Devicescape helps carriers tap into public WiFi resources

Devicescape Software Inc. is a California-based company that is trying to sell wireless carriers on the potential of using the multitude of free WiFi hotspots in existence to their benefit. The company's product causes smartphones to automatically link to freely offered WiFi networks, without the user having to perform the manual tasks that are typically required to connect to hotspots. "We're taking advantage of the public WiFi that has already been deployed, and there's actually tens of millions of locations in our network already, and it's composed of everything from the Starbucks of the world that offer this free amenity WiFi right down into a huge long tail of independent locations," Devicescape CEO David Fraser said in a phone interview. "It's essentially WiFi that's deliberately shared, it's in the public arena and we unite it into something that feels like a single virtual network." Fraser said Devicescape's software works on virtually all smartphones except Apple Inc.'s iPhones. Canada's Public Mobile is among the customers Devicescape publicly discloses. This arrangement was announced in 2011, before Public Mobile was acquired by Telus Corp. last year. Telus declined to provide comment on Devicescape and the services it provides. At the time that deal was announced, Public Mobile chief technology officer Brian O'Shaughnessy said in a press release issued by Devicescape: "By partnering with Devicescape, we increase network capacity by tapping into their virtual WiFi network. ... Devicescape allows Public Mobile to keep costs low by moving data-intensive traffic from cellular networks to WiFi, a savings we pass on to our customers with our unlimited 3G data plans." Public Mobile's unlimited data plans were eventually phased out under Telus' ownership. Jean-Francois Mezei, a Montreal-area telecom consultant with Vaxination Informatique, said he can see how a service such as that offered by Devicescape might appeal to carriers like Public Mobile, who have limited network capabilities. However, he said it might not be much use to larger operators with vast LTE networks. "Public Mobile was on the old CDMA , and CDMA was basically, for all practical purposes, 2G, so switching to WiFi may have been an advantage," Mezei said in a phone interview. "But switching from LTE to WiFi doesn't do you any good because WiFi will give you lower performance than LTE, generally speaking." Fraser said there are a few ways carriers can benefit from his company's service. For one, he said it provides capacity for data usage without the expense of adding infrastructure to a cellular network. With this aspect in mind, Fraser said it's been primarily smaller carriers — those with more limited network capacity — that the company has focused on attaining as customers thus far. "It drove down their costs, it increased customer satisfaction, it decreased the need to buy spectrum and deploy cell sites, etc.," he said. Now the company is turning toward trying secure bigger carriers as clients. Fraser said there are advantages carriers of all sizes can enjoy by using Devicescape’s software. For example, there are opportunities for monetization. While users obtain data through WiFi that does not count against their data caps, providers can still realize revenue-generating opportunities from features such as voice-over-WiFi capabilities, applications that provide security to smartphones connected to WiFi networks and less expensive roaming packages that are accessed from WiFi connections. "There are many ways of monetizing it without charging for essentially free data," Fraser said. As well, he noted that carriers can keep track of customers' online behaviour when accessing WiFi with Devicescape software, whereas they are usually blind to such activities when customers link to WiFi manually. This creates opportunities for personalized advertising and market research, Fraser said. According to information provided by Devicescape, 71 per cent of activity in Canada using Android phones happens over WiFi networks. Cisco Systems Inc. said in a report released in June that WiFi-connected devices would account for 50 per cent of all Internet protocol traffic in Canada in 2018, up from 39 per cent last year. Claus Hetting, a Denmark-based telecom consultant and proponent of WiFi usage in mobile services, said a main benefit a carrier can derive from Devicescape is expanded bandwidth at a reasonable cost. " can, for lack of a better word, offload an awful lot of traffic to the WiFi network and then they don't have to invest as heavily in building their own mobile infrastructure," Hetting said in a phone interview. He said even though the data used through Devicescape is not directly monetized by carriers, it's the kind of value-added service that can help retain customers. He compares it to the benefit Internet service providers in both Canada and the United States are seeing by providing their customers free WiFi access in public areas. Hetting, who's chairman of Wi-Fi Innovation Summit, an event that happens several times a year in locations around the world, recently interviewed Devicescape's Fraser in a video posted on the company's website. Hetting said Devicescape is one of his clients. Fraser said it's "ridiculous" that major wireless providers have not incorporated WiFi into their operations, given that it is "by far the most dominant way that people experience their smartphones." However, he said the lack of engagement between mobile carriers and WiFi is about to change. "In few years' time, I think all of the mobile operators will be offering integrated WiFi," Fraser said. "I think all the mobile operators will be offering some form of WiFi integration, whether it's carrier WiFi or our approach or both." While carriers have, in recent years, spent billions of dollars expanding their capabilities with LTE networks, Fraser said this kind of mobile technology can coexist comfortably with WiFi integration rather than compete against it. "WiFi is a place where you're typically unlimited or you have less restrictions and you may have a better quality of service sometimes," Fraser said. "So people tend to experiment with Netflix and Facebook and Instagram, and they get comfortable with all these services on WiFi. And then they'll get hooked on it and use them on their mobile . That's all good." — With reporting by Derek Abma at dabma@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

Devicescape helps carriers tap into public WiFi resources

News | August 15, 2014

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Devicescape helps carriers tap into public WiFi resources

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