at least one of the networks has good coverage and is uncongested.

AI and Machine Learning: Optimizing Potential
AI and machine learning hold immense promise for technologies like ARC because ARC Hotspot and ARC Mobile have visibility into all networks the device(s) are connected to. This makes it possible to collect a wide variety of data points that can be used predictively to create better experiences.

• ARC Hotspot can leverage the RF Spectrum from both gateway/router and the user experience to help operators create network maintenance cycles proactively.
• ARC Mobile can leverage patterns in network KPIs, including latency, packet loss, and others. With these patterns, the technology can help create better KPIs to improve user experience by increasing speed and reliability to switch from one network to another.

Wi-Fi/5G: Effortless Switching Between Networks
Which is the best network: Wi-Fi or 5G? That depends on which network has better coverage in a particular location. Rather than trying to establish which is better, efforts should focus on strategically moving among them fluidly to deliver seamless connectivity. Both ARC Hotspot and ARC Mobile support this critical capability:

• ARC Mobile enables route customization per customer per application in real-time and intelligently routes traffic over the best quality network. Traffic is seamlessly shifted to 4G/5G when Wi-Fi is poor and back to Wi-Fi when it is good.
• ARC Hotspot automatically routes broadband traffic to a smartphone hotspot when wired networks are disrupted – without manual intervention or additional hardware.

ATSSS vs. ARC
To date, MSOs without a mobile footprint cannot utilize the benefits of ATSSS as they don’t own a 5G core. ATSSS is limited to operators who own a 5GC (Rel-16 compliant and supporting the optional ATSSS feature). In addition, ATSSS requires AT SSS-capable 5G handsets (Rel-16 or later).

ARC, by contrast, will work with any generation of cellular network (3G, 4G/LTE, 5G) and any off-the-shelf handset. ATSSS does not support traffic steering, switching, and splitting across two 3GPP networks. ARC, on the other hand, supports traffic steering and switching across two 3GPP networks or across two 3GPP and a non-3GPP network.

The Future of ARC

Imagine a world where first responders could rely on uninterrupted service even in remote areas, or businesses could build more effective disaster recovery programs using mobile service and prioritized traffic. As AI, virtual reality, and other technologies continue to evolve, ARC provides the seamless connectivity needed to keep customers and businesses connected at home, at work, and everywhere in between. ARC gives operators better control over the user experience, which not only supports industry functionality but also helps reduce customer churn and improve satisfaction.

With these capabilities, potential applications for ARC could transform industries like healthcare, transportation, retail, and mining. As the Wi-Fi ecosystem stands on the brink of transformative innovation, ARC is bridging the seamless connectivity gap to make it possible.