Brsk is an “Altnet,” or Alternative Network, ISP operating in the UK. It specializes in full-fiber broadband services primarily for consumers. Since 2021, brsk has connected 600,000 homes across four main regions: West Yorkshire, Birmingham/West Midlands, Lancashire, and Manchester. Its recent merger with another Altnet will see it’s reach extended to 1.5 million homes, with an ambitious target of 3 million in the near future.
Brsk sees the customer experience as the first priority, and see their broadband Wi-Fi CPE as the component that is responsible for 99% of that experience. We recently sat down with Jody Botham, Head of Networks at brsk, to learn about their challenges with sourcing and testing CPE, and how CDRouter’s fully automated testing makes this priority a reality.
QA Cafe (QA): What were the primary challenges Brsk faced with CPE testing?
Jody Botham (JB): Our commitment to a high-spec network, reliable broadband, and exceptional customer service hinges significantly on the performance of our Customer Premises Equipment (CPE). When we started in 2021, a number of factors forced us to rely on a single vendor. Resolving bugs with manual testing took us a long time.
Now that we are able to source and qualify more vendors, we have a massive test bed, but our test process was still manual. It was taking ages and ages, and we weren’t confident we were covering everything we should.
QA: How did Brsk address these challenges with CDRouter?
JB: With an exciting new product launch coming up (watch this space), requiring new CPE, we needed a more efficient and thorough testing solution for the spread of potential solutions. Having heard of CDRouter and QA Cafe, we decided to use CDRouter to qualify our CPE. This tool allowed us to automate our testing process, ensuring comprehensive coverage and significantly reducing the time required for testing.
QA: How was CDRouter implemented in Brsk’s testing and validation process?
JB: CDRouter enabled us to conduct repeatable Wi-Fi performance testing across different vendors, compare results, and identify the best-performing devices. Brad from QA Cafe provided three targeted training sessions that were invaluable, and this support from QA Cafe really is a part of the product experience. Even better, CDRouter is the industry standard and used by so many of our vendors, so sharing reports, agreeing on what was wrong, and replicating exactly what tests were done between ourselves and our vendors became a five-minute task instead of a three-day discussion.
QA: You mentioned the support experience at QA Cafe. What made it so exceptional?
JB: I've dealt with so many test tool vendors, and the experience (sales, support, and UX) is usually terrible. It's rare that I've dealt with one that was so painless from sales to support. Often, engineers don’t look forward to slogging through a vendor’s product training, but Brad’s sessions were excellent, and it was great that we could choose what we wanted to focus on. It was actually useful to be on the training, and we’ve stored the videos for later. CDRouter’s documentation is also comprehensive and accessible.
QA: What benefits did Brsk experience after implementing CDRouter?
JB: The transition to using CDRouter drastically improved our testing efficiency. Testing a firmware that previously took 3 to 4 weeks now only takes 2 to 3 days. We resolve issues much more effectively. CDRouter’s ability to simulate hundreds of clients and lock to specific BSSIDs for mesh testing was particularly beneficial.
QA: What are Brsk’s future plans with CDRouter?
JB: We plan to continue using CDRouter to validate new models and test firmware updates regularly. The tool’s capabilities in simulating real-world conditions and stress-testing our CPE are crucial for maintaining our high standards. As we work with CDRouter more, we discover just how powerful and comprehensive it is. Every time I ask myself, “I wonder if it can do this…” it’s already there! The biggest thing is that testing with CDRouter is a critical part of our focus on wanting to get the best experience for the customer, to get the best CPE, and resolve issues as soon as possible.
