WBA white papers Archives - Page 4 of 9 - Wireless Broadband Alliance

5G and Wi-Fi RAN Convergence

In 2019, the WBA and NGMN created a RAN Convergence White Paper to address some of the challenges outlined in creating a streamlined and seamless integration between both Wi-Fi and cellular access with the cellular operator core.

As society increasingly depends on fast reliable data connectivity, the WBA believes an important capability for the industry is the convergence at a network level between 5G and Wi-Fi, so that the unique and complementary capabilities of both RANs can be leveraged to provide seamless network services. Bearing in mind that a significant amount of data traffic from smartphones uses a Wi-Fi access, this will lead to a better user experience and create new business opportunities for both Wi-Fi and cellular providers.

12 - 04 - 21 | WBA white papers

IMSI Privacy Protection for Wi-Fi

EAP methods are primarily used by wireless carriers and operators who want to take advantage of Wi-Fi capabilities for their SIM subscribers for use cases including licensed mobile radio service; in service-environments such as sports or shopping venues; underground locations; and the overall experience for end-users when Wi-Fi and mobile services are combined for the SIM subscriber’s benefit. Passpoint enables the cellular carrier to offload data by providing a means to have an automated connection to available Wi-Fi providers.

To fill the industry gap, it is important to provide solutions that enable mobile devices to keep their permanent subscriber identity (IMSI) private when using SIM authentication methods.

WBA’s IMSI Privacy Protection for Wi-Fi – Technical Specification document serves as the standardization for seamless, private and secure access for SIM-based devices onto to Wi-Fi. The document provides clear guidelines to ensure that service providers can deploy secure and interoperable Wi-Fi services with confidence.

With the joint collaboration between operators and vendors, the WBA’s Wi-Fi IMSI Privacy Protection project team formulated the best practice on security policy and privacy protection on SIM-based devices as well as developed guidelines and a compliance program to guarantee broad industry deployments and alignment

18 - 08 - 22 | Specifications & guidelines, WBA white papers

5G and Wi-Fi RAN Convergence Whitepaper – Executive Summary

Convergence between Wi-Fi and cellular access technologies is critical to the long-term success of 5G. That is according to WBA’s 5G and Wi-Fi RAN Convergence whitepaper, developed with input from mobile carriers, Wi-Fi providers, telecom manufacturers, and its own 5G Working Group.

The report is expanding on the WBA and NGMN RAN convergence whitepaper from 2019 which articulated the potential benefits and use-cases of Wi-Fi 6 and 5G convergence, provides a breakdown of the current standards and key business opportunities for operators with this technology.

26 - 01 - 21 | WBA white papers

Onboarding Evolution

Passpoint introduced seamless, automatic and secure authentication, initiating an important change from password-based networks to a disruptive experience, in which the end-user would simply be connected.

In an effort to support today’s data security trends and simplify roaming solutions, the move to WBA OpenRoaming^TM has seen a noticeable increase over the last few months within the Wi-Fi industry. The latest achievement was the launch of WBA OpenRoaming, a global Wi-Fi roaming federation that enables a seamless and secure connection to Wi-Fi among a trusted network of roaming partners.

The whitepaper “Onboarding Evolution – User Engagement in WBA OpenRoaming™ Era” explains the difference between what happens on a network authentication and interconnection level, from the software layer that can be added on top of it. It examines how OpenRoaming and Captive Portal work together on different layers and at different stages of the Wi-Fi onboarding process.

WBA’s previous white paper, “Captive Network Portal Standards” defines some existing use cases, aligns user experience (UX), presents practices to consider and provides suggested guidelines for future features that can be adopted as a unified standard by client devices, client manufacturers and network hardware manufacturers.

03 - 12 - 20 | WBA white papers

Wi-Fi & LoRaWAN® trials

Wi-Fi & LoRaWAN^® Trials – An Overview of Use Cases Across Regions Combining Two Powerful Technologies, the latest joint white paper from the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) and LoRa Alliance, illustrates that selecting an intelligent multi-radio strategy is becoming increasingly important to succeed in a connected world. This paper provides details on practical trials and proof of concept deployments (POCs), representing a variety of use cases implemented across different geographies and verticals. It concludes that hybrid Wi-Fi and LoRaWAN connectivity increases market opportunities and provides a strong ROI while offering enhanced network solutions.

This paper builds on the two organizations’ earlier work, “Wi-Fi & LoRaWAN Deployment Synergies: Expanding Addressable Use Cases for the Internet of Things,” which compared the two technologies theoretically and sought to demonstrate how they could be utilized to effectively support a vast array of use cases.

17 - 11 - 20 | WBA white papers

Wi-Fi 6 Trial Report – Transportation hubs

In the U.S, Boingo, Cisco and Samsung worked together to launch Wi-Fi 6 at John Wayne Airport (SNA) to power a next generation connectivity experience and support airport operations. Following the SNA deployment, Boingo has moved its Wi-Fi 6 technologies from trials to commercial operations and most recently, Boingo has announced an airport-wide commercial deployment of Wi-Fi 6 at São Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport (GRU), delivering incredibly fast speeds and low latency to passengers.