Members include telecommunications networking and service provider companies, broadband device and equipment vendors, consultants and independent testing labs (ITLs).

Its initial main purpose was the establishment of new standards around digital subscriber line communication products such as provisioning.

Among its early design documents, the Forum created TR-001 (1996) system reference model, which together with later TR-012 (1999) core network architecture, recommended PPP over an ATM transport layer as the best practice for a DSL ISP.

Its Auto-Configuration Server specification TR-069, originally published in 2004,[4] was adapted for use with set-top box and Network Attached Storage units.

Broadband Forum issued Femto Access Point Service Data Model TR-196 during April 2009 and version 2 released during November 2011.