|
Of the nation's four biggest wireless carriers, only T-Mobile USAhas revealed plans to deploy Passpoint, a technology that wouldallow wireless users to automatically access Wi-Fi hotspots fromcarriers' 3G and 4G cellular networks. Certification of Passpoint on network gear and end-user devices,such as smartphones and tablets, begins in June, according to theWi-Fi Alliance, which coordinated development of Passpoint , based on the Hotstop 2.0 specification, over the past two years. When a carrier commits to Passpoint-certified devices and gear, itsusers will be able to seamlessly access Wi-Fi hotspots without asetup process or password, as long as the hotspots are alsocertified and permit access. Having Passpoint capability coulddrastically reduce the end-user cost of browsing and streamingvideo by using free or low-cost Wi-Fi instead of paying for dataservice plans over 3G or 4G cellular networks, analysts said. Once multiple carriers use Passpoint globally, or even within theU.S., a smartphone or tablet user could easily roam on to more Wi-Fi hotspots than with asingle cellular carrier. If T-Mobile adds the Passpoint capabilityin the U.S., it's possible that T-Mobile customers would gainaccess only to hotspots that T-Mobile controls or has set up forpartnerships to use. Mobile device users want streamlined access to hotspots like thosethat Passpoint would offer, according to the Wi-Fi Alliance. A pollof 1,001 U.S. tablet and smartphone users found that 70% wouldswitch cellular providers if it meant they could access seamlessWi-Fi connections. The poll, sponsored by the alliance and releasedTuesday, also found that 72% of those users would pay more forautomatic Wi-Fi connections. A T-Mobile spokesman said once the Passpoint certification processstarts, "we expect that our Connection Manager on our devices willleverage Passpoint as an authentication mechanism." T-Mobile hasbeen a member of the Wi-Fi Alliance board and has helped developPasspoint since 2009, she said. The other three major U.S. carriers, AT&T, Sprint and VerizonWireless, didn't rule out adopting Passpoint eventually, butrefused to elaborate on their plans when asked by Computerworld.All three already have capabilities in most, if not all, of thephones they sell to find nearby Wi-Fi hotspots, with the ability toautomatically connect after the first time a password is used. Even though equipment providers such as Ruckus Wireless areexpected to show support for Passpoint technology at CTIA this weekin New Orleans, analysts said there's not much incentive for a widenumber of carriers to move ahead with the technology right away,nor are there many devices that support it. Passpoint is "pretty much a future dream at this point," said JackGold, an analyst at J.Gold Associates. "It's unlikely there will beuniversal networks that you can roam against. There are probably nophones out there right now that do this ... I don't think it canhappen quickly." Gold noted it took years for roaming between carriers to occur overcellular networks. AT&T operates nearly 30,000 Wi-Fi hotspots in the U.S., and itscustomers can use those hotspots at no added charge without havingto enter a password. Regarding Passpoint, a spokesman said AT&T"can't speculate on the future." A Verizon Wireless spokeswoman said, "We do not have Passpoint onour phones today, but are aware of the Wi-Fi Alliance and itsongoing work." Verizon customers can "easily find, connect and usea Wi-Fi network when desired," she said, and can set phones to makeautomatic connections to a Wi-Fi network (once a password, ifneeded, is provided) or can be notified each time to provideconsent. A Sprint spokesman said: "We are exploring all the optionsavailable to maintain our networks' performance at optimal levels,but have nothing to share at this time about specific services."Sprint's phones have similar Wi-Fi capabilities to those of theother carriers. Passpoint poses a dilemma for Sprint and other carriers around theglobe that have wireless spectrum capacity and want to attract morecustomers to their networks. These carriers would not see muchvalue in having their customers roam to free Wi-Fi, analysts noted.Sprint is the only major U.S. carrier to offer unlimited data planstoday. But Sprint falls into a distinct minority, some experts said, sincemost carriers are interested in finding ways to relieve cellularnetwork congestion, such as by offloading traffic to Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi Alliance CEO Edgar Figueroa said Passpoint is popular amongthe 30 carriers in the alliance, which includes AT&T, T-Mobileand Verizon, but not Sprint. "A number of carriers are tracking Passpoint and adopting trials,preparing to roll it out," Figueroa said, although he wouldn't namespecific carriers. "Operators have every incentive to supportPasspoint. They'd rather use Wi-Fi than wireless spectrum." Figueroa said Passpoint's greatest potential is in providing userswith smooth Wi-Fi handoff capability, regardless of the carrier,when roaming in another country or in the U.S. "Passpoint would be a big benefit if moving about in your own city,or getting to the airport or a restaurant," he added. "Today, eacharea of a hotspot has a different logon and the experience is verydifferent, but all that will go away with Passpoint,automatically." Figueroa said the Passpoint certification process relies uponinteroperability across carriers globally. He said he didn't knowwhat AT&T might do with its own proprietary approach to hotspotoffloading to free hotspots, or whether AT&T might cooperatewith other carriers. In a statement, the alliance said: "It would be possible for aproprietary solution to accomplish similar functionality toPasspoint, but only on an operator's own network with a specificset of equipment ...The long-term view of Passpoint's value is thatas a standard solution available on multiple operator networks anda wide diversity of equipment, it is an essential element ofrealizing the 'cellular-like' experience while roaming, [including]access to the services of your home provider while connectingthrough a partner's hotspot. This would also give providers theability to reach their subscribers [in] more places, including intheir home, and more options about how to provide services short ofbuilding their own networks." Matt Hamblen covers mobile and wireless, smartphones and otherhandhelds, and wireless networking for Computerworld. Follow Matton Twitter at @matthamblen or subscribe to Matt's RSS feed . His email address is . See more by Matt Hamblen on Computerworld.com. Read more about wireless networking in Computerworld's Wireless Networking Topic Center. I am an expert from portable-data-terminals.com, while we provides the quality product, such as China Handheld PDA Devices , Rugged Industrial Computer, GSM Wireless Terminal,and more.
Related Articles -
China Handheld PDA Devices, Rugged Industrial Computer,
|
