WeFi turns global WiFi database into a mobile data offload platform

WeFi is the latest vendor to launch a carrier WiFi offload product, but unlike the other dozen or so solutions on the market, WeFi’s platform doesn’t require the operator to purchase any access point or gateway. Rather, WeFi’s new WeANDSF platform allows operators to hitch a ride over the millions of access points already built worldwide without spending a dime for access.

WeANDSF builds upon WeFi’s global WiFi database, which has the skinny on 85 million access points worldwide. Using a client on the handset and policies set on the network, operators can manage their customers’ access to WiFi networks as if they were their own.

According to WeFi vice president of products and marketing Amit Shaked, an operator could allow the device to automatically connect to individual hotspots or categories of hotspots based on any number of criteria. The handset would ignore secure access points unknown to the operator or customer and skip over unsecure but managed hotspots that would require registration. As for the millions of open access points left, an operator can simple allow handsets to access them at will or set more granular policies intended to ensure customers get a decent WiFi experience, Shaked said.

Those policies could pertain to particular category of hotspot such as those tied to cafés, educational institutions or municipal networks. An operator could allow WiFi access only when 3G networks are not available or if their network at a particular location is congested, or they can set geographic access zones based on WeFi’s accumulated statistics on the quality of open WiFi networks in an area. If an operator does have its own WiFi hotspot network or has a deal with a managed WiFi network provider, the WeANDSF solution can authenticate to those access points, prioritizing them over other networks. Finally the platform can even manage connections to private networks on a user-by-user basis, Shaked said.

“The rules managed by WeANDSF are not limited to public hotspots,” Shaked said via e-mail. “Offloading schemes can involve ‘known’ networks which can be the user’s residential or office Wi-Fi …. My own device may be moved from 3G and offloaded to my secure home Wi-Fi when I enter its range, according to WeANDSF rules, while others will not be able to connect.”

WeFi has already implemented aspects of the platform as part of proprietary solution requiring a dedicated handset client, but WeANDSF will be fully compliant with the 3GPP’s Access Network Discovery and Selection Function (hence the platform’s rather awkward name), meaning the capability will be built directly into handsets starting in 2012. WeFi’s database will essentially ride over the standard-based discovery architecture, providing the network with the key data it needs to make WiFi selection decisions.