EXFO EXs vs MBS Field Tech

EXFO’s EX Series products, paired with your iOS-powered smart device, are one-of-a-kind Ethernet, PON* and Wi-Fi testers designed to qualify Fibre to the Home (FTTH) and business customers’ quality of experience (QoE). The pocket-sized EX1 solution, or the powerful EX10, enable communication service providers and MSO’s to validate full line rate services using a single mobile application. The EX1 provides Ethernet, Wi-Fi (1-5), GPON and XGS-PON interfaces to validate throughput (Download/Upload) and latency using the world-leading Speedtest® powered by Ookla® algorithm, giving repeatable and reliable metrics, every time. The EX10 introduces higher Ethernet interface rates up to 10G, Optical interface 1G and 10G, Wi-Fi 6/6E (IEEE 802.11ax) support on top of improved GPON and XGS-PON support capabilities. All of this makes the EX Series products the ideal tools to generate birth certificates of multiple services during their provisioning phase. Moreover, the field technician can easily execute a Wi-Fi Channel Map analysis and, as a result, determine the best placement for the Access Point at the customer’s location. Service providers can also qualify optical connections based on SFP/SFP+ transceivers that are typically deployed in business customers installations. The addition of PON* qualification brings the EX Series products to a new level of troubleshooting with the PON ONT/ONU link validation supporting ONU-ID, PON-ID, ODN Class, RX Optical Power, Transmit Optical Level (TOL) and ODN Loss measurements. The EX Series products’ test solution does not need a screen; all manipulations are handled via the ultra-intuitive application running on the field technician’s iOS-powered smart device. All the required tasks are performed through this application: connection, setup, report generation, and cloud-enabled firmware upgrades. Moreover, test reports can be combined providing residential and business customers the ultimate birth certificate containing all the information they require. The EX Series products use Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology which enables untethered testing capabilities – connecting directly to a smart phone or tablet. With its unique BLE capability, field technicians can be up to 100 ft. away from the EX tester, and not be confined to challenging or harsh testing environments. EXFO’s EX Series products take full advantage of BLE by extending battery time, in turn allowing technicians to test more during their typical work day. *All PON testing requires an EXFO Managed PON ONT stick, contact your EXFO representative for more details.

The MBS Field Technician app allows your field technicians and other employees to manage their work while they are in the field or on the road. This app serves as the mobile companion to CDG’s MBS solution for customer care and service management. Technicians, installers, and other staff can update customer premise equipment, assign available equipment for service orders, work trouble tickets, and handle tasks through personal calendars. With improved mobile access, including data storage when network access is not available and text messaging support, MBS Field Tech can help improve your overall customer support and the efficiency of your workforce. MBS Field Tech includes: Create, update, and complete trouble tickets and tasks. Manage tasks through your personal calendar. Manage customer premise equipment from the field, including sending provisioning requests directly to the MBS SAM (service provisioning) module. Easy access to equipment “pick lists.”