UPDATED 06:11 EDT / FEBRUARY 24 2012

New Age Hotspots Rescue You from 3G Nightmares

As service providers figure out how how to make their 4G dreams come true, others are focusing on Wi-Fi.  Since consumers are plagued by skyrocketing bills or suffer poor service because they exceeded their allotted monthly data plan, companies are now working hard to help consumers solve these issues.

New Kind Of Hotspots

The Wireless Broadband Alliance, the industry association focused on driving the next generation Wi-Fi experience, announced this week that many of the world’s largest operators and vendors such as AT&T, China Mobile, BT, NTT DoCoMo and Orange have successfully participated in trials of Next Generation Hotspots that drastically simplify Wi-Fi hotspot access.  It is expected that in the next 12 months, the first NGH deployments will take place and will be organizing trials of more advanced technology features in second half of 2012.

“The Next Generation Hotspots are vastly easier for users to find and use because, like the cellular network, devices can securely automatically connect with no need for users manually entering usernames or passwords,” explained the WBA post.

“This overcomes the issue of users knowing which hotspots they can access or how to connect. It also allows mobile operators, who increasingly have their own or partner hotspot networks, to ‘offload’ many more users from their busy mobile broadband networks. The new hotspots feature similar levels of security to the cellular network including end-to-end radio link encryption and SIM authentication.”

According to a report from GigaOm, the biggest benefit of NGH is its support for complex roaming arrangements.  “NGH will be able to negotiate those multi-leveled agreements, allowing devices to not only connect to multiple networks seamlessly but also prioritize which networks they connect to.”

NGH is greatly similar to Wi-Fi Alliance’s Passpoint which will launch in July.  The Wi-Fi Alliance closely worked with the WBA to harmonize the two standards to better serve consumers and to help congested networks breathe.

“As an industry-wide solution, Passpoint will work in any network and overcome the limitations of proprietary, non-interoperable solutions offered by some providers today,” the Alliance said in a statement.

Qualcomm Launches 802.11ac Wi-Fi

Qualcomm Atheros Inc., the networking and connectivity subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, announced the launch of the 802.11ac Wi-Fi ecosystem – the newest chapter in the Wi-Fi technology evolution— that expands performance and coverage to enable HD video-grade connectivity across increasingly crowded networks. Qualcomm’s portfolio of 802.11ac products target mobile, home and office networking, including smartphones, tablets, PCs, laptops, televisions, home routers, gateways and enterprise access points. Qualcomm is introducing its multi-channel portfolio to enable end-to-end 802.11ac performance benefits to speed adoption of the new Gigabit-capable Wi-Fi networking technology.

“Qualcomm Atheros is enabling a client-to-infrastructure 802.11ac ecosystem by combining its Wi-Fi expertise across virtually all segments with Qualcomm’s position in mobile channels,” said Craig Barratt, president, Qualcomm Atheros.

“By enabling client devices, such as smartphones, tablets and notebooks, with easy migration from 802.11n to 802.11ac, Qualcomm Atheros is paving the way for rapid adoption of products based on the new Wi-Fi standard. This should provide for a smooth, full-scale transition to Gigabit-capable Wi-Fi networking within the next two years.”

And Since Wi-Fi is now a commodity, Ruckus Wireless will debut as a cellular infrastructure vendor at the Mobile World Congress next week.  The Wi-Fi specialist will unveil the   Ruckus SmartCell lineup which includes a multi-radio outdoor access point and a gateway for managing hundreds of thousands of APs and small cells from different vendors.


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