Comcast's (NASDAQ:CMCSA) xFi Advanced Gateway, a WiFi 6 Certified device designed to provide whole-home multi-gigabit speeds, is slated to begin rolling out to customers in the coming months.
The xFi Advanced Gateway is designed to support multiple smart home devices and lower latency for cloud and online gaming, 4K video streaming, and VR and AR experiences.
The gateway is also designed for greater signal range for whole-home coverage, as well as support for xFi pods to create personalized mesh WiFi networks in the home.
"We designed the next-generation Advanced Gateway to be the fastest, smartest and most powerful WiFi device on the planet to continue to deliver on our promise of bringing our customers a great broadband experience," said Kunle Ekundare, director of Product and Hardware Management, Comcast. "The xFi Advanced Gateway is truly the best Internet product we've ever built, and we're thrilled to be bringing our customers into the future with WiFi 6."
The gateway also comes with Comcast's xFi digital dashboard to control the home WiFi network, including parental controls, cybersecurity, access via the mobile app, website, or on the TV, on X1 and Flex, with the Xfinity Voice Remote.
The new gateway will be available in the coming months to customers who subscribe to Internet speed tiers of 300 Mbps or faster.
Features include:
- Four simultaneous dual-band antennas to support both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands
- A 2.5 Gbps Ethernet port to support wired speeds greater than 1 Gbps.
- Bluetooth LE and Zigbee radios
- Switchable mid-split support between 42 MHz and 85 MHz upstream
- The ability to deliver multiple streaming services simultaneously over WiFi throughout the home
In other Comcast news, the MSO announced that xFi Advanced Security, a feature that automatically protects devices from online threats, will be included free for customers who lease an xFi gateway.
New customers will receive Advanced Security immediately upon activating an xFi Gateway, and the feature will begin rolling out to 18 million existing eligible xFi customers over the coming weeks. It requires no software download or additional set-up other than logging into xFi via the mobile app or online.
Advanced Security, initially launched in January 2019, uses AI and machine learning technology to monitor and analyze WiFi traffic in the home, and automatically blocks identified suspicious activity in real time.