TRENDS AND OPPORTUNITIES
RADIUS accounting, as per RFC 2866, reports session statistics, including bytes used and time spent on the network. This data is crucial, especially in Wi-Fi roaming scenarios, serving as an authoritative record of usage. This information is relied upon for analytics, billing, and settlement purposes. In Wi-Fi roaming, ANPs and IDPs depend on this data for payments (e.g., X cents/GB) and tracking session time (e.g., person X spent Y minutes at our location).
Similar accounting challenges persist across multiple vendors, underscoring ongoing efforts to enhance accuracy and reliability in usage data recording.
BUSINESS BENEFITS
The WBA Roaming Work Group is actively working to raise awareness and address accounting intricacies, ensuring all parties receive precise RADIUS accounting data. This initiative is aimed at boosting the confidence of carriers and IDPs, assuring them of accurate charges by ANS for Wi-Fi roaming despite occasional accounting challenges.
This project is pivotal in establishing industry guidelines for Wi-Fi roaming stakeholders, encompassing operators, equipment manufacturers, identity providers, and network providers. Additionally, it explores the potential for these features to undergo a certification program. The focus remains on providing all parties access to accurate and correct accounting information, and a strategic plan is being devised to mitigate the effects of any bugs.
