A major milestone for the new Hotspot 2.0-era for seamless roaming between Wi-Fi and cellular networks: the new Galaxy S4 smartphone from Samsung ships with enabled Passpoint, which is the Wi-Fi Alliance’s designation for devices that support the Hotspot 2.0 standard.
According to Ruckus Wireless‘ blog, the Galaxy S4 is the first device to do so and represents a major leap forward for the next-generation Wi-Fi technology. The standard enables users to connect to Wi-Fi networks without having to enter password authentication or otherwise approving Wi-Fi roaming, which has so far been a major hurdle for Wi-Fi offload and roaming. Certification testing for the new standard just started in June of last year, according to the Wi-Fi Alliance. However, some sources say that the networks themselves are not likely to be available until 2014.
AT&T and Verizon Wireless also recently announced a series of new LTE markets. The markets are mostly smaller urban and suburban areas, reflecting the increasing spread of the carriers’ LTE networks.
AT&T turned on LTE in several Texas cities including Paris, Athens and Huntsville; Mechanicsburg, Pa.; Gulfport/Biloxi, Miss.; Shreveport, La.; Lansing, Mich.; Tucson, Ariz.; and Huntsville/Decatur and Cullman, Ala.
Verizon Wireless concentrated its efforts in Virginia, with LTE coverage expanded in Lunenburg and Culpeper counties and in the southwestern area of the state; Ohio, with expanded coverage in the state’s northwestern and southeast regions; and Huntingdon and Bedford counties in Pennsylvania.
Boingo Wireless expanded its relationship with GOWEX, which provides Wi-Fi in major European cities and on public transportation. Boingo’s customers gain access to an additional 1,400 hotspots in more than 50 cities in Spain, France, Ireland and Belgium through the roaming relationship. The company’s wholesale partners, which self-brand Boingo’s services to their own customers, also will have access to GOWEX’s network; those partners include KT, LGU +, NTT DOCOMO, Skype and Verizon.
Boingo also appointed Nick Hulse president of the company. Hulse was most recently chief revenue officer for the Rubicon Project, and previously held senior executive roles at iPass and Microsoft. He will report to CEO Dave Hagan.
Harris Communications said it installed a public safety distributed antenna system at multi-industry manufacturing company SPX Corp.’s headquarters in Ballantyne Corporate Place, Charlotte, N.C. Antennas are installed above the ceiling to address aesthetics, and the infrastructure allows for future addition of a repeater if the company opts to improve its cellular coverage as well.
