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Fastweb: 
FASTGate Modem

PROJECT

CLIENT

Fastweb

SERVICE

  • Engineering

INDUSTRY

  • Consumer

The FASTGate modem offers a user-focused connectivity experience.

Challenge

Fastweb is one of Italy’s main internet providers, and a leader in the delivery of telecommunications services. They saw how often customers required troubleshooting support with internet peripherals, and wanted to minimize these negative customer experiences.

Fastweb also noticed a product development opportunity: they saw good reason to transition from service provider to an organization that could deliver both a product and service, to enable better home connectivity. They engaged Continuum to design a modem along with an extended connectivity experience.

RESEARCH & INSIGHTS

Consider the Whole Family

Most European internet providers focus their efforts and attention on the “contract subscriber,” even though a subscription often serves multiple people (families, roommates, etc.). Our research surfaced the challenge that within these user groups lies a set of different needs, behaviors, and concerns related to connectivity. Some users, for instance, had health concerns, while others wanted protection from potentially inappropriate web content.

RESEARCH & INSIGHTS

A Place in the Domestic Landscape

Modems aren’t typically a home accessory that people want to display prominently. We found that consumers viewed these products not only as subordinate to furniture, but also to the rest of the home’s “technological ecosystem.” We sought to design a modem that people would be proud to display in their homes.

Knowing that communicating the device’s status and preempting potential connectivity issues were key, our team decided a digital interface could offer more sophisticated details related to product settings and performance.

RESEARCH & INSIGHTS

Provide Guidance

Consumers don’t feel comfortable with “standard” troubleshooting steps; these are perceived as too generic and far from personal needs. At the same time, people try to postpone contacting customer care until it’s absolutely necessary. The Continuum team deduced that there’s a real need to access real-time information about connectivity usage and service status, and that this data would support both troubleshooting and preventive actions. We tested possible product interactions and found more complex or “professional” settings resonated with users, as long as they were easy to access and had an approachable look and feel.

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Solution

Continuum designed Fastweb’s FASTGate modem, which delivers an improved at-home connectivity experience aimed to empower consumers to be more independent. The FASTGate ecosystem is comprised of three touchpoints: the modem, packaging, and a companion web- and mobile app.

The modem was designed to support FastWeb’s brand, using a design language that strikes a balance between excellent technological performance and the human dimension of interaction.

The digital UI is built around features that allow for real-time intervention by users while giving direct reassuring feedback, which greatly minimizes consumer frustration.

The web- and mobile apps let users control internet-driven devices and activities. Consumers can set bandwidth use limits on a per-device basis, parental controls, and specific usage settings based on time of day.

Results

Launched in 2017, FASTGate is the most powerful home connectivity device available to the Italian market. It guarantees 1 GB/s connectivity—a milestone for mass-distributed modems. It’s the first of its kind to be released by a telecommunications company for domestic use. Fastweb hopes to replace all third-party modems they currently offer to consumers with the FASTGate modem, and has the goal of granting high-speed connectivity to 13 million families by 2020.

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