The Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA), the industry body for Wi-Fi standards and services, announced the successful completion of an advanced public Wi-Fi OpenRoaming proof-of-concept (PoC) in Shoreditch, London. This achievement comes through collaboration with CIN, a provider of streetside telecoms infrastructure assets, Colt Technology Services, and GlobalReach Technology. The PoC facilitated seamless Wi-Fi connectivity for phone users, allowing them to transition between cellular and Wi-Fi networks via an existing OpenRoaming profile or app, WBA said on Tuesday.
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Seamless Wi-Fi Connectivity
WBA OpenRoaming is an open connectivity framework designed to automatically and securely connect billions of users and things to millions of Wi-Fi networks globally through its roaming federation service. It enables users to connect automatically to Wi-Fi securely using a profile of their choice on their device. Additionally, mobile carriers can opt to offload their cellular traffic selectively to Wi-Fi, ensuring users are consistently connected to the best available network, according to the official release.
Integration of OpenRoaming Capabilities
The PoC was based on the CIN 'Street Arc' concept, a streetside infrastructure solution supporting mobile networks, Wi-Fi networks, Edge, and IoT Networks. Street Arc has been enhanced to integrate OpenRoaming capabilities, facilitating seamless offloading of cellular traffic to Wi-Fi in high-traffic areas.
Reportedly, Street Arc installations utilise the Cisco Meraki MR36 access point and GlobalReach’s GlobalRo.am app to enable users to connect to the Wi-Fi network automatically, supported by the OpenRoaming standard. Meanwhile, Colt provides fiber and network connectivity.
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Trial Results
Tiago Rodrigues, CEO of the Wireless Broadband Alliance, said, "Cities and municipalities seek to provide automatic, quality, and secure Wi-Fi connectivity, this is exactly what OpenRoaming delivers. This is the kind of initiative our organization endorses; it supports our mission to enable collaboration between service providers, technology companies, cities, regulators and organizations. We look forward to the widespread deployment of these services after the successful conclusion of this live proof of concept."
According to the official release, Colt has provisioned a capacity of 100G to the CIN Street Arc, and the trial achieved impressive download speeds of 340 Mbps and upload speeds of 350 Mbps. Looking ahead, the deployment will extend to numerous locations throughout the UK and internationally.
