Nokia lights up Beacon Wi-Fi 7 gateway

With the widespread adoption of XGS-PON and 25G PON services into homes to support advanced applications such as video collaboration, Wi-Fi upgrades are critical for delivering multi-gig speeds into the connected home.

To address greater demands for enhanced connectivity, Nokia has unveiled the Beacon 19, a Wi-Fi 7 gateway the company said will “provide high-capacity mesh networking enabling operators to deliver a superior broadband experience”.

Nokia first launched the Beacon range almost a year ago, noting at the time that its Wi-Fi 7 portfolio offers unique capabilities, bringing enhanced experiences to users whether they’re streaming or making video calls. The portfolio includes dual-band, tri-band and quad-band configurations to address various regulatory constraints and meet market demands. 

As a tri-band device, the new Beacon 19 offers up to 19Gbps of Wi-Fi capacity, which said to be essential in meeting the expanding new wireless demands. By incorporating Wi-Fi 7’s full capabilities, the Beacon not only offers high capacity but also reduces network congestion with its three radio bands to eliminate slowdowns and buffering issues, said Nokia.

Moreover, Beacon 19 supports multi-link operations (MLO), enhancing connection speeds by allowing devices to simultaneously send and receive data across different frequency bands and channels.

Beacon 19 is powered by Nokia’s Corteca software, working end-to-end, from applications embedded in the device, through the home and into the cloud. Built on open industry standards (TR-369, EasyMesh), Corteca integrates Wi-Fi and device management while offering a marketplace with applications  – including third party – that run on fibre optical network terminal (ONT) gateways, fixed wireless access (FWA) gateways and mesh Wi-Fi beacons.

Forecasting the prospects for Beacon 19, Michael Philpott, research director of digital consumer services at Omdia, said: “Since becoming standardised in January 2024, we’ve already seen 11% of the 61 telcos we benchmark launch Wi-Fi 7, and with other launches already announced, we expect that number to quickly grow.

“Wi-Fi 7 sets the stage for a faster, more connected future, and solutions like Nokia’s Beacon 19 will allow service providers to offer a best-in-class Wi-Fi experience to its customers.”

Justin Doucette, head of Wi-Fi and fixed networks at Nokia, added: “Wi-Fi 7 is a pivotal new technology that will power the connected home of the future. The Beacon 19 Wi-Fi 7 gateway is designed to help service providers make sure multi-gigabit speeds reach every corner of the house.

“Combined with our Corteca software, built-in TR-369 support for management, and open framework, it makes managing devices in the home much simpler. This means providers can easily optimise Wi-Fi, offer new services, and ultimately give their customers a fast, reliable and seamless broadband experience.”