Internet users living in metropolitan areas in India could soon get a much better service, as Vodafone is planning on switching to an ‘offload’ Wi-Fi system in future.
According to indiatimes.com, the new service is currently being trialled in very busy areas, such as Mumbai, where internet traffic is high. Vodafone aims to ensure users never have their connection interrupted whilst moving from hotspot to hotspot. It will do this by making user authentication seamless, as at the moment people have to log-in each time they want to connect to the Wi-Fi. In the future, users will only have to log-in once, director of technology at Vodafone India, Vishant Vorta explains.
“If you register once (with a hotspot), you are maintained in our systems and don’t need to do authentications again and again,” he states.
He adds that soon Vodafone customers will be able to switch from a Wi-Fi connection to a 3G connection smoothly, without interrupting the user’s browsing time.
It is currently unclear whether people will have to pay for this new Wi-Fi service or not. However, Anupam Vasudev, chief marketing officer (CMO) for competitor Aircel, recently noted that most users are unwilling to pay, which is why some public Wi-Fi systems are unsuccessful, reports medianama.com.
