By Claus Hetting, WiFi NOW CEO & Chairman
If you’ve been looking for the definitive technical guide to Wi-Fi offloading then you’re in luck – because Enea (Aptilo Networks is now a fully integrated part of Enea) just released what is really the ultimate handbook in offloading technology, architectures, and deployment. With more than a hundred clients – many of them carriers – Enea is arguably by far the most experienced vendor on the market when it comes to offloading & Wi-Fi service management solutions for carriers. Download the new paper here.
Wi-Fi offloading – meaning the seamless integration of Wi-Fi into the mobile service fabric – is on the rise with multiple vendors now reporting a significant increase in interest in offload from carriers all over the world. The drivers are many including high deployment cost of indoor mobile coverage for carriers and poor indoor 5G signal penetration. But how exactly does carrier-grade Wi-Fi offloading work?
Enea (previously Aptilo Networks) last week issued the definitive technical guide to Wi-Fi offloading. While the principle of Wi-Fi offloading as a starting point is relatively simple, the technology ‘under the hood’ of offload solutions is often complex because they involve more than a handful protocol and architectural options that interconnect Wi-Fi and cellular networks in various ways to ensure network discovery, various forms of authentication, security, service policies, and more.
The new paper covers not only all the 3GPP architectural options but also such topics as device network selection, Passpoint settings, real-world deployment options including local WLAN breakout, access through DPI, integration with EPC, details on OpenRoaming, Wi-Fi QoE, and much more. The highly recommended paper does a great job in making this complex topic accessible to IT and telecoms engineers – even to those without previous detailed knowledge on this subject.
The new paper “Wi-Fi Offloading, How?” is the companion volume to “Wi-Fi Offloading, Why?” released previously and reviewed by us here. Both are excellent and can be read independently or in sequence. Make sure you download your copy of both or either papers by clicking here. Both are authored by Wi-Fi veteran and Senior Director of Marketing at Enea, Johan Terve.
/Claus.