Boingo Wireless, the leading distributed antenna system (DAS), small cells and Wi-Fi provider that serves consumers, carriers and advertisers worldwide, has announced the successful deployment of Wi-Fi 6 at John Wayne Airport (SNA) in Orange County, Calif. The launch is part of a commercial trial to test next-generation Wi-Fi capabilities and marks the first known Wi-Fi 6 deployment at a major airport.
“Wi-Fi 6 is a strategic pillar of Boingo’s technology roadmap to elevate wireless performance and equip airports and other large venues with connectivity solutions for the 5G world,” said Dr. Derek Peterson, chief technology officer, Boingo. “It meets key 5G requirements to power a broad range of connected use cases in dense environments with greater capacity, speed and scalability. We’re pleased to be among the first to put Wi-Fi 6 in action and work alongside the team at John Wayne Airport to move the technology from lab to real-world launch.”
Wi-Fi 6 is a new industry standard that was developed to advance Wi-Fi capabilities to effectively handle growing traffic demands. It is based on the 802.11ax specification and introduces new features to deliver faster speeds, higher density and faster throughput. Boingo deployed Cisco Wi-Fi 6 technology in SNA’s administration building. To test the network, Samsung Electronics provided SNA staff with early release Samsung Galaxy devices with 802.11ax chipsets. The Samsung Galaxy S10, which launched in February 2019, is the first family of smartphones with Wi-Fi 6 support. Staff used the Galaxy devices to carry out day-to-day administrative tasks and stream high bandwidth content, experiencing Wi-Fi 6’s high data rates and ultrafast speeds firsthand.
“This trial is part of our commitment to innovation and adopting technologies that are essential to providing a superior guest experience,” said Barry Rondinella, Airport Director, John Wayne Airport. “The Wi-Fi 6 network impressed our team, giving us wireless connectivity with no lag, no buffering and incredible speeds.”
SNA recently ranked as the highest rated airport by J.D. Power for customer satisfaction among large airports in North America for the second consecutive year. It was also voted #4 on Travel + Leisure’s “10 Best Domestic Airports” list.
Boingo and SNA are continuing their trial, exploring new use cases to realize the full potential of Wi-Fi 6 in airports.
