Hotspot 2.

0 - Enabler and
equalizer
Two specifications 802.11u and Hotspot 2.0 have emerged to
facilitate MOBILE devices to discover and automatically connect to Wi-Fi
hotspot networks that their mobile or roaming subscription includes. The
dream of seamless mobile to Wi-Fi roaming is close.

Hotspot 2.0 is a Wi-Fi Alliance initiated specification for automated secure
authentication, and device discovery and selection. It is intended to enable
seamless roaming between cellular and Wi-Fi networks, and it is
accompanied by a CERTIFICATION PROGRAM known as Passpoint
interoperability certification. Hotspot 2.0 incorporates a significant portion of
the IEEE 802.11u standard which is designed to enable interworking with
external networks

What Hotspot 2.0 does
Hotspot 2.0 compliant mobile devices or Passpoint devices can discover
more about the access points they detect around them. By interrogating
Passpoint-compliant APs, a Wi-Fi client can learn which mobile operator
networks are accessible through that hotspot, and automatically join the best
network for which it has valid credentials.

Mobile devices can thus make intelligent, policy-driven network selection, and
when they have credentials for one of the service providers offering access,
they can connect seamlessly using SIM or Non-SIM authentication without
user intervention.

Hotspot 2.0 enables the seamless mobile to Wi-Fi roaming and Wi-Fi offload,
that the industry has been moving toward for some time, and rapid adoption is
expected, but some operators are on the fence. On the flipside, it is also a key
component in enabling roaming partnerships between operators.

So, as much as Hotspot 2.0 is an enabler, it is also a great equalizer. It makes
it easier for new players to get into Wi-Fi roaming GAME , and for smaller
mobile operators to rapidly expand their roaming footprint, through
partnerships with other Hotspot 2.0 networks. Who forges roaming
agreements with whom, will be a crucial factor in how carrier Wi-Fi plays out
over the coming years.

Other roaming initiatives
Hotspot 2.0 is just one of several related initiatives. With Hotspot 2.0, the
decision to switch networks is device driven. But Service Providers are
already looking beyond this to a scheme known as network-directed roaming,
in which the network, not the device, makes the roaming decision. This could
be done for a number of reasons: to optimize spectrum efficiency, manage
capacity or perhaps favor less expensive roaming partners over expensive
ones. Such capabilities are expected to exist in Hotspot 2.0 release 2 and in
the 3GPP's Access Network Discovery and Selection Function (ANDSF)
enhancements expected in 3GPP Rel 12. But in order for this to work, Hotspot
2.0 and ANDSF need to be joined at the hip and Ericsson is behind that
happening.

CableLabs has its own initiatives too. The ROAM specification defines
architecture requirements for best effort data roaming among cable operator
Wi-Fi networks and its Wireless Service Locator initiative is an attempt to build
a master directory for SHARING Wi-Fi hotspot location information.

All of these initiatives ultimately have similar goals, but they are being driven
by three competing forces, the Wi-Fi industry, the Mobile industry and the
Cable industry, so there is some inevitable conflict of interests. In the final
analysis, it is likely support for all of these standards will be needed to fully
realize the dream of seamless session MOBILITY not just device mobility
between heterogeneous Wi-Fi and Cellular networks.

Carrier Wi-Fi momentum
Many operators are still on the fence about Hotspot 2.0 and have not
committed to it fully. A recent report from Infonetics indicates 40% of
operators expect to integrate Hostpot 2.0 into more than 50% of their installed
access points by 2015. While Comcast, who is a member of the CableWiFi
consortium, has recently indicated it is on their roadmap, few service
providers have implemented anything yet. Two notable exceptions are TWC
and Boingo. In April 2014 Time Warner Cable, another CableWiFi consortium
member, launched TWCWiFi-Passpoint on its 33K strong hotspot network,
claiming it to be the largest Passpoint-enabled network in the country to-date.
Boingo has begun to roll it out too, and currently has Hotspot 2.0 enabled at
23 US airports.

