There’s no contest: Passengers’ favorite travel companions today are their connected devices.
Nielsen recently found that travelers are more likely to own smartphones and tablets than the general population, with 75 percent owning a smartphone and 44 percent owning a tablet. These devices are their lifelines to work, family and friends, entertainment and the vital travel information they need at their fingertips. And few things are more frustrating–and anger inducing–for travelers than having to fumble with WiFi passwords or reset their wireless settings to get connected when seconds count before a flight takes off.
New wireless standards are arriving at major airports across the United States that will make these occasional wireless annoyances history. Called Passpoint, the technology is a revolutionary new set of wireless protocols that enable seamless, secure, automatic WiFi access, with no user action needed. Passpoint networks have the power to fundamentally change the way consumers connect to WiFi, doing away with public WiFi network log-ins and browser redirects, dramatically improving the experience of connecting to WiFi.
Developed by a joint task force of leading wireless industry trade groups and more than 75 of the world’s biggest wireless providers, including AT&T, BT and Time Warner Cable, the Passpoint standards are finally moving rapidly from years of lab testing to consumer venues. Airports are leading the charge and pioneering Passpoint adoption across the United States. In the first quarter of 2014, 23 of the largest airports in the United States, including Chicago O’Hare, JFK, LAX and Austin-Bergstrom International airports launched secure Passpoint networks with wireless partner Boingo Wireless, making this improved wireless experience available initially to power users and soon to all travelers.
With Passpoint-enabled networks launching throughout cities such as San Francisco and San Jose, and across service provider networks like Time Warner Cable’s 33,000 U.S. hotspots, tech-savvy travelers will soon come to expect the ease and safety of Passpoint connections. Airports large and small will soon need to ready their networks for the coming Passpoint revolution.
The Passpoint Experience
The Passpoint protocols were developed in response to the huge data onslaught in the advent of the smartphone to enable seamless access to WiFi networks, making offload from overtaxed cellular networks to fast and available WiFi networks possible.
With improved consumer experiences at the heart of the standards, Passpoint delivers a number of benefits to passengers and airports:
Seamless, Secure Customer Experience: Travelers with a Passpoint profile installed on their late model device can enjoy an automatic connection from the moment they enter the airport or step off the plane. By the time their device knows WiFi is available, they’re already online. The Passpoint networks also provide a WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access) encrypted connection automatically, ensuring enterprise-level security, with no additional software or Virtual Private Network (or VPNs) needed. In short, travelers get connected faster to a safer network–a vast improvement on today’s connectivity experience.
Improved Accessibility for All Passengers: The Passpoint protocols were designed with inter-operator roaming in mind. Passpoint networks can be leveraged for cellular network offload, ensuring load balancing that keeps customers on both the WiFi and cellular networks connected and happy. The networks can also be used by other service providers to augment their services–such as Time Warner Cable’s recent roaming agreement with Boingo that will give millions of Time Warner customers access to Boingo’s “Passpoint Secure” airport WiFi networks as soon as they walk in the doors of the terminal.
Future Revenue Potential for Airports: With Passpoint, the infrastructure is in place for seamless access by potentially millions of users. With an automatic connect–that is paid for by a primary service provider, like a wireless carrier or cable operator–Passpoint has the power to create an incremental revenue opportunity for the airport and service providers alike, even when free WiFi service is available.
Happier Travelers, Better Connections: An important by-product of this new seamless, secure connectivity is a reduction in complaints and questions to airport staff about the airport networks. Travelers who can simply connect, send those last important emails, and download work files before the flight without having to hassle with network permissions and settings can spend spare minutes at airport concessions, and airports can reallocate staff time from network troubleshooting to enhanced customer care or other operations duties.
Seamless connectivity doesn’t mean that airports lose the ability to connect with travelers through their devices. The Wireless Broadband Alliance, one of the leading industry groups behind the standards, is currently in advanced policy management trials, which are designed to ensure that venue and network owners can still offer personalized wireless experiences to patrons, and keep that connection with the customer between the digital and physical worlds.
Prepping for Passpoint
Creating a truly ubiquitous Passpoint connectivity experience does require network investments, ranging from new hardware to firmware updates, and continued support from popular device manufacturers for the Passpoint standards.
Airports looking to offer the most advanced connectivity experiences should assess their networks and consider the following:
Network Upgrades: Passpoint networks require hardware supporting the Hotspot 2.0 technical specification created by the WiFi Alliance, which makes the seamless hand-off between networks possible. Networks that have not been upgraded in the last three or more years might need updated access points installed. Networks that have been updated with new access points in the last 18 to 24 months may be able to support Hotspot 2.0 with a quick firmware upgrade. Airport IT departments should do a full survey of their current network to determine Passpoint readiness, and the steps necessary to get there.
Capacity Considerations: As more wireless carriers and device manufacturers support Passpoint connectivity, potentially millions more travelers each year could seamlessly connect onto an airport network–and networks will need to be ready to handle the demand. While WiFi network upgrades are essential to enable Passpoint, airports should also consider installing or upgrading a cellular Distributed Antenna System (DAS) network at their airport. DAS networks provide additional coverage and capacity within large-scale venues like airports, where high consumer and data traffic can cause network congestion. DAS and WiFi networks are complementary to one another, and Passpoint connectivity makes the transition from one network to another invisible to the user.
Managing Passpoint: Though by definition Passpoint can make instant, invisible switches between networks, those seamless connections are a product of pre-negotiated roaming agreements, and sophisticated network configurations. Airport IT staff or airport wireless partners will need to be well versed in the Wireless Broadband Alliance’s Interoperability Compliance Program (ICP) defining roaming protocol standards and implementation, may need to negotiate service provider roaming agreements, and will need to closely monitor network performance.
With major airports, tech-savvy cities, leading wireless providers, and major device manufacturers, such as Apple and Samsung, embracing Passpoint, the next generation of wireless connectivity has officially arrived. Travelers will soon come to expect the invisible, secure connectivity as a standard technology amenity on the road. With recent trailblazing network launches at some of the highest traffic airports in the nation, airports are poised to be pioneers in this new era of wireless.
Author bio
As chief technology officer, Derek Peterson is responsible for building and operating Boingo's core technologies and systems, including Web applications, client software, networks, authentication, billing, business intelligence and IT infrastructure. He leads the company’s efforts in deploying Passpoint networks at consumer venues nationwide. Peterson holds a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from the University of Maryland, a Master’s degree in education and technology from American Intercontinental University, and a doctorate incomputer science with a focus on enterprise information systems from Colorado Technical University.
