AT&T is rolling out a new AI feature called Wi-Fi Personalization that prioritizes your home Wi-Fi traffic based on what you’re doing, potentially increasing performance while gaming, streaming and video conferencing. It’s an automatic feature for “converged” AT&T customers (subscribing to both home fiber and mobile service), as well as those with All-Fi Pro plans.
“We have to sweat the details on Wi-Fi performance, so we wanted to really look at what’s the next level that we can take Wi-Fi,” said Josh Goodell, AT&T vice president of broadband and converged product management.
Wi-Fi Personalization determines which types of internet traffic are most important at different times of the day, such as video calls during the day and gaming late at night.
“It learns the rhythm of the network,” Goodell said, “and will become more performant over time.”
He noted that traffic is prioritized at the application level, which differs from how home network hardware typically regulates data based on the device being used. For example, a TV and an iPad running Netflix, Hulu, or YouTube TV would be categorized as video streaming and prioritized ahead of other traffic during times when streaming is typically active.
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The feature is software-based and in the process of being automatically activated on AT&T Wi-Fi 7 and Wi-Fi 6 gateways, although it’ll work only on equipment the carrier lends to subscribers. Goodell says it works with most current AT&T-supplied modems and doesn’t require new hardware. If you use your own device to provide Wi-Fi, such as an Eero or TP-Link system, the feature isn’t available.
Wi-Fi personalization is being added at no extra cost for subscribers. And because it’s looking at traffic, that brings up the inevitable question of what AT&T might do with the usage data.
Goodell said that the AI processing happens only on the Wi-Fi gateway, and personal details do not leave the home. AT&T also never sees specific content. “We have no desire to monetize any data as part of this. This is all about improving performance,” he said, noting that privacy remains at the forefront for customers.
A new setting in the Smart Home Manager app gives you control over the Wi-Fi Personalization feature.
Although Wi-Fi Personalization is automatically enabled, a control in AT&T’s Smart Home Manager app allows you to pause the feature or manually prioritize types of traffic. As an example, Goodell mentioned entertaining family during college football games. He could go into the app and set the feature to prioritize streaming to ensure the best performance while watching the game.
Goodell said that AT&T’s gateways already scan the traffic 500 million times a day. The AI analyzes historical patterns rather than adjusting traffic in real-time based on demand.
Read more: AT&T recently boosted its wireless 5G performance, thanks to its purchase of EchoStar spectrum.
