The development paves the way for the rollout of WBA OpenRoaming across in-home Wifi and wide-area wireless broadband networks.
Bridging the gap between cellular and Wifi while maintaining full control of privacy, the trials were conducted in Paris, France and Istanbul, Turkey. They took place in two phases and involved WBA member Airties.
Tiago Rodrigues, CEO of WBA, said: “WBA OpenRoaming is driving seamless Wi-Fi roaming and the convergence of Wi-Fi 6 and 5G. We’re beginning to see entire market segments open themselves up to the possibilities that lie ahead due to WBA OpenRoaming. Thanks to Airties, these trials have proved another important piece of the importance of OpenRoaming for residential market and bring us one step closer to bridging the gap between Wi-Fi and cellular for a truly connected world.”
Conducted by Airties, the trial was carried out in two phases. The first, which covered OpenRoaming settlement-free access, used Google Pixel 2 and Samsung Galaxy S21 devices. Once the functionality had been enabled on these devices, they were able to automatically connect to the residential guest network using the Google and Samsung account IDs of their owners, instead of having to enter credentials manually.
The second phase demonstrated access to the same residential Wifi network by using a third-party Single Digits ID after first downloading and installing a Wifi profile on the aforementioned mobile phones.
Metin Taskin, CTO of Airties, said: “Our successful completion of this trial with WBA OpenRoaming is a major step forward for frictionless residential Wi-Fi access. For cellular service providers, it will facilitate more seamless and secure mobile offloading, aimed at reducing their network costs and enhancing Internet coverage for their subscribers. For consumers, it removes the hassle of entering login credentials as their devices roam securely between cellular and Wi-Fi networks. WBA continues to be a major driving force in the evolution of wireless broadband, and Airties is proud of our deep and ongoing collaboration to serve operators across the globe.”
Blaz Vavpetic, CTO of Single Digits, said: “Our collaboration with Airties demonstrates Single Digits’ role as an OpenRoaming Broker and is part of an ongoing effort to quantify Quality of Experience for our carrier off-load and venue partners, giving them confidence in their subscriber’s connected experience to Passpoint networks.”