Nevertheless, latest reports show no let-up in Wi-Fi equipment purchases. Wi-
Fi enabled Small cells are forecast to grow at 122% CAGR thru 2020.
Wireless AP shipments to services providers have grown 100% annually,
since 2010 according to Del Oro, while Research Markets reports a CAGR of
33.34% overall for the Global Carrier Wi-Fi Equipment Market thru 2016.

WLAN equipment vendors and device vendors have been faster to embrace
Hotspot 2.0 than the carriers themselves. By the end of 2014, all major WLAN
vendors will support it and many already do. Hotspot 2.0 support incorporated
into Apples latest iOS 7means that 60+% of the installed base of Apple
smartphones and tablets are Hotspot 2.0 ready. While Samsung already
announced Hotspot 2.0 support in April 2013 with the launch of the Galaxy
S4.

The Race for Hotspots
For years, MSOs have been in a race to capture the best Wi-Fi real-estate:
large public venues, HOTEL chains, food and retail chains and transportation
hubs. Now there is a real race to grow the biggest Wi-Fi roaming network and
marketing race to claim the most hotspots. For example, the CableWiFi
consortium comprising Cablevision, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox
Communications and Bright House Networks recently announced their
network has grown to 250,000 hotspots, available to qualified customers of its
six members, while individual members are making their own announcements:
Comcast claims over 1M Xfinity hotspots deployed with ambitions to grow it to
8 million by end of 2014; TWC claims 33K and so on.

The recent claim from Comcast of 1M hotspots may seem exaggerated, but it
depends what youre counting. As in the case of BT in the UK who claims
5.2M hotspots. How many of these are their own, or part of FONs network, or
those of a partner is anyones guess. The fact is, these hotspots are not the
traditional hotspot that comes to mind, in a mall or fast food restaurant. Over
95% of BTs hotspot network consists of residential homespots which SHARE
a part of their capacity under a public SSID for roaming BT subscribers.
Whatever the number, whatever the format, we are seeing an explosion of
both Carrier Wi-Fi deployments and claims.

The Hotspot redefined
Hotspot count variation is due in part to a blurry definition of what a Wi-Fi
hotspot is, and in part to ambiguity about whether ones own device count or
footprint is being measured. Either way, todays Wi-Fi hotspot can be pretty
much any Wi-Fi device that allows secure or unsecured access to the internet
to guests or visitors. So a hotspot can now manifest as the traditional Wi-Fi
zone in a mall or airport, Wi-Fi access at a retailer and Wi-Fi roaming service
outside someones home.

Following BTs lead, Cable operators have latched onto the homespot
concept, and plan to upgrade large numbers of Wi-Fi enabled residential
gateways to broadcast Hotspot 2.0 enabled SSIDs to the roaming subscriber
base. Since cable operators collectively serve over 50% of US homes, the
number of hotspots or homespots they could enabled is staggering. Read
more about Cable operators rolling out homespots. BT incidentally has
already begun to monetize its Homespot network beyond the existing
subscriber base. It now offers pre-paid Wi-Fi roaming plans (by-the-hour, day,
or month) to anyone. Pre-pay is likely to be one of the top monetization
strategies of hotspot operators.

Wi-Fi Hotspot features
Wi-Fi functionality on most residential broadband routers is pretty basic. It was
not designed for being an intelligent node in a metropolitan wide Wi-Fi
roaming network. To build a reliable and scalable hotspot network as an
overlay on existing Wi-Fi infrastructure, service providers will need to step-up
Wi-Fi management from radio resource management (RRM) to security and
roaming to application-specific QoS, borrowing many features that exist today
in enterprise-grade WLAN systems.

Services Providers have a journey ahead of them to make Wi-Fi a profit
center in their network. They will need to add functionality to installed
equipment, and integrate Wi-Fi management with Subscriber systems and
OSS. Time to market is critical, as the land grab is ongoing and the partnering
frenzy just ahead.

embedUR systems and Hotspot 2.0
embedUR is an embedded systems engineering firm specializing in Wireless.
In the context of this article, embedUR works with leading WLAN and Telco
equipment providers to help them build the Wi-Fi features needed by Service
Providers for their existing and future Wi-Fi hotspot networks.