In addition to helping you identify issues you might have with your connected devices, Comcast’s new system also helps streamline the initial network setup process.

When you first sign up with Comcast and receive your combination modem/ router, you’ll be able to download an app to your smartphone that guides you through the setup process.

That kind of simplicity reminded me a lot of the install process for competing third-party routers like Google Wi-Fi, Eero and Luma. Satchell, however, said Comcast had been working on its experience for some time, and that seeing other companies use a similar setup mechanism proved Comcast was on the right track.

Comcast’s new system can also connect to your existing X1 television service, meaning you can check your network’s signal strength from your TV. And thanks to X1’s voice controls, you can ask your network to pause all connections without pressing a button.

Of course, part of the reason the success of Comcast’s system is so important to the company is because it gives subscribers a reason to rent a Comcast network gateway. Normally, I recommend that people purchase their own modem and router rather than pay the $10 per month rental fee their cable companies charge for using their gateways.

But to use Comcast’s new system you also need to use the company’s gateway, you’ve got to fork over that extra $10 a month, something the internet provider will be more than happy to collect.

“We’d love to get customers on our products, and so we’d love to give people a reason not to have to go build their own solutions with a third-party modem or a third-party router,” Satchell said.

“If we can improve your service we hope churn reduces, satisfaction increases and people say, ‘I like my service, I love my service.’ And for me that’s what I’d love to get to,” he added.

If Comcast’s system ends up being as easy to set up and user-friendly when it launches in the first half of this year, the company may finally be able to put its “most hated” status firmly in its past.

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