Date: 28/06/2012

Wi-Fi Alliance’s Passpoint offers seamless access to Wi-Fi mobile broadband

The Wi-Fi Alliance has announced that it is now testing mobile devices and infrastructure equipment for its Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Passpoint program. Passpoint mobile devices can automatically discover and connect to Wi-Fi networks powered by Passpoint-certified access points and deliver the true mobile broadband experience. This is said to be a key landmark delivered by the Wi-Fi industry in the technology’s evolution as an operator-grade network.

The service provider and equipment maker members of the Wi-Fi Alliance defined the Passpoint’s specification to deal with critical business needs for mobile data, streamlined access and subscriber loyalty. Passpoint eases service provider data traffic offload to Wi-Fi networks as mobile users continue to increase their use of data-intensive applications.

The hotspots equipped with Passpoint-certified equipment automatically enable enterprise-grade WPA2 security. The Passpoint certification program is based on technology defined in the Wi-Fi Alliance Hotspot 2.0 Specification.

“Product manufacturers partnered with service providers to develop the Passpoint program in the Wi-Fi Alliance,” said Edgar Figueroa, CEO of Wi-Fi Alliance. “Our organization has become a key collaboration forum driving Wi-Fi’s evolution in support of service providers.”

The launch of the certification program means that there is finally a single industry-wide solution for seamless access to Wi-Fi mobile broadband, and providers can leverage Passpoint as a foundation to quickly expand Wi-Fi roaming agreements. With multi-provider Wi-Fi roaming, subscribers can enjoy seamless connectivity in even more hotspots than those provided by their own service.

Wi-Fi Alliance conducted a survey of smartphone and tablet users in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Japan, China, and Korea to determine interest in easy-to-use mobile Wi-Fi. The results reflect strong user readiness to hold Passpoint service offerings from providers among subscribers in each country. Among the findings:
1. Wi-Fi drives usage: On average, 74 percent of respondents confirmed they would use “a little” or “a lot” more data if they had unlimited data usage via easy-to-use Wi-Fi hotspots
2. Most would switch: On average, 77 percent of respondents also acknowledged they would be likely to switch service providers, either immediately or at contract end, in order to access a Passpoint-like Wi-Fi offering, with 65 percent indicating a willingness to pay more per month for such an offering
3. Passpoint drives loyalty: Conversely, an average of 87 percent of respondents said they would definitely/probably stay with their current provider if a Passpoint-like offering were included in their plan

The first products to be designated Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Passpoint, and which form the test suite for the certification program, are:
1. BelAir 20E
2. Broadcom Dualband 11n WiFi and Dual Band 802.11n Access Point
3. Cisco CT2500 Series WLAN Controller and LAP1260 Series Access Point
4. Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6230
5. Marvell Plug – 88W8787 802.11 a/b/g/n Reference Design
6. MediaTek Hotspot 2.0 Client V1
7. Qualcomm Atheros Dual-Band XSPAN 3-Stream 802.11n Access Point and Dual-Band XSPAN 2-stream 802.11n WLAN Adapter
8. Ruckus Wireless ZoneFlex 7363 and ZoneDirector 1100

The full report on the results is available at www.wi-fi.org/passpoint