Uniti Group, Inc., a premier insurgent fiber provider, builds, operates, and delivers critical fiber-based broadband connectivity across diverse residential and SMB markets nationally. As Wi-Fi expectations rise and operators introduce Wi-Fi 7 and multi-gig services, Uniti needed a way to validate real end-to-end performance, stability, and interoperability before deploying new customer-premises equipment (CPE).
We interviewed Jared Smith, Staff Manager of the Broadband Architecture & Engineering team. They needed a testing platform that reduced manual effort, brought consistency to their processes, and helped them uncover issues early. They chose CDRouter.
Jared Smith: “We needed a way to reliably test Wi-Fi performance and connectivity, especially Wi-Fi 7, so we could show the value of upgrading to customers. The problem was our lab environment. We were doing a lot of manual testing across over 150 devices. We needed repeatability and automation.”
“That led us to CDRouter. Originally, we were only looking for Wi-Fi validation. But then we found that it did so much more.”
Jared: “We realized quickly that CDRouter wasn’t just Wi-Fi testing. It lets us do complete end-to-end testing, from the extender to the gateway to a speed-test server. We started running full performance tests, stability tests, stress tests, everything.”
“We now use CDRouter to validate multi-band Wi-Fi behavior, mesh configurations, and PHY rate differences across devices. The team can run side-by-side comparisons of vendor hardware, uncovering subtle issues that would never emerge through manual testing.”
“We found a bug in the lab where the gateway only allowed 140 clients. Once it hit that number, every test after that failed. CDRouter caught it in the very first run. With clear logs, we could go straight back to the vendor and show them exactly where the problem occurred so that it never happened in deployment.”
Jared: “We looked at heavier Wi-Fi testing systems that are meant for radio and spatial testing. They were expensive, and they were Wi-Fi only. With CDRouter the total cost was much lower - even with chambers - and we can automate everything, not just Wi-Fi. We can test performance, security, TR-069, TR-369. It’s a complete solution that is lightyears beyond what we had before.”
Jared: “Whenever we get a new device, we put it through a Proof-of-Concept phase. You never know what to expect. Before CDRouter, that cycle for new devices took 6–8 weeks. Now, whenever we get a new device, we pull it into our PoC test plan and automate the entire cycle. What used to take up to two months is now reduced by two weeks or more, and that savings grows as we integrate more test cases.”
Jared: “Support has been awesome. We ask a lot of questions as we integrate CDRouter deeper into our testing. When we hit something, the logs make it easy to see whether it’s our device or the test. The QA Cafe team helps us spot issues fast. It’s so different than other vendors we’ve worked with.”
Jared: “We used to test TR-069 manually with our lab ACS. As the official test platform for TR-069 and TR-369, CDRouter gave us fully automated testing. Vendors send us a device, we execute pass/fail tests, and we know exactly what we’re dealing with. Now with the advent of TR-369, we use it for that as well.”
“As we grow our Wi-Fi 7 and next-generation CPE portfolio, CDRouter remains part of our daily engineering workflow. We will continue to shift from manual testing toward a repeatable, scalable approach aligned with modern broadband demands.”
