This blog was written by Josh Heller, CEO and Co-Founder of LongFi Solutions.

Houston, TX — July 2026 — LongFi Solutions, in collaboration with Cambium Networks and the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA), has successfully completed a live OpenRoaming® deployment across participating venues in Houston’s East Downtown district during the World Cup. The initiative demonstrated how seamless, secure, automatic connectivity can transform guest experiences in high density environments where traditional cellular networks often struggle, while validating the scalability and interoperability of OpenRoaming in a real-world deployment.

Delivering Automatic, Carrier Grade Connectivity in Real World Conditions

As match day crowds surged through Houston’s East Downtown, local venues faced a familiar challenge: mobile devices showing full signal bars but struggling to maintain reliable connectivity as nearby macro cellular networks became congested.

LongFi’s OpenRoaming enabled platform provided a seamless alternative, allowing guests to connect automatically without passwords, splash pages, or manual sign-ups. LongFi Connect, powered by Cambium Networks’ WBA OpenRoaming certified XV2-2T1 access points, delivered secure WPA3 Enterprise authentication and a frictionless user experience throughout the deployment.

Because the network already supported Passpoint (Hotspot 2.0), enabling OpenRoaming was remarkably straightforward. By simply adding the WBA OpenRoaming Roaming Consortium Organization Identifiers (RCOIs) to the existing Passpoint profile, compatible devices from participating identity providers were able to discover and securely join the network automatically.

“Adding OpenRoaming to an existing Passpoint deployment is quick and easy. Pasting the WBA RCOIs into the Hotspot 2.0 profile takes under five minutes, allowing compatible devices to begin connecting automatically.”

– LongFi Solutions

Sunset Rooftop Lounge: A High-Density Testbed

One of LongFi’s venue partners, Sunset Rooftop Lounge, sits just steps from Shell Energy Stadium and adjacent to the fan festival area. As Houston’s only rooftop bar with a fully retractable roof, Sunset regularly fills before and after matches, creating an ideal environment to validate OpenRoaming performance under real-world, high-density conditions.

“Match day crowds overwhelm the cell towers around us. LongFi kept our guests connected automatically, no passwords, no sign-ups, nothing for them to do. It just worked, even when the neighbourhood was packed.”

– Sunset Rooftop Lounge, Houston

The deployment operated alongside point-of-sale systems, surveillance cameras, and event operations without introducing additional complexity for venue staff.

Real World Deployment Results

Between 11 June and 19 July 2026, the LongFi network recorded more than 400,000 unique client connections across participating venues throughout Houston’s East Downtown district.

OpenRoaming was introduced during the deployment period and immediately began authenticating users through multiple OpenRoaming identity providers, validating interoperability across the global federation in a live production environment.

The deployment also demonstrated how OpenRoaming can be rapidly introduced into existing Passpoint networks with minimal operational effort, allowing venues to extend secure automatic connectivity without redesigning their wireless infrastructure.

Technical Foundation: Engineered for High Density Performance

Supporting hundreds of thousands of client associations across a busy entertainment district required more than simply deploying additional access points. LongFi engineered the network specifically for high density public environments using proven RF design principles and modern Wi-Fi optimization techniques.

Directional outdoor antennas were used to create smaller, higher capacity coverage cells while improving signal quality over greater distances. Narrow channel widths reduced interference, legacy data rates were removed to maximise airtime efficiency, and modern roaming standards including IEEE 802.11r, 802.11k, and 802.11v ensured seamless mobility between access points.

Client isolation, proxy ARP, multicast and broadcast filtering, intelligent roaming thresholds, and airtime optimization further enhanced overall network performance.

The objective throughout the deployment was to maintain a voice grade Wi-Fi experience with high airtime availability, low latency, minimal retries, and negligible packet loss, even during periods of peak demand.

Cambium Networks: OpenRoaming Certified Infrastructure

The deployment leveraged Cambium Networks’ OpenRoaming certified Wi-Fi infrastructure, providing the secure Passpoint foundation required for automatic onboarding and authentication.

Cambium’s OpenRoaming certified portfolio includes:

  • X7‑55X (Tokyo 2026)
  • X7‑35X, X7‑55X, X7‑53X (Bangkok 2025)
  • XV2‑22H, XV2‑2 (India 2024)

This certification ensures interoperability with identity providers, mobile network operators, MVNOs, and venue networks participating in the OpenRoaming ecosystem.

