If you've been paying even a slight bit of attention to carriers over the past year and change, you'd know that a number of 'em are resorting to citywide WiFi networks in order to relieve some of the stress being placed on their 3G networks. It's definitely a viable solution for a problem that requires oodles to time (and far too many signatures) to plant new cell sites, but there's a looming issue: compatibility. Naturally, the Wi-Fi Alliance is all over it, today launching an initiative to transform the user experience in hotspots. The Wi-Fi Certified hotspot testbed will address authentication and provision of service for public WiFi networks, essentially acting to 'facilitate the seamless handoff of cellular traffic from smartphones, tablets and other portable electronics to WiFi, helping service providers manage demands on constrained licensed spectrum.' We're told that the program will allow devices to 'discover and automatically choose networks based upon user preferences, operator policies and network optimization,' and in many cases, they'll be automatically granted access to the network based upon credential mechanisms, such as SIM cards. Hard to say what this will mean for limits and structuring, but we're bound to find out more as the 1H 2012 target launch date draws nearer. Full release is after the break, per usual.
Wi-Fi Alliance launches hotspot certification program, aims to ease cell-to-WiFi handoff woes originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Mar 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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