When Stadtwerke Neumünster was looking for a second vendor of customer premise equipment, the performance of the router was essential. Stadtwerke Neumünster wanted a router powerful enough to deliver a premium Wi-Fi experience to meet the growing needs among German end-users.
Stadtwerke Neumünster (SWN) provides utility services in the German Schleswig-Holstein region, and they are constantly expanding their fiber optic network to offer citizens in the region access to fast fiber internet.
“Over time, we have noticed that more and more customers are choosing our high-end service with the Icotera router. Customer demand for high-quality Wi-Fi solutions is increasing, and with Icotera we have a strong partner at our side who can meet these demands.”
- Stephan Wesing, operations and systems engineering team leader.
- Stephan Wesing, operations and systems engineering team leader and Roland Sonntag, TKT-Operations.
SWN has a two-vendor business strategy, which means they use customer premise equipment (CPE) from two different providers, depending on the services their customers subscribe for. With a declared company goal to offer the best Wi-Fi services in the region, finding a vendor that could enable this was a key factor when SWN started looking for a new CPE partner.
To be a leader in providing the fastest and best Wi-Fi services in our region, we need routers that offer high bandwidth and a premium user experience," says Stephan Wesing, operations and systems engineering team leader at Stadtwerke Neumünster, and he adds: "After talking to different providers, we chose Icotera back in year 2021." And just a few months later, SWN began rolling out Icotera's i4850 Wi-Fi 5 router. SWN has a two-vendor business strategy, which means they use customer premise equipment (CPE) from two different providers, depending on the services their customers subscribe for. With a declared company goal to offer the best Wi-Fi services in the region, finding a vendor that could enable this was a key factor when SWN started looking for a new CPE partner.
Wi-Fi 6 upgrade
SWN already knew that they would be investing in upgrading to Wi-Fi 6 within a few years, for which reason this was also part of the early dialog with Icotera, who at that time was just about to launch their Wi-Fi 6 router.
Now, in spring 2023, SWN is about to roll out Icotera’s Wi-Fi 6 router i4883. The upgrade is yet another step in SWN’s mission to deliver the best Wi-Fi in the region:
“For our customers we offer Internet speeds of 2.5 Gbit/s. We install the Icotera router for these customers, which can process these large amounts of data in order to achieve maximum speeds," explains Stephan Wesing. It is a cost-efficient strategy to let the services that customers buy determine what equipment you install. Furthermore, this approach generates value from a marketing perspective:
Not every household in our region has a 2.5 Gbit/s Internet connection. Our customers decide individually which solution suits their needs. For a high-performance solution, you need a high-performance router. With this approach, we are able to respond to individual needs while positioning our company as a pioneer in offering end customers the best possible high-bandwidth Wi-Fi services,” explains Stephan Wesing.
Increasing need for high quality and performance
In Germany, where well-known national CPE providers have a strong presence and high brand awareness amongst the end-users, it is not necessarily easy to start offering a CPE from – in the end-user’s minds – a less well-known provider.
SWN was aware of this from the beginning, but their strategy to provide the highest quality to citizens in the region has paid off over time:
“In the beginning we received questions about Icotera from our customers. Icotera was not yet as well known as other brands on the market,” explains Stephan Wesing and adds:
"Over time, we have noticed that more and more customers are choosing our high-end service with the Icotera router. Customer demand for high-quality Wi-Fi solutions is increasing, and with Icotera we have a strong partner at our side who can meet these demands."
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Want to know more?
If you would like to know more about how your business can deliver reliable CPE to your customers, please give us a call on +45 22 40 60 62 or reach out to Erik Søe-Pedersen, SVP Sales at esp@icotera.com.
Read more about Icotera's Wi-Fi 6 router series and its features here.