As OpenRoaming adoption continues to expand globally, continued industry support for technologies such as native Radsec and IPv6 will further simplify interoperability between venues, operators, and identity providers while enabling increasingly seamless roaming experiences across multiple organizations.

A Global Identity Ecosystem in Action

The World Cup brought significant international fan traffic into Houston’s East Downtown district, particularly during periods when Japan played in Texas. Match day activity extended well beyond the stadium itself, with supporters gathering across fan festival areas, restaurants, bars, and surrounding entertainment venues.

During one of these peak attendance periods, LongFi observed automatic OpenRoaming authentications from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Public Wi-Fi identity provider, demonstrating how visitors could securely connect thousands of miles from home using their existing trusted credentials.

This real-world interoperability highlighted one of OpenRoaming’s greatest strengths: allowing users to experience seamless connectivity across countries, operators, and venue owners without requiring additional applications or registration.

Commercial and Operational Insights

The Houston deployment also provided valuable operational insights into deploying OpenRoaming at scale.

Adding OpenRoaming to an existing Passpoint deployment required only a few minutes of configuration, making it one of the simplest enhancements available for organizations already supporting Hotspot 2.0.

LongFi also observed that devices configured with multiple SIMs or enterprise connectivity profiles frequently preferred the secure OpenRoaming connection over traditional cellular data, highlighting OpenRoaming’s ability to become the preferred access network when available.

Operating costs remained low compared with traditional mobile device onboarding or management platforms. Because users authenticate automatically using trusted identities, organizations avoid many of the licensing, operational, and support costs associated with conventional onboarding solutions while still delivering enterprise grade security.

Key Outcomes and Lessons Learned

The Houston deployment generated valuable technical and commercial insights.

  • Automatic connectivity enhances the guest experience. Guests connected securely without passwords or splash pages, validating OpenRoaming’s core promise of frictionless onboarding.
  • Existing Passpoint deployments can enable OpenRoaming rapidly. Organizations already supporting Passpoint can introduce OpenRoaming with only minimal configuration changes by adding the appropriate WBA RCOIs.
  • High density environments require intelligent RF engineering. Directional antennas, airtime optimization, roaming enhancements, narrow channel planning, and modern Wi-Fi standards all contributed to maintaining excellent user experiences during peak event periods.
  • Voice grade Wi-Fi scales effectively. Optimized airtime management and efficient handling of transient clients enabled reliable connectivity for large numbers of users while maintaining excellent performance for voice calling and real time applications.
  • Identity provider participation drives adoption. The percentage of automatically connected users increased as additional identity providers joined the OpenRoaming federation, reinforcing the value of continued ecosystem growth.

Looking Ahead

LongFi Solutions, Cambium Networks, and the Wireless Broadband Alliance see OpenRoaming extending well beyond guest Wi-Fi.

Future deployments will focus on enterprise BYOD onboarding, hospitality, municipalities, entertainment districts, campuses, and multi venue business communities where seamless connectivity enhances both visitor experiences and operational efficiency.

OpenRoaming also represents a compelling alternative to traditional captive portals and complex device onboarding workflows by enabling secure, self-service onboarding using trusted identities. As industry adoption continues to accelerate, continued evolution of open standards and interoperability will further simplify deployment while delivering seamless, secure connectivity across cities, venues, and organizations worldwide.

“Adding cellular or Wi-Fi capacity for large events is often logistically infeasible. OpenRoaming lets networks scale at the community level. Businesses of any size in an entertainment district can integrate Passpoint and OpenRoaming into existing Wi-Fi with less than an hour of configuration. Users get seamless, secure connectivity from hotel to restaurant to venue and back, allowing them to message friends and family, access ticketing and payment apps, and spend more time enjoying their visit instead of struggling with captive portals.”

LongFi Solutions

About LongFi Solutions

LongFi Solutions delivers carrier grade connectivity platforms designed for high density venues, public spaces, and enterprise environments. LongFi Connect integrates Passpoint, OpenRoaming, and advanced RF engineering to provide seamless, secure, automatic connectivity.

About Cambium Networks

Cambium Networks provides wireless broadband solutions for enterprise, industrial, and service provider networks. Its OpenRoaming certified access points support secure, interoperable connectivity across global identity ecosystems.